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A review by sarahetc
Once Upon a Summer by Janette Oke
3.0
I think that there are two ways you could go with this. You could be touched and pleasant and say it's a sweet story about a little boy and the family he loves across a very important summer. Or you could be over it and say it's a treacly story about an idealized past written in such overweening dialect it's barely readable. I'll come down in between.
The story itself is sweet-- Joshua is young, maybe 10 and concerned with the things of a 10 year old in what seems to be the late 19th or early 20th century. He gets his chores done so he can go fishing and wishes he had a dog. His family is hodgepodged together after several tragic deaths, including his parents. He's being raised by his grandfather, very young aunt, and great-uncle. He learns a lot about life and God by watching the adults around him try to do their best.
But the dialect. "Jest" and "iffen" and not a g to be found on any gerund standing. It's legitimately difficult to read. Add to that a first-person limited point of view and the story itself is so much background noise to Joshua's little boy contemplation. It's focused, certainly, but not enjoyable.
The story itself is sweet-- Joshua is young, maybe 10 and concerned with the things of a 10 year old in what seems to be the late 19th or early 20th century. He gets his chores done so he can go fishing and wishes he had a dog. His family is hodgepodged together after several tragic deaths, including his parents. He's being raised by his grandfather, very young aunt, and great-uncle. He learns a lot about life and God by watching the adults around him try to do their best.
But the dialect. "Jest" and "iffen" and not a g to be found on any gerund standing. It's legitimately difficult to read. Add to that a first-person limited point of view and the story itself is so much background noise to Joshua's little boy contemplation. It's focused, certainly, but not enjoyable.