Summer Hawk

Rating:
Summary: once a class assignment, now a favorite
Review: I have had the unexpected pleasure to have Ms. Savage as my professor for a college class. In that regard, my own personal opinion of the book is also judged by how I have come to know the writer. I could go on and on where and how she came up with ideas, but that is not what you want to really know.

In the very beginning I found Taylor to be snobby concerning her views of other classmates and somewhat selfish in trems of her mother,she is a typical teenager. One of the best aspects of the book is how easy it is to watch Taylor progress into a deeper understanding about friendships, family and relationships others have around her. The witness of growth as a reader is easy to relate because there has been a time in all of our lives where we too have gained a new self-awareness. I love the end because there is no happily ever after, just continuing change, which is what life is really about.

I think that the goal of any writer is to ensure that there is something worth writing about. It doesn't matter what age you are when you this book, it is just about understanding yourself a little bit more. I love this book and I think that if you give it half a chance and an open mind you will too.

Rating:
Summary: School Library Journal, starred review
Review: Taylor and her family have recently moved from Philadelphia to the small Pennsylvania town in which her sculptor father grew up. After coasting through one year of public school, she is looking forward to starting 10th grade at her psychoanalyst mother's alma matter, an exclusive boarding school. However, the aspiring journalist must do a summer research paper in order to participate in the honors writing program. After the teen finds an abandoned young red-tailed hawk, she and her classmate Rail take it to a neighbor who runs a raptor-rehabilitation center. This provides Taylor with a subject for her research paper: she is also hired by the center's earthy and charismatic director, Rhiannon, to handle public relations for the facility, which is facing opposition from local residents. Taylor grows more estranged from her mother, who is rarely there, and grows increasingly closer to her new friends. Her world collapses when she discovers that her father and Rhiannon are having an affair. After her parents work through this crisis, Taylor decides to stay where she is, editing her high school's first literary newspaper and spending time with Rail. The author uses raptors, and especially the red-tail, as metaphors for the heart's yearning to be free and strong, and to be a survivor, as Taylor and her hawk both are. Savage skillfully addresses the myriad themes and issues that weave through this novel-conservationists vs. hunters, dual-career families, amibition, fidelity, the importance of family, a budding first romance, and mental illness. Face paced yet thoughtful, the book is satisfying on all counts. - Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR.

Rating:
Summary: Rather abstract and wandering
Review: This is the first book by Savage I have read. Much of this book is rather poetic and ethereal, which appeals to me. Overall though, Savage's hinting at things and heavy innuendos were unfulfilling and confusing, rather than suspenseful. The stereotyping of the community was a bit heavyhanded as well.

Character developement was fairly good, but I wondered about what would happen to a number of the supporting cast. Mom's character is never fully understood. If Melissa was so supportive of her mom, how come we never got to know her?

I enjoy much about this book, I don't think I'd recommend it. It's a vague read.

Rating:
Summary: SURPRISING!
Review: When Taylor M. Armstrong-Brown moved to Hunter's Gap, Pensylvania, she expected to meet only hicks. But when she met Rail, a supposed "redneck," she began to see that there are more to people than just what one sees on the outside. If you are looking for a normal Savage novel, this book will not fit what you are looking for. Although Savage weaved another extraordinary twist into the ending, the Savage-style love story does not apply to this book. Not that I'm saying you shouldn't read it. It is a very well done piece of work, and DS never ceases to amaze me with her plot-twists at the end. A word of advice, though: Savage rambles quite a bit on the subject of journalism. I enjoyed this because I plan to be a journalist someday, but if you aren't interested in the subject, it could get old.

Rating:
Summary: SURPRISING!
Review: When Taylor M. Armstrong-Brown moved to Hunter's Gap, Pensylvania, she expected to meet only hicks. But when she met Rail, a supposed "redneck," she began to see that there are more to people than just what one sees on the outside. If you are looking for a normal Savage novel, this book will not fit what you are looking for. Although Savage weaved another extraordinary twist into the ending, the Savage-style love story does not apply to this book. Not that I'm saying you shouldn't read it. It is a very well done piece of work, and DS never ceases to amaze me with her plot-twists at the end. A word of advice, though: Savage rambles quite a bit on the subject of journalism. I enjoyed this because I plan to be a journalist someday, but if you aren't interested in the subject, it could get old.