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bethgiven 's review for:
Moon Over Manifest
by Clare Vanderpool
I was hoping for a lot from this book. The idea seems right up my alley: it's historical fiction, and even more than that, the narrator is on her own journey into the past. I just love that whole the-past-enriches-the-present theme. And besides, this is a Newbery book!
Well, as much as I did like the last hundred pages or so (lots of loose ends tied in up in surprising ways), the first two-thirds of the book was just s-l-o-w. The narrator Abilene felt really two-dimensional to me, thinking lots of things that I couldn't imagine a twelve-year-old thinking. And what's with her instant sidekicks, Lettie and Ruthann? Did they just have nothing going on until Abilene moved into town and set them loose on a twenty-five-year-old mystery?
Besides the unbelievable-character thing, I had a hard time of keeping track of all that was in the story. There were two generations' worth of townsfolk to remember, and they were dealing with the Depression, World War I, Prohibition, orphan trains, the Ku Klux Klan, Ellis Island, life in a mining town, and the Spanish Influenza. Really.
And one more issue I had (and still have, actually): why is like time suspended between 1918 and 1937? It's like nothing happened in between.
But putting all these grievances aside, I'll reiterate that the ending *was* really quite good. I really do like the whole past-enriching-the-present theme, not to mention the ideas of home and friendship and love that helped tie it all together. I might even up the star-rating in a couple of days as I think on this some more.
Well, as much as I did like the last hundred pages or so (lots of loose ends tied in up in surprising ways), the first two-thirds of the book was just s-l-o-w. The narrator Abilene felt really two-dimensional to me, thinking lots of things that I couldn't imagine a twelve-year-old thinking. And what's with her instant sidekicks, Lettie and Ruthann? Did they just have nothing going on until Abilene moved into town and set them loose on a twenty-five-year-old mystery?
Besides the unbelievable-character thing, I had a hard time of keeping track of all that was in the story. There were two generations' worth of townsfolk to remember, and they were dealing with the Depression, World War I, Prohibition, orphan trains, the Ku Klux Klan, Ellis Island, life in a mining town, and the Spanish Influenza. Really.
And one more issue I had (and still have, actually): why is like time suspended between 1918 and 1937? It's like nothing happened in between.
But putting all these grievances aside, I'll reiterate that the ending *was* really quite good. I really do like the whole past-enriching-the-present theme, not to mention the ideas of home and friendship and love that helped tie it all together. I might even up the star-rating in a couple of days as I think on this some more.