The Year of the Sawdust Man (Aladdin Fiction)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting read but shouldn't be a required one
Review: I just finished reading The Year of the Sawdust Man and enjoyed it very much. The characters are vividly drawn and the feelings of Nissa after the departure of her mother are truthful and carefully examined.

I do have a couple of problems with the book, however. I doubt very much that LaFaye has spent any significant time in Louisiana. For example, almost all of the characters had moved in from elsewhere in the country or the world. Louisiana has the highest retention rate of its citizens in the US, and very little influx (especially from the areas the author makes her characters from), so it is doubly unlikely that the small town of Harper would get all of these "foreign" people. Things like that makes the novel ring more false than it should, at least for readers from Louisiana.

This would make a good book to use on an optional reading list for middle school students, however I would not recommend it to be required reading for one of their classes. The pace might be too slow to maintain students' interest (very little actually happens) and the portrayal of minorities is cursory at best.

Despite these detractions from the book (primarily from a pedagogical perspective) I enjoyed this book very much and thought it dealt with the issue of family separations very well.

Rating:
Summary: A tear wrenching marvelous book
Review: The best book I have ever read this deserves a medal. But beware it makes you cry.

Rating:
Summary: Marvelous book
Review: The world of Nissa Bergen is like none other in fiction. Her mother, Heirah Rae, causes the people of their small town in Harper, Louisiana, to talk constantly. She's a free spirit, doing as she pleases and finding beauty in the most surprising places. Her daughter, Nissa, has some of that spirit, but she also has a good share of her father's calm way of looking at the world. When something goes dreadfully awry in their family, Heirah Rae leaves, and Nissa and her father are left trying to understand. A book that will be enjoyed by teens and adults alike, A. LaFaye writes with a one-of-a-kind voice that creates Nissa Bergen as a strong young girl for the ages.