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A review by thelizabeth
Stones for My Father by Trilby Kent
3.0
Won this book in LibraryThing's Early Reviewers giveaway. I like when that happens!
For the most part, you get what you expect here, some straightforward children's historical fiction. (Technically: I suppose this is a middle-grade book.) As a kid myself I read lots and lots and lots of this genre, and though I loved it greatly, what I remember reading doesn't stand out in memory as very unique. Like anything I guess, it can be a pat genre, and I expected a lot of that from this book. Mostly due to the title, really, and the subject matter. I expected downtrodden victimhood in abundance, and lots of showy research about native African life, and wasn't sure there was required to be a lot more than that.
I also genuinely wanted to learn about the Boer War — my knowledge of it was pretty much at a children's-novel level already, and I expected to see a bit more information on the context of the war. Perhaps the problem is that it really was as simple as it sounds here, but I don't think that's necessarily true. There is some attempt to convey the nasty sides of the good guys and the noble sides of the bad guys, which is an excellent plan, but I found myself feeling confused by the lack of real information: What was really the situation in the camp? (Why did I find out the most from the epilogue and not the narrative?) And what did it mean when Corlie tossed off an explanation of the custom of having an African playmate "gifted" to "most Boer children"? That is a pretty huge concept to take in, actually! Hold on, give me more than two sentences! (Why can't I find more information about that anywhere? Particularly, in the book?)
So the first half of the book, a little eh. Everything is totally ok, but it didn't accomplish terribly much. But a lot of my reservations lifted late in the book. I didn't at all expect the turn that things take in the internment camp, which made things much darker and more interesting than the plain, bleak tragedy I anticipated. And in addition, Corlie ends the book in a much different situation than I imagined she would. That was pretty great.
I do kind of have an axe to grind with youth fiction that explains away the difficult behavior of adults with a simple 11:00 revelation of backstory. Very, very many books work this way, and I know it makes sense in many ways and most often isn't bad. But it usually disappoints me a little — I find it false. Sometimes I think the challenge should be met of bringing across the truth, that adults and parents just sometimes are difficult. And sometimes, you'll never know why.
So I was interested by this, watching Corlie deal with her mother's scorn throughout the book, contrasted with the intentional show of preference for her brothers. It stung, and sometimes this really happens in families, not just in historical fiction. So in some ways I was a bit deflated when this situation is circumscribed by some late backstory from Corlie's aunt. I do like where it led, but convenience isn't an attractive quality in a narrative. Even for children.
So. A bit of both here. But I'd be glad for the book to go out to many readers. It's extremely quick, illustrative of its setting, and ultimately the story is a good one.
For the most part, you get what you expect here, some straightforward children's historical fiction. (Technically: I suppose this is a middle-grade book.) As a kid myself I read lots and lots and lots of this genre, and though I loved it greatly, what I remember reading doesn't stand out in memory as very unique. Like anything I guess, it can be a pat genre, and I expected a lot of that from this book. Mostly due to the title, really, and the subject matter. I expected downtrodden victimhood in abundance, and lots of showy research about native African life, and wasn't sure there was required to be a lot more than that.
I also genuinely wanted to learn about the Boer War — my knowledge of it was pretty much at a children's-novel level already, and I expected to see a bit more information on the context of the war. Perhaps the problem is that it really was as simple as it sounds here, but I don't think that's necessarily true. There is some attempt to convey the nasty sides of the good guys and the noble sides of the bad guys, which is an excellent plan, but I found myself feeling confused by the lack of real information: What was really the situation in the camp? (Why did I find out the most from the epilogue and not the narrative?) And what did it mean when Corlie tossed off an explanation of the custom of having an African playmate "gifted" to "most Boer children"? That is a pretty huge concept to take in, actually! Hold on, give me more than two sentences! (Why can't I find more information about that anywhere? Particularly, in the book?)
So the first half of the book, a little eh. Everything is totally ok, but it didn't accomplish terribly much. But a lot of my reservations lifted late in the book. I didn't at all expect the turn that things take in the internment camp, which made things much darker and more interesting than the plain, bleak tragedy I anticipated. And in addition, Corlie ends the book in a much different situation than I imagined she would. That was pretty great.
I do kind of have an axe to grind with youth fiction that explains away the difficult behavior of adults with a simple 11:00 revelation of backstory. Very, very many books work this way, and I know it makes sense in many ways and most often isn't bad. But it usually disappoints me a little — I find it false. Sometimes I think the challenge should be met of bringing across the truth, that adults and parents just sometimes are difficult. And sometimes, you'll never know why.
So I was interested by this, watching Corlie deal with her mother's scorn throughout the book, contrasted with the intentional show of preference for her brothers. It stung, and sometimes this really happens in families, not just in historical fiction. So in some ways I was a bit deflated when this situation is circumscribed by some late backstory from Corlie's aunt. I do like where it led, but convenience isn't an attractive quality in a narrative. Even for children.
So. A bit of both here. But I'd be glad for the book to go out to many readers. It's extremely quick, illustrative of its setting, and ultimately the story is a good one.