Couldn't resist this thin little book with "ocean" in the title and picked it up one day in the library with my girls. It's a take on the Tom Thumb story, which I have never read, and is translated from the original French. This is the tale of a family of 3 sets of twin boys and their small, small brother on the run from abusive parents. I like the way the chapters change points of view, one of my favorite literary devices. We hear from each of the brothers in turn, as well as other adults who all play parts in the boys' journey. It gets weird in the last quarter, made me not care so much. And for a book called Pull of the Ocean, didn't have enough ocean pull for me. It's an okay read for ages 12 and up, but I didn't recommend it to Olivia (11 years), because it's a little grim.
3 comments:
This sounds like an interesting pick for (older) kids. Christine, have you read Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury? He changes points of view in that book too. What are your favorite books where this literary device is used?
I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns, which was great, but I think it served pretty much the same purpose as The Kite Runner. I enjoyed it as fiction in and of itself, and it made me more aware, from a civilian point-of-view, of what is going on in Afghanistan. Although it made me more acutely aware of how the Taliban's treatment of women affected entire families, which is something The Kite Runner didn't have.
I'm thinking of picking up The Age of the Unthinkable next, which is about how so much of the world is currently in flux (the environment, terrorism, the economy, etc.), and how to process it all.
Christine-
I just finished reading Alex & Me. It reminded me of Nim Chimpsky in 3 ways: Animals are smarter than we think; animals & humans form intense two-way bonds; funding for academic research sucks.
Lisa- I loved Thousand Splendid Suns!
I just started A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, about the mathematician who broke the Enigma Code during WWII.
Lisa, I've not read any Faulkner ever! I can't think of other examples of that literary device right now except for the young adult novel The Pigman by Zindel. I'll bet others could list lots, but I'm drawing a blank. . .
Nice to see you here again, Mary!
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