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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
A beautiful, poignant YA novel; Woodson doing what she does best, which is examining a life post-trauma and showing readers that rebuilding is never easy but always possible and so very worthwhile. Deals with a number of issues - religion, police violence, racism, adolescence - with thoughtfulness and quiet courtesy. Another reason why Jacqueline Woodson is one of my personal favorite authors.
I love books that blur the line between fiction and autobiography, and this one does that. It also confirms that Jacqueline Woodson is an excellent tale-weaver and always has been!
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
In Hush, a family is in a witness protection program after a very difficult time in their lives. Everything is stripped away and their family begins to unravel. This is a bit of a tear-jerker as the main character struggles with so much. It becomes more hopeful at the end, but the beginning is a serious downer.
Hush is one of my favorites by Jacqueline Woodson. It's got all the hallmarks of her writing: deals with real, painful stuff; explores the depths of family, race, region, religion, and growing up. You get the sense that these stories are somehow real -- like they weren't made up with a tidy beginning, middle, and end, but that we've been given a glimpse at a bigger story playing out, the privilege to walk with these characters for awhile, and then we say goodbye, but their story keeps going on. I always feel like there's was a lot more left for them to experience, I just won't get to be there for it. Jacqueline Woodson is one of the most gifted writers of our generation -- I'm glad I get to be here for it.
This is an entirely beautiful book, and the sort of beauty that leaves you with tears stinging your eyes, and a sense of melancholy, but also promise and hope, all blurred into one incredibly complicated, overpowering emotion. I am amazed that the author achieved this, and in so few pages.
The story is told through the eyes of a girl. She's about twelve years old when her father, a cop, witnesses the murder of a young black boy, by two police officers on duty. He makes the difficult decision to testify against them. Woodson explores the dynamics of this event with so much emotional depth, and helps you deeply think about justice from so many angles, and how justice keeps feeling unjust, as it ripples.
The main character works through the ramifications of her father's decision, as her family is relocated, and have to literally evolve their identities. I love the way the author utilizes running as a metaphor for Toswiah's experience, and how we find things that save us, even when it seems like salvation is the least possible thing.
The story is told through the eyes of a girl. She's about twelve years old when her father, a cop, witnesses the murder of a young black boy, by two police officers on duty. He makes the difficult decision to testify against them. Woodson explores the dynamics of this event with so much emotional depth, and helps you deeply think about justice from so many angles, and how justice keeps feeling unjust, as it ripples.
The main character works through the ramifications of her father's decision, as her family is relocated, and have to literally evolve their identities. I love the way the author utilizes running as a metaphor for Toswiah's experience, and how we find things that save us, even when it seems like salvation is the least possible thing.