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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
“Dear Mama, What does it mean that I am certain you are with me? Sometimes I doubt God, but never you.”
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
An ambitious historical fiction with elements of magical realism. Set in the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska between two real life climatological catastrophes; the Black Sunday duststorm on April 14, 1935, and the Republican River flood on May 31, 1935. In the intervening days we are immersed in the stories of a number of Uz residents. Each has an important place in the big picture of the story, but sometimes all of their individual plotlines seemed incongruous to the larger narrative. Big topics are addressed in this highly imaginative book, including the mistreatment of multiple classes of people - among them immigrants, women, blacks, and native Americans. It illustrates how the mistakes of the past will repeat when they are not remembered, or are deliberately erased, and humanity pays a heavy toll for this often intentional refusal to learn the lessons of history. "But when many thousands of us decide to forget the same truths, what happens? Look at what is happening to the soil without roots. We are the children of these crimes of memory, and we go on committing them." The tension slowly mounts as the book progresses - people pushed to the limit by nature's dry, harsh wind. Nerves fray, tempers flash, guilt and fear and anger build to an explosive climax. "In the Book of Job, what God reveals inside the whirlwind cannot be written down. The omission made more sense to me now, listening to birdsong. Already, God has translated the answer into everything living. It was Job's ears that needed tuning. The whirlwind gave Job a powerful instruction, and so did the great quiet left in its wake. The silence of God is not so silent after all. It is teaching me how to listen." This is a dark, heavy, fantastical, hopeful book - not a feel-good story, but an important one, one that leaves a lasting impression.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-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
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated