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Summary: Wonderful!
Review: A reading experience to rival TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in its insight into the hearts and minds of children, and evocation of a time and place. You will never forget Graceanne. I know, because I haven't.
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Summary: Excellent
Review: As usual, Ms. Whitney has written a book of tremendous literary force. Ms. Whiteney is a gifted writer.
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Summary: A Confusing Issue to me.....
Review: Edie divorces her husband because of the abuse, and yet Edie is an abuser herself. I suspect that Edie truly tried to shine and be a good mother, but once the abuse got going she was like a tornado totally out of control - she couldn't stop. Another confusing thing is that Graceanne really pushed all of her mother's buttons and did some really devastating things to a family that was already struggling and near the end of their rope....huge library fines, the dress, etc. Not that I condone the abuse, but I found myself thinking "STOP GRACEANNE - you're pure and simple asking for it!" And, the last question, why in this mother's mind was only Graceanne beaten? Sorry to be so stupid, but what do you really suppose happened when Graceanne tells Charlie that they are swimming to Illinois???? What do you think readers? Do they live or die???? One other question I direct to myself: why do I keep picking out books that are so sad - depressing?
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Summary: The river still flows...
Review: Graceanne Farrand of Cranepool's Landing, Missouri, has a lot on her mind. And you'd better pay attention or else she'll "...whale you within an inch of your life...". It is 1960 again, and while the Mississippi is wreaking havoc by flooding its banks, it becomes a mere play-toy for the children of the town. Graceanne's younger brother Charlie, is the outsider in us all, watching with wonder how his sister moves through this world, in her magical way. This world becomes more real and unreal, with every passing page. Charlie Farrand is no fool himself, and he observes for us the most interesting event in town; an event called Graceanne. He watches her behave in ways that always intrigue and fascinate, until his world, is her world. And I was lucky enough to be along for the ride. In seeing her gifts and feeling her burdens, he must travel a road of discovery for himself, in attempting to grasp the plights of his remarkable sister. In this town, with this girl, the imagination is limitless, and the heart is human
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Summary: Touching Story
Review: I devoured this book!! Maybe after the last one it was just too exciting to have a book with a plot... It's set in a small Missouri town in 1960-61 and told from the point of view of Charlie, the youngest child in a family of three children. The children, especially the middle child Graceanne, endure horrible abuse at the hands of their mother (who was abused by their father before she divorced him and got kicked out of the Catholic church... Hmmm...) but their courage and humour in dealing with it is really amazing. The characters were touching, the imagery is magnifique, the book played out like it was a movie. I loved the characters and rooted for them all the way through the book. It's great.
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Summary: P.L. Whitney depicts small-town life with wit and poignancy.
Review: In small-town Missouri during the '60s,Graceanne survives disasters such as floods and physical abuse through her keen intelligence and wit. Her persistence is reflected in her book, a treasure that Charlie, her devoted brother, helps her to protect.Through Charlie, the narrator, the reader gains multifaceted layers of understanding that embrace humor and pain, and I for one laughed aloud and wept in equal measure. P.L. Whitney has crafted a lyrical tribute to a troubled family. To Kill a Mockingbird is in the same league. Whitney, however, confronts behavior that is almost too unbearable to mention.
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Summary: A Profoundly Beautiful American Classic
Review: In writing "This Is Graceanne's Book," Polly Whitney has engagingly chronicled, as though for the purpose of a cultural time capsule, the lives of the last generation of American children to grow up without the influence of television in their homes. Within the pages of this warmly absorbing novel, we watch youngsters create, teach, and indeed enforce, rules of conduct within their own troubled environs -- atmospheres fraught with the unjust brutality perpetrated by adults trying to survive amid their own frustration and economic hardship. Whitney's dynamically descriptive seasonal settings are as lyrically evocative of small town Americana as Norman Rockwell's portraiture; each conveying honest imagery replete with humorous pathos. And the author's deft blend of hilariously innovative slang references offset with subtly authentic vernacular succeeds in transporting readers to the Midwest with great aplomb and unflinching candor. As Anthony Trollope lifted a mansard roof to illuminate the inner workings of Victorian households, Polly Whitney has boldly unlatched a tattered screen door, circa 1960, from America's heartland, and brought forth a charismatic narrator to share the defining moments of his early life -- a life spent in both the shadow and the reflected glory of his irrepressible sister. Whitney's vigorous masterpiece, while cherished at any given time and place within the annals of Literature, can be particularly appreciated at this millenial juncture in our civilization. We need only experience "This Is Graceanne's Book" to fully appreciate the blazing impact of mass-media communication as it has shaped the way our children think, behave, play, and ultimately cope with their transition into adulthood. Readers and film-goers who embrace works such as "THE PRINCE OF TIDES," "FRIED GREEN TOMATOES," and "THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT," will be satisfied that the timeless themes of honor, ingenuity, sibling love, and cerebral self-survival, as they are colorfully wrought by the persuasive pen of P.L. Whitney, serve as a stoic memorial to the past, a poignant reminder to those in the present, and as a life-affirming inspiration for all generations to come. Simply said, "THIS IS GRACEANNE'S BOOK" has now become the most prized novel upon my bookshelf.
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Summary: Haunting
Review: Once I began reading this book, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was anxious to get back to the story to find out what happened to these children, always hoping that some drastic event would change their lives for the better. The writing is so vivid that you can easily picture the settings and feel their pain. The ending leaves you haunted and wishing to go back and make it right for them. I highly recommend this book as one of the best that I have read.
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Summary: A story which will resonate within the reader for a lifetime
Review: One does not have to have seen the Mississippi or been a child in the 60s to appreciate and marvel at this wondrous tale. The author has created unique characters in Graceanne and Charlie, yet she has accurately portrayed the universality of the dark side of childhood along with the resiliance of the human spirit that is redemptive. As Michelangelo has captured the sorrow and love of a grieving mother in the Pieta, Polly Whitney has illuminated those secret places of childhood and by bringing this light has made the reader see childhood in a different and wondrous perspective that will haunt the soul for years to come. This book may bring the horrors of a dysfunctional family to the readers, but the author also presents the humor which allows for survival. This is a book to buy and treasure.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book
Review: Sometimes the most profound things are very complex and sometimes they are very simple. This is a simple story about complex human beings who appear simple. Confusing? Not very. I urge you to read this story about a mid-western family hurting in every place imaginable but which still manages to move into parts of the human heart where few of us have the nerve to go. There are scenes of such poignance that you will put the book down and reflect with your eyes closed as you feel what the characters are feeling. I finished the book about a week ago, and I find myself thinking about what Graceanne did on the other side of the bridge and wondering why Charlie never saw his sister Kentucky again. Did Edie ever get herself straightened out? The story stays with you and I will be thinking about it for a long time. It will be on my bookshelf in the section reserved for the very special. It is very simply, a wonderful book and although the story has ended, I wish the Farrand family the very best.
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