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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
I wanted to like this book and find the redemption. Heads up for too much use of the f word. I kept reading because I thought there would be light on the shores of darkness. Mainly, there was just darkness. And the light that was added for the ending was too fleeting. I look for Jesus in books, and this was not the kind of redemption offered here.
A sad, funny, poignant novel with deep characters and real heartbreak. This book was a little tough for me to get into but once I was there I was all in. Not a light read by any means, but a very rich and satisfying one.
This book is dark, funny, crushingly sad, and breathtakingly hopeful.
The novel is written in two parts. The first tells the story of Harriet, an 11-year-old painter and mixed media artist who is utterly neglected by the adults in her world. Her mother and stepfather Gennedy are focused on Harriet's little brother Irwin, whose serious health problems leave little parental attention left over for Harriet. This first half is reminiscent of fiction by Heather O'Neill or Miriam Toews, but Strube populates Harriet's world with uniquely funny and complex characters. The second part of the novel tells Irwin's story.
The first pages of the novel lack the subtlety that Strube later develops. Harriet is so bleakly neglected that I had to resist the urge to flip forward to find out whether I was in for 400 pages of adults behaving badly and an 11-year-old girl coping as well as she can. The eventual crisis between Harriet and Gennedy does not have the impact it could because Gennedy is pretty static through the first half of the novel. In fact, most of the novel's adults don't undergo the character development that I hoped for. But I stuck with this book, and I'm glad I did. Harriet and Irwin are such beautifully nuanced, memorable, sad, yet surprisingly hopeful characters that the final pages of the novel left me sobbing. And if you have any heart at all, this novel will leave you in tears, too. Go read it already.
The novel is written in two parts. The first tells the story of Harriet, an 11-year-old painter and mixed media artist who is utterly neglected by the adults in her world. Her mother and stepfather Gennedy are focused on Harriet's little brother Irwin, whose serious health problems leave little parental attention left over for Harriet. This first half is reminiscent of fiction by Heather O'Neill or Miriam Toews, but Strube populates Harriet's world with uniquely funny and complex characters. The second part of the novel tells Irwin's story.
The first pages of the novel lack the subtlety that Strube later develops. Harriet is so bleakly neglected that I had to resist the urge to flip forward to find out whether I was in for 400 pages of adults behaving badly and an 11-year-old girl coping as well as she can. The eventual crisis between Harriet and Gennedy does not have the impact it could because Gennedy is pretty static through the first half of the novel. In fact, most of the novel's adults don't undergo the character development that I hoped for. But I stuck with this book, and I'm glad I did. Harriet and Irwin are such beautifully nuanced, memorable, sad, yet surprisingly hopeful characters that the final pages of the novel left me sobbing. And if you have any heart at all, this novel will leave you in tears, too. Go read it already.
I requested the ARC of this book from netgalley because of the gorgeous title and cover. And I didn't regret it at all. Reading this book is a great experience. At first, I was wary about this because it contains some profanity and there seems no decency in the life of the characters. All the characters don't seem likable too. But it gets better, way much better. I understand why Harriet hated her life and wanted to escape. I understand why Irwin can't move on after what happened with Harriet. I even understand Lynne's position. And I really wish I could be much better parent than all parents in this book.
I learned this: Suffering a hard life gradually changes people, bit by bit, it always does. At first you think you can still bear their changes, but you wake up one day and suddenly there are too many things on them that irritate you. So your attitude toward this person becomes bad, and because they feel like you don't respect them, they become even more irritating. The only way to fix that is by telling this person the truth, why you don't like some of the things they do, and also letting them know that you're willing to change your attitude too. Don't show hate. If they can see you change, and feel loved, I believe they will gradually change to be good again. I totally learned a lot about children and parents relationship from this book :')
I learned this: Suffering a hard life gradually changes people, bit by bit, it always does. At first you think you can still bear their changes, but you wake up one day and suddenly there are too many things on them that irritate you. So your attitude toward this person becomes bad, and because they feel like you don't respect them, they become even more irritating. The only way to fix that is by telling this person the truth, why you don't like some of the things they do, and also letting them know that you're willing to change your attitude too. Don't show hate. If they can see you change, and feel loved, I believe they will gradually change to be good again. I totally learned a lot about children and parents relationship from this book :')
On the Shores of Darkness, There Is Light by Cordelia Strube
Narrated by Michelle Monteith and Scott Gorman
Eleven year old Harriet had to become "the" adult in her family once her brother Irwin was born with hydrocephalus, six years ago. First her mother quit her job and lived at the hospital while her dad used excuses to never go there. Later Irwin is in and out of the hospital and emergency room, living with the ever present threat of seizures and infections. From the time that Harriet's mom refused to allow Irwin to die, Harriet no longer had someone to take care of her and put her first. Instead she is taking care of them, the residents of Shangrila, full of old people, her absent minded grandmother, and Irwin, who adores Harriet with all his heart. Dad is now on the sidelines with his new wife and their expensive IVF treatments.
Harriet is a dumpster diving mixed media artist and everyone but Irwin is disturbed by her violent, strange artwork. I loved hearing about her art, her reasons for creating each piece, the meaning of the colors she used to create her masterpieces and her plans to run away so she can live alone and create art in peace. Somewhere in all of this, she is ready for Irwin to die, he's going to die anyway, and she thinks the time is very close. She knows she shouldn't think this way but Harriet is a worn out and used up and she wants to leave this world, one way or another.
This is an extremely snarky, caustic, crude, gross, funny, sad, profanity laced story of a young girl whose five year old brother is her world and her albatross. She struggles through each day with the chorus of pleas, admonitions, and demands from the elderly poor citizens of her apartment building and being ignored in the most important ways by parents that she most desperately needs to notice and care about her. I love Harriet and her five year old brother and can see the bright future ahead for this smart, creative, precocious girl.
Something happens and things change, some things continue the way they always have, other things are gone forever. The profanity and crude body talk was almost too much for me but the story is worth any discomfort. For all the arguing, complaining, and absentminded neglect in the story, there is also love.
Published 2016 by ECW Press
Thank you to ECW Press Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.
Narrated by Michelle Monteith and Scott Gorman
Eleven year old Harriet had to become "the" adult in her family once her brother Irwin was born with hydrocephalus, six years ago. First her mother quit her job and lived at the hospital while her dad used excuses to never go there. Later Irwin is in and out of the hospital and emergency room, living with the ever present threat of seizures and infections. From the time that Harriet's mom refused to allow Irwin to die, Harriet no longer had someone to take care of her and put her first. Instead she is taking care of them, the residents of Shangrila, full of old people, her absent minded grandmother, and Irwin, who adores Harriet with all his heart. Dad is now on the sidelines with his new wife and their expensive IVF treatments.
Harriet is a dumpster diving mixed media artist and everyone but Irwin is disturbed by her violent, strange artwork. I loved hearing about her art, her reasons for creating each piece, the meaning of the colors she used to create her masterpieces and her plans to run away so she can live alone and create art in peace. Somewhere in all of this, she is ready for Irwin to die, he's going to die anyway, and she thinks the time is very close. She knows she shouldn't think this way but Harriet is a worn out and used up and she wants to leave this world, one way or another.
This is an extremely snarky, caustic, crude, gross, funny, sad, profanity laced story of a young girl whose five year old brother is her world and her albatross. She struggles through each day with the chorus of pleas, admonitions, and demands from the elderly poor citizens of her apartment building and being ignored in the most important ways by parents that she most desperately needs to notice and care about her. I love Harriet and her five year old brother and can see the bright future ahead for this smart, creative, precocious girl.
Something happens and things change, some things continue the way they always have, other things are gone forever. The profanity and crude body talk was almost too much for me but the story is worth any discomfort. For all the arguing, complaining, and absentminded neglect in the story, there is also love.
Published 2016 by ECW Press
Thank you to ECW Press Audio and NetGalley for this ARC.
A heartbreaking and humorous novel about an eleven-year-old girl named Harriet. She’s desperate to express herself through her art and forever misunderstood. As she dreams of running away she tries to survive her difficult parents (and I mean difficult), take care of her sick brother, and run errands for the seniors in her building. Her very existence is a fine balance and Strube holds nothing back – this book can take you from crying to laughing and back again in the turn of a page.
Originally posted at Women Write About Comics
Originally posted at Women Write About Comics
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Medical trauma
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Violence
Review originally published 31 March 2016 at Falling Letters. I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley.
adored Harriet. Although she finds herself in a bleak and seemingly loveless home life, she has a strong go-getter personality. She makes the best of situations you'd wish children never found themselves in. It's definitely heartbreaking how most of the adults in her life are so clueless about her. It sobered me up to think there are many adults in the world who must be just like the ones in this book, so self-absorbed and ignorant. I wonder what would happen if someone like Uma or Gennedy read this book...That being said, there are moments when you realize the adults might have more going on to explain their vapidity than Harriet can understand. The characters (which include a motley bunch of seniors and a welcoming Filipino family) are what I enjoyed most about this novel. Strube knows her craft well. Harriet is the star, of course, so unfortunately I found the novel lost some of its appeal when the third person narrative shifted from Harriet's perspective to Irwin. He doesn't have her perspective or spunk so the narration slowed down for me in his half of the book. I find this a difficult book to review without spoilers. If you have read anything by Strube, or about her works, I think I can just say that it seems this one falls in line with the others.
Bottom Line: A vivid and moving read distinguished by clearly drawn characters, but not for those who prefer more light than dark in their stories. The second pat falls a bit short of the first.
adored Harriet. Although she finds herself in a bleak and seemingly loveless home life, she has a strong go-getter personality. She makes the best of situations you'd wish children never found themselves in. It's definitely heartbreaking how most of the adults in her life are so clueless about her. It sobered me up to think there are many adults in the world who must be just like the ones in this book, so self-absorbed and ignorant. I wonder what would happen if someone like Uma or Gennedy read this book...That being said, there are moments when you realize the adults might have more going on to explain their vapidity than Harriet can understand. The characters (which include a motley bunch of seniors and a welcoming Filipino family) are what I enjoyed most about this novel. Strube knows her craft well. Harriet is the star, of course, so unfortunately I found the novel lost some of its appeal when the third person narrative shifted from Harriet's perspective to Irwin. He doesn't have her perspective or spunk so the narration slowed down for me in his half of the book. I find this a difficult book to review without spoilers. If you have read anything by Strube, or about her works, I think I can just say that it seems this one falls in line with the others.
Bottom Line: A vivid and moving read distinguished by clearly drawn characters, but not for those who prefer more light than dark in their stories. The second pat falls a bit short of the first.
Halfway through this book I planned to write a one-word review: depressing. (I also considered throwing it across the room
and giving up there, but I'm glad I didn't.) It is depressing, but it's also more than that. It's unlike any book I've ever read. I read this because of a bad joke on the first page about 11yo Harriet wishing she'd snuffed out her younger brother when he was a baby--a grumpy-kid sentiment that seemed equally appalling and amusing. It quickly became less of both. These kids have it rough.
and giving up there, but I'm glad I didn't.) It is depressing, but it's also more than that. It's unlike any book I've ever read. I read this because of a bad joke on the first page about 11yo Harriet wishing she'd snuffed out her younger brother when he was a baby--a grumpy-kid sentiment that seemed equally appalling and amusing. It quickly became less of both. These kids have it rough.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes