Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

4 reviews

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

I am glad I didn't give up on this book (I almost did halfway through). This was a unique and beautiful story. It's written in both first person (from Vivian's perspective) and third person (from Molly's perspective), which may be jarring for some folks.

I almost gave up on the book because of Molly's chapters, as I believe Kline is better at writing from Vivian's side than Molly's. Molly is in no way a bad character; I enjoy her. But I think because Molly is a 17-year-old, Kline didn't quite catch the nuisances of being a teenager (yes, even in 2011, because I was the same age as Molly).

I have a lot of thoughts, some of which contain spoilers:
- Dina was a bitch, followed closely by Mrs. Byrnes. However, Dina is something else. She did not care about Molly (despite agreeing to foster her) whatsoever and was clearly a mean girl growing up. She specifically states that
she's glad Jack's mom is cleaning for Vivian and got knocked up by an 'illegal immigrant'
. She is supposed to be a kind, caring person supposedly to the town as a dispatcher, but lacks complete empathy. Molly is also a vegetarian, yet Dina refuses to buy food Molly can eat? I know other people in the story are worse in the grand scheme of things, but at least they KNOW they're bad. Dina thinks she's fucking high and mighty.
- On that note, the two men who are probably supposed to mirror each other, Ralph (Dina's husband) and Mr. Byrnes refuse to stand up to their wives and let Molly or Vivian experience some semblance of love or care.
- The only reason I give Mrs. Byrnes more of a pass than Dina is because Mrs. B is from 1929 where information about how to be a good person is probably far and few between. What is Dina's excuse? However, Mrs. B
locks up the fridge, feeds the girls sad slop, and makes Vivian sleep in the hallway, and the bathroom is outside although there is a bathroom inside

- I'm not sure what Jack's, Molly's boyfriend, deal was towards the end of the book. It was weird he
was mad at Molly for talking with Vivian, the woman she's supposed to spend 50 hours with to not go to juvie
.
-
I am so glad that Nimah-Vivian and Dutchy-Luke were able to be together at the end; I know it's a weird thing to root for them to end up together but it was nice
.
- I don't mind sexual scenes in books but the way Kline wrote about
Molly and Jack teasing each other in Jack's car didn't sit right with me and around the time I was considering dropping the book
.
- Molly gets in trouble for
stealing a library book
and is
almost sent to juvie
. There must have been other issues brewing for that extreme of a reaction but really? Come on now.
- Molly and Vivian experience
sexual assault
. Molly's is written in passing (
she was coerced into sex for a tattoo and still thinks she lost her virginity that way
) while Vivian's experience is in much more detail.
- The Grote's are also awful in their own way, but they both knew they were awful at least. Mrs. Grote had depression (clearly) and Mr. Grote was
a pedophile
.
- Once meeting a teacher (
Miss Larsen
), everything seems to be going in the right direction for Vivian. I think most people who read this book will like the characters introduced after Vivian meets the teacher.
- Lastly, it was fun to see similarities in other media I have read. The teacher could have been
Kirsten Larson from American Girl, well, at least Kirsten's grandchild if she somehow kept her last name but changed the spelling; or I guess Lars or Peter's grandchild
; Vivian could have met
Rose from 'The Golden Girls' due to going to college in St. Olaf, as anyone a fan of the show would know Rose grew up
.

Clearly, I like this book. If you like historical fiction, I think you'll enjoy this one.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful informative fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Expand filter menu Content Warnings