In the second of a projected four episodes, medievalist Jinks sends her wise-guy squire Pagan Kidrouk and his beloved, sternly moral Knight Templar Sir Roland Roucy de Bram, from Jerusalem, which has just been retaken by Saladin, to Roland’s native Languedoc. The two crusaders arrive to find the de Brams, a brutal, dysfunctional family if ever there was one, engaged in an escalating feud with the local monastery. Without slowing the plot down a whit, the author limns her 12th-century setting in extensive, usually stomach-wrenching, detail; through Pagan’s eyes the castle-dwellers live in disgusting, almost comic squalor, their mores and behavior seeming all the more vicious in contrast to that of a small, pious (doomed) community of “heretic” Cathars dwelling nearby. Despite Roland’s best efforts, events spiral into a series of bloodbaths that leave him and Pagan both broken-hearted, ready to take up a monastic life rather than stay in their violent world. Readers will laugh and weep along with these vividly rendered wanderers. (glossary) (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-7636-2020-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2003
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
When Clara Luna, 14, visits rural Mexico for the summer to visit the paternal grandparents she has never met, she cannot know her trip will involve an emotional and spiritual journey into her family’s past and a deep connection to a rich heritage of which she was barely aware. Long estranged from his parents, Clara’s father had entered the U.S. illegally years before, subsequently becoming a successful business owner who never spoke about what he left behind. Clara’s journey into her grandmother’s history (told in alternating chapters with Clara’s own first-person narrative) and her discovery that she, like her grandmother and ancestors, has a gift for healing, awakens her to the simple, mystical joys of a rural lifestyle she comes to love and wholly embrace. Painfully aware of not fitting into suburban teen life in her native Maryland, Clara awakens to feeling alive in Mexico and realizes a sweet first love with Pedro, a charming goat herder. Beautifully written, this is filled with evocative language that is rich in imagery and nuance and speaks to the connections that bind us all. Add a thrilling adventure and all the makings of an entrancing read are here. (glossaries) (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-73343-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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