In this haunting, eloquent story, the barriers between inner and outer vision dissolve as a young immigrant loses the men she holds dear during the Civil War. Working as a barmaid at The Shinny, making lace by the yard in her spare time, and living in Swampoodle, a Washington, D.C. slum, Mairhe (pronounced ``Moira'') is filled with waking and sleeping dreams of her carefree, laughing brother Mike, who enlists without thinking of the effect it would have on her or their brokenhearted Da. Mairhe's days and dreams are also filled with the muddy, soldier-filled, brawling city itself: its gossip, love of contention, and sights both grand and ghastly. In between glimpses of Lincoln and repeated encounters with a slightly larger-than-life Walt Whitman, readers will get a strong sense of the febrile energy that animated (and still animates) the nation's capital, as well as a grounding in some enduring racial and political issues. Armstrong (Black-Eyed Susan, 1995, etc.) mixes vision and reality with breathtaking virtuosity—in one brilliant episode a St. Patrick's Day celebration at The Shinny is seamlessly intercut with a bloody battle being fought simultaneously miles away—salting Mairhe's narrative with poetic turns of phrase, snatches of song, story, and history. The Irish characters here are despised and displaced—having left one home behind, they have yet to find another. After Mike dies at Gettysburg, Mairhe sells her lace to buy Da passage back to Ireland, and discovers herself at last: ``bright as a star, delicate as lace, strong as a dream.'' So is her story. (Fiction. 11+)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-679-88152-2
Page Count: 119
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1996
When Death tells a story, you pay attention. Liesel Meminger is a young girl growing up outside of Munich in Nazi Germany, and Death tells her story as “an attempt—a flying jump of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.” When her foster father helps her learn to read and she discovers the power of words, Liesel begins stealing books from Nazi book burnings and the mayor’s wife’s library. As she becomes a better reader, she becomes a writer, writing a book about her life in such a miserable time. Liesel’s experiences move Death to say, “I am haunted by humans.” How could the human race be “so ugly and so glorious” at the same time? This big, expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. Even at its length, it’s a work to read slowly and savor. Beautiful and important. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: March 14, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83100-2
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point.
After Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin.
The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. For months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp “Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyne’s narrative; others will believe it was the wrong choice.
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-75106-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
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