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Title: Many Stones by Carolyn Coman, Mandy Siegfried ISBN: 0-8072-0482-X Publisher: Listening Library Pub. Date: 31 July, 2001 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 2 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.85 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Many Stones
Comment: The story is narrated by a high school-age girl, named Berry Morgan. The reader gets to know Berry on a very intense and intimate level as she reveals her emotional pain from her parents divorce, and from the subsequent murder of her older sister, Laura, who had been working at a church-run school for very poor children in Soweto, South Africa. Most of the story takes place on a trip Berry and her father make to South Africa to attend a commemorative service to be held there for Laura a year and a half after her killing. The father is a hard-driving Washington lobbyist who had coached his daughters toward being high achievers in school, sports, and careers, but who had placed their emotional needs second to his own. The story interweaves two themes: the passage of Berry from her emotional pain of loss toward acceptance and future growth, and the parallel passage of South African people who are willing to forgive the injustices and horrors of their apartheid era so that they can get on with building a new life of hope. Berry has to learn from some of the people she encounters that one cannot accept being mired down in past tragedies if one is to grow. The story is so intensely Berry's interior life, and she is so bitter at the beginning, that it might have been too much of a closeup if the writing wasn't so good. Coman's writing unerringly maintains the emotion of Berry's feelings and dialogue with her father throughout the story. There are memorable lines, and the tension of wondering whether Berry will work it all out is unwavering. She strikes out verbally at her father every chance she gets, so that at times we hate her for it, but then she reveals her vulnerability and we forgive her and hope she's at least making progress on her journey of healing. Back-story is revealed only as necessary as we move along in the plot, and this makes the reading very fluid. The ending has a feeling of completeness and hope, and is well-earned.
Rating: 3
Summary: A some-what interesting book
Comment: The novel Many stones deserves a three star award. I
believe this because the book isn't stupendous, however it isn't
terrible. The novel is about Berry, a self-absorbed teenager,
who has to deal with the death of her older sisters Laura, and
her parents divorce. Her sister dies a disturbing death. While teaching children in South Africa, two men smash her head into pieces with a bat. To deal with this, she places stones on her chest as a relief method.
There was a memorial service and a reception in honor of Laura but, Her father, 'The Perfectionist", wants to have another memorial service, which will be held in Africa, at the school in which laura taught. (Berry doesn't like her father because he picked favorites with his daughters, and who do you think he picked? Laura, of course.)To precede with the service they need they need money and what better way, so berrys father thinks than to have a swimathon at berrys school. They raise enough money to continue with the idea. Berrys father invites her to come along to the service and she excepts(even though she doesn't what to.) On their trip, they have many arguments, and they even meet a "real live racist" as berry calls her. But, I'm not going to give it away, you're going to have to read it yourself!
I suggest this book for people 13 and older. But if you don't like books that have tragety and comedy mixed don't get this book!
Rating: 3
Summary: Quick but not Light Read
Comment: Many Stones by Carolyn Coman is a story about a teenage girl, Berry, who travels to South Africa with her estranged father to attend a memorial for her brutally slain sister. Just describing the plot makes for a long sentence yet somehow the book comes in at a slim 158 pages. This is my main criticism of the novel. It's hard to get into such a deep story about family tragedy so quickly. The reader kind of jumps right into the troubled lives of Berry and her family with little back story until a few chapters in.
Short as it may be, the book stll has several touching moments and may very well be a welcome change for someone looking for a quick read but is tired of the fluff that usually entails.
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Title: Whirligig by Paul Fleischman ISBN: 0440228352 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 09 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.50 |
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