From: Holly Willett <willett>
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 18:28:53 -0400

Katie--I read _The Red Shift_ a number of years ago, and your description of its structure is "right on". Set in England, one time period is the Roman era, the 2nd is Cromwell's time, and the 3rd is contemporaneous. One of the most striking things about it is that the boy and girl who are the main characters exist in all 3 times (but they aren't aware of it), as if they had been given 3 tries to "get it right". All three time periods are fraught with conflict and the teens are on opposing sides. Garner was also playing around with writing style: The Roman soldiers speak as American soldiers did in Vietnam at the time the novel was written.

It is a difficult read, but at the time I thought it was excellent.

Holly

Holly G. Willett willett at rowan.edu Library Education Advisor/Coordinator Secondary Education/Foundations of Education Rowan University Glassboro, NJ 08028
(609) 256G59
Received on Fri 30 Oct 1998 04:28:53 PM CST