From: Marge Loch-Wouters <lochwout>
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 13:51:06 -0500 (CDT)

I also had a hard time with the character of mia and found myself intensely disliking her as I read the book. Such an owly child! But that was part of the beauty of the book for me. Mia was so difficult to like and love as she was portrayed. Yet, at the same time, she was quick-witted and tremendously insightful. She could recognize when she was behaving badly, but in the same way she wove her rituals, she also wove excuses for that behavior that allowed her to continue to be destructive in her personal relationships. It struck me that in many ways she used a kind of disappearence of self to move out of a situation she didn't care for (climbing the water tower, assuming she wouldn't be seen; eating lunch with the Devotions, assuming that Sinclair wouldn't come near). It kept her invisible to others (in her mind) as well as keeping others (and their feelings) invisible to her. I thought it was an extremely powerful portrayal of a grieving child - so busy nurturing her own personal wounds that she had no time for anyone else's.

Marge Loch-Wouters Menasha's Public Library
Received on Wed 04 Sep 1996 01:51:06 PM CDT