Asta in the Wings: Summary and book reviews of Asta in the Wings by Jan Elizabeth Watson, plus links to an excerpt from Asta in the Wings and a biography of Jan Elizabeth Watson.
Asta in the Wings is a poignant and often darkly funny story narrated by Asta Hewitt, a resourceful seven-year-old growing up in an isolated house in Bond Brook, Maine. Shut off from the outside world and restricted to the company of a delusional mother and a bookish older brother, Asta is content to be part of a "society of three," constructing fanciful, theatrical worlds of their own. When circumstances push her into a strange outside world—with all of its discontents—Asta must find a way to assimilate while remaining true to herself and her fractured family.
Such is the strength of Watson's writing, and the immediacy of Asta's narration, that you can't help but be drawn deep into the terrible reality of the book... An early review called this "a gem of a book" and I would agree. (Reviewed by Vy Armour).
Powells - Sheila Ashdown
Much to her credit, Watson doesn't allow the reader to make an easy, black-and-white judgment that society is "good" and isolation is "bad." ... the story is beautifully devoid of grown-up editorializing. It is neither accusatory nor confessional. She doesn't blame her mother for anything; she doesn't position herself as a victim. What she does is give an expressive, authentic rendering of childhood through a child's eyes, at a time when her mother and brother are, literally, her entire world.
The Portland Phoenix - Nina MacLaughlin
The mysteries and ambiguities that Watson creates, raising questions and not trying to answer them—is what powers the novel.
Library Journal - Maureen Neville
An unusual novel; recommended for larger public libraries.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Asta's narration is full of the wonderment and matter-of-factness of youth, and her eye-opening trip into reality is flawlessly executed by Watson.
Booklist
Starred Review. A cleverly constructed, beautifully written first novel from a gifted new writer.
Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street
In Asta in The Wings Jan Elizabeth Watson has created one of the most appealing fictional heroines I've encountered in a long time. Asta is brave, resourceful, intelligent, and loyal. She also happens to be seven years old, which means she's at the mercy of the unreliable adults who rule her world. The result is a vivid and suspenseful narrative where, over and over again, Asta shows us the world from her own very particular angle. A highly original debut.
Aryn Kyle, author of The God of Animals
Like Alice after tumbling down the rabbit hole, Asta takes us on a journey through a confounding world filled with remarkable characters. A compassionate tale mixed with hope and sorrow, Asta In the Wings evokes both the tenderness and the danger of one child's struggle to find a place for herself in a world she is only beginning to understand. It's a gem of a book.
In homage to her obsession with movies, Asta's mother has named her after the wire-haired terrier in a series of six comic-detective films inspired by Dashiell Hammett's last novel, The Thin Man. In the films, William Powell and Myrna Loy play Nick and Nora Charles, a witty couple who solve crimes, engage in snappy banter and imbibe numerous cocktails. The first movie (The Thin Man, 1934) was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture. The low-budget MGM film was shot in fourteen days and earned over $2 million. Its sequel, After the Thin Man (1936), was the first sequel ever to be nominated for Best Picture.
In the Wings
When Asta and Orion accidentally fall through a broken floorboard, they land in a strange part of their house they have never seen before. It then becomes their passage and exit to the outside world. In that space, trying to make sense of where she is, Asta is reminded of her mother's words about the wings of the theatre, "That area...
The stories in A Better Angel describe the terrain of human suffering—illness, regret, mourning, sympathy—in the most unusual of ways - by turns heartbreaking, magical, and darkly comic.
This witty and lovingly told memoir takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period--people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.
These are 2 of the 8 readalike suggestions for Asta in the Wings. Members have full access to all readalikes. If you are a member, please login. To find out more about membership, click here.
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Two Lives is a memoir written by international best-selling author, Vikram Seth. In this interesting and engaging book, Seth writes about his great...
read more
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
read more
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
read more
Judge rules unused Borders gift cards to be worthless(May 23 2013) Borders owes nothing to holders of roughly $210.5 million of gift cards that had not been used by the time the bookstore chain shut down, a Manhattan federal...
Full Story
BookBrowse
(1183 words).
Library Journal - Maureen Neville
Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street
