CCBC-Net Archives
Re Newbery Honor book
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Susan Stan <3ZY6KQ5>
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 17:57:12 -0500
Maybe the silence has to do with not many people having found the book to read. I just got my hands on it two nights ago, and while I found it readable, I felt like an outsider throughout the book. Its episodic nature reminded me of another novel told in stories, The Blue Skin of the Sea, but that book pulled me in entirely, unlike A Long Way from Chicago. While Peck's book was satisfying in that elements of the story were nicely resolved and the characterization was built cumulatively, but I wasn't as emotionally involved. One of the thoughts I had after finishing the book is that it is old?shioned not just in its setting but also in that the events in each of the stories always turned out well. At some point during reading I reaized this and stopped worrying about what would happen. Not having that anxiety probably contributed to my lack of emotional involvement.
I also wondered about the absence of relationship between the father and his mother - from the text, are we to gather that the children's only contact with their grandmother was during the summer - no family trips there, etc? On the plus side, the depiction of small-town character types was great - kind of Garrison Keillorish.
Susan Stan
Responding to the message of from ccbc-net at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu (Subscribers of ccbc-net):
Susan Stan susan.stan at cmich.edu Assistant Professor of English 208 Anspach Hall Central Michigan University Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 517 774148 http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Eng/SStan/default.html
Received on Fri 26 Feb 1999 04:57:12 PM CST
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 17:57:12 -0500
Maybe the silence has to do with not many people having found the book to read. I just got my hands on it two nights ago, and while I found it readable, I felt like an outsider throughout the book. Its episodic nature reminded me of another novel told in stories, The Blue Skin of the Sea, but that book pulled me in entirely, unlike A Long Way from Chicago. While Peck's book was satisfying in that elements of the story were nicely resolved and the characterization was built cumulatively, but I wasn't as emotionally involved. One of the thoughts I had after finishing the book is that it is old?shioned not just in its setting but also in that the events in each of the stories always turned out well. At some point during reading I reaized this and stopped worrying about what would happen. Not having that anxiety probably contributed to my lack of emotional involvement.
I also wondered about the absence of relationship between the father and his mother - from the text, are we to gather that the children's only contact with their grandmother was during the summer - no family trips there, etc? On the plus side, the depiction of small-town character types was great - kind of Garrison Keillorish.
Susan Stan
Responding to the message of from ccbc-net at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu (Subscribers of ccbc-net):
Susan Stan susan.stan at cmich.edu Assistant Professor of English 208 Anspach Hall Central Michigan University Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 517 774148 http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Eng/SStan/default.html
Received on Fri 26 Feb 1999 04:57:12 PM CST
