A Solitary Blue

Rating:
Summary: Great for dealing with abuse
Review: This is the best book I have read detailing the impact of emotional and psychological abuse. Melody Green, Jeff's mother, has run out on Jeff and Jeff's father ("the Professor") and basically tells Jeff in a note that she is out to save the world. Instead of being concerned about her own family and son, she is determined to rid the world of environmental problems and world hunger. This ends up being an excuse, of course, for the inevitable: Melody is concerned only for herself and will abuse anyone who she cannot use.

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Summary: "A Solitary Blue Book" Review
Review: I read "A Solitary Blue" by Cynthia Voigt. It was about a young boy named Jeff, whos mother, Melody, left him and his father when Jeff was young. Jeff doesn't hear from his mother for many years. When he finally does hear from her, he is overthrilled with joy. He spends his summer vacation with her and has a wonderful time. He loves his mother and realizes how much he has missed her. When he returns home all he can do is wish for the day that he goes to see his mother again.
The second time Jeff goes to visit his mother, she acts diffrently. She never has time for Jeff and wants him to respect that. When he confronts her about the situation, telling her he is disappointed,she gets upset and says a lot of cruel things. "I love you Jeffie, but i wanted a girl." (P.87) His father, who is a professor, avoids all their problems by staying busy with his work. Jeff is alone most of the time and is very lonely and depressed.
Cynthia Voigts writing style shows a lot of imagery. It gets the reader to imagine themselves in the setting and the characters place. This is a fascinating, quick-read book. I recommend this book for anybody that enjoys a good book. It catches your attention immediatly and holds it until the end of the book. If you liked "Dicey's Song" or "The Runner", also by Cynthia Voigt, you'll enjoy "A Solitary Blue".

Rating:
Summary: Well done
Review: I appreciated this book's unpredictability, and - more importantly - the way it offered a view of life's ironic yet priceless lessons. The story of Jeff Greene was an interesting, strengthening one. The beginning of the book did an excellent job of putting his life into perspective and disclosing his personality. The second half of the book divulged his complexities, and the complexities of every human. Forged through stories of love and abandonment, trust and dishonesty, genuine care and flimsy lies, the author paints a beautiful picture of life. A Solitary Blue was a favorite of mine because it grasped - in a sense - a part of how diverse our personalities, differences, mentalities, and similarities are. It was a snapshot of life.

I'd recommend this book to anyone willing to think through life along with Jeff and his father. A Solitary Blue has much to impart.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but needed something
Review: I thought A Solitary Blue was a good book, however it needed something. I do not think the characters were fully developed as well as they could have been. This book ahs potiential,but like I said, it needs more description.

Rating:
Summary: the ending was terrible
Review: i did this book for a small group kinda thing for school. all 11 people in the group agreed the ending could of been better. the book overall was kinda weird but was pretty good. most of it could have been real but some was just kinda...not real.

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Summary: What it means to be human
Review: This might very well be my all-time favorite book, and I'm an adult with a college education, not a kid who was force-fed "literature" all through school. Jeff as a character is real and beautiful, and his feelings are relayed throughout the book as universal human emotions of loneliness and longing. I tend to be self-loathing, so I identified with Jeff on that level ("He couldn't think of anything he wanted to do. Ever."). The story is so real that I dream about the characters and wish I could meet them--Brother Thomas working through a crisis of faith by harvesting crabs out of the Chesapeake Bay, the Professor working through a crisis of love by writing a history book. It's so great. I even convinced my aunt and uncle to take me to Crisfield, Maryland, so I could see what Jeff saw and felt. Voigt's descriptions are accurate and clear without boring the reader in the least. This is a book of life.

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Summary: Heart-warming!! haha
Review: ok im not usually a big reader but when i went on vacation for fall break my mother made me go to the library & get some books so id have something to do & i picked this one out. as i got into this book it really caught my attention. A Solitary Blue is about Jeff Greene & his struggle with his mother who left him when he was in the second grade and his father who doesnt really seem to care. the book's interesting plot and unusual twists & turns makes cynthia voigt's novel a must-read!

Rating:
Summary: Solitary Blue
Review: Cynthia Voigt is the author of Solitary Blue. It's about Jeff Greene; he lives with his dad and his mom left. Jeff Greene found out his mom doesn't really love him. She tries to get something from him -- I won't tell you what it is because it's at the end. My favorite part of the book is Jeff meeting Dicey, because he has a friend. If I could change something about the book, I'd have a longer ending. I think that eighth graders and up should read this book because it's a good book, it tells lots of things, it has a good story to it.

Rating:
Summary: Great companion to Dicey's Song
Review: Like Dicey's Song, A Solitary Blue deals with tough subjects many kids deal with in their lives, namely parents' separation and all the feelings that accompany it. Jeff discovers great qualities in himself and his father through a traumatic reunion with the mother who left him years ago.

The characters in this series are people who feel like misfits. They all manage to learn to accept and like themselves and find friends without having to sacrifice who they are. My favorite aspect of this series is that reading this book, Dicey's Song, and Come a Stranger, the reader gets the impression that Voigt wrote them all simultaneously. All three contain different characters' experiences of some of the same events in varied degree of detail and fullness depending on the character's involvement in the events.

I highly recommend this series for teens and young adults. The books do contain some meaty subject matter, but Voigt handles it sensitively.

Rating:
Summary: Touching. Simply touching
Review: In this novel, not only does Ms. Voight use the power of description and controversy, but there is an outstanding plot that will hook you and keep you reading to the last page. In few books I am sad there are no more pages. This si one of them. From the first sentence, you will want to know Jeff, know his struggle, know his family, know who he is and everythin about him. Who cares if it barely has to deal with the Tillermans. It's an amazing album on its own.