Rated  of 5
by Betsey Van Horn
Implausible, pandering--but with panache and beutiful writing
The writing is intelligent, the pace like a good, healthy jog. I have two minds about this book. Was it deep tasty chocolate, or plastic fruit? I could not put it down--it IS somewhat like good TV and is obviously written with cinema in mind. I also did care about the characters very much because Patchett has a knack for writing about people's psychological bearing and emotional state. And there are lovely descriptions with imagery that made me float through the story with ease.
The plot line has already been laid out well enough in the editorial reviews. Although highly coincidental, I would not have minded that at all--that can make for good storytelling--which it does. But there is another aspect to her writing--the pandering. It peals loudly. The 11-yr old girl, Kenya, has thoughts and actions like a 30-yr old. Even if she were a veritable genius, the sophistication of psychological insight would not be possible. I frequently groaned when Kenya was around.
I felt that the characters were essentially tools for Patchett's larger purpose--to tell this story and to weave some nice imagery along the way. But, I felt that when she was depicting the African American characters, she made them either cardboard or fatuously heroic (the tiny flaws only adding to their heroism)and was concerned about being politically correct. Her white characters suffered from the same whimpy characterizations, except for the old priest Sullivan. However, I felt he was also a tool, a vehicle for the story.
Despite these ghastly flaws, I still loved the story. The pace, the snow imagery, and the fact that even with all this confection there was a beautiful story involved--I ran right through it in two sittings. Guilty as charged. |
of 5
by MCM 
of 5
by GPL 
