It's a leap day miracle!
It snowed so wonderfully today. It doesn't quite make up for the wussiest winter on record but it made me so happy. ^_^ Anyway, I promised a book review and that's what I am doing. Today's book is the woman in the wall by Patrice Kindl. I read this book when I was so much younger and it really resonated with me, and still does, for a couple of reasons: it is written in a very frank and personal conversational tone, and it's about a very shy girl, something I can really empathize with.
Although I enjoy reading many different kinds of books, my favorite style is first person confidential. I love it when the character is talking to me personally.
My favorite genre of story may be fantasy (closely tied with science fiction), but second comes the everyday fiction with an introduction to or just hints of supernatural elements. This story comes under that heading. The main character, a girl named Anna, is born to an average mother and a father who is so shy he retreats from the world so severely he finally disappears one day in the library of Congress. Before he left he bought a large Victorian house for his family that needed a bit of fixing up. Anna almost immediately shows the tendency to literally disappear, fade into the background. Her mother tries to get someone from the outside to come and talk with her about going to school but that is a big disaster. The next day Anna starts work on a series of rooms and passageways behind the walls where she can live without anyone ever seeing her. She is very handy for a child and fixes and makes things for her mother and two sisters (one is older and one is younger), but as the years pass they come to think of her like a house fairy, something that they're not sure exists but that they want to believe in. And then Anna hits puberty. The story has been so interesting and so engaging up to this point that you haven't even realized that you've been reading a coming of age story. By this time you are so involved with Anna that you are right there with her, wondering and wishing and wailing. Yes, she throws a full blown tantrum behind the wall. I won't go any further because I don't want to spoil the great ending that comes. And the best part is that it's not just a clichéd happily ever after ending. It is a really good real ending.
Everyone who is growing up, shy with people, wonders about shy people, or just wants a great read should read this book.
Although I enjoy reading many different kinds of books, my favorite style is first person confidential. I love it when the character is talking to me personally.
My favorite genre of story may be fantasy (closely tied with science fiction), but second comes the everyday fiction with an introduction to or just hints of supernatural elements. This story comes under that heading. The main character, a girl named Anna, is born to an average mother and a father who is so shy he retreats from the world so severely he finally disappears one day in the library of Congress. Before he left he bought a large Victorian house for his family that needed a bit of fixing up. Anna almost immediately shows the tendency to literally disappear, fade into the background. Her mother tries to get someone from the outside to come and talk with her about going to school but that is a big disaster. The next day Anna starts work on a series of rooms and passageways behind the walls where she can live without anyone ever seeing her. She is very handy for a child and fixes and makes things for her mother and two sisters (one is older and one is younger), but as the years pass they come to think of her like a house fairy, something that they're not sure exists but that they want to believe in. And then Anna hits puberty. The story has been so interesting and so engaging up to this point that you haven't even realized that you've been reading a coming of age story. By this time you are so involved with Anna that you are right there with her, wondering and wishing and wailing. Yes, she throws a full blown tantrum behind the wall. I won't go any further because I don't want to spoil the great ending that comes. And the best part is that it's not just a clichéd happily ever after ending. It is a really good real ending.
Everyone who is growing up, shy with people, wonders about shy people, or just wants a great read should read this book.