Heaven, Book 1

I Picked Up This Book Because: Picked up from the library for a Black History Month Readathon.

The Characters:

Marley:
Moms, Pops, Butchy, Uncle Jack

The Story:

I didn’t understand what was going on in this book, so much so that I skipped from page 86 to the last chapter in the book. It’s full of I guess poetic prose but to me it’s full of half thoughts and half stories. I prefer my writing more straight forward.

From what I gather, Marly is a young lady living in the town of Heaven. Through a happenstance she finds out her world isn’t really what she thought it was. (view spoiler) Marley understandably has a lot of emotions about this. In the end she seems to come to peace with her past and is looking forward to the future.

The Random Thoughts:



The Score Card:



2.5 Stars

Citation:

I'm pretty sure most of the Charles de Lint I've read can be traced back to John Jude Palencar's gorgeous covers. I'm not exactly enamored of de Lint's writing, but I don't think he's a bad writer or anything. I like how humane he is -- there is something very kind and gentle about his storytelling style -- but there's also something essentially dorky that embarrasses me. Like when I'd go to the grocery store with my parents, and my dad would run into sixteen people he knew and then there's be a huge conversation about local politics and whatnot, and I'd just die. My dad wasn't doing anything wrong -- probably he was doing something right -- but come onnnnnn let's gooooo. Doesn't exactly speak well of me, but there you have it.

 

Cover for de Lint's Portraits of the Heart

 

Cover for de Lint's Muse and Reverie, for which he won the Hamilton King Award

 

Hell, the fact that Eragon has a Palencar cover was not an insignificant factor in my reading that hilarious nonsense.The Eragon covers aren't my favorite of his stuff, nor are they exactly representational. But I like how the dragon portraits have this edge of goofiness. That they're framed like traditional portraiture is a very funny choice, when you think about it. Usually dragons are depicted with their whole bodies, often in motion, whereas Saphira is side-eyeing the viewer. It's like she's in a school photo or in a light box in Sears, which is adorably awkward and almost sly. 

 

 

Palencar has covered roughly a thousand books so far in his career. I've since wised up to buying de Lint titles solely on the strength of their covers -- check the reviews first, stupid! -- but there are a lot more books out there to tempt me. The Kushiel's Dart series, for example, I know I should stay away from, but good lord do the covers tempt me. 

 

 

Damn you, John Jude Palencar. 

 

 

 

I expected a lot more from this book.
Having been in a situation similar to Marley's, I felt I'd be able to really appreciate and understand the story.
Also, I like Angela Johnson's writing and the book got a Coretta Scott King award.
Sadly, I wasn't impressed by this particular story.
I remember what it had felt like to find out my parents weren't who I'd thought. It's a really big thing to take on as a young person and there's a lot of reconfiguration of life, beliefs and...well, everything. I didn't feel Marley's character adequately portrayed the inner turmoil that shakes a girl up when she finds out she's not who she thought. Granted, some of that did come through, but it felt quick and painless, almost glossed-over.
I expected to learn more about her relationship with Sugar, about Sugar's relationship with her family, about Feather's mother. I just wanted there to be more and it seemed too pat, too sweet, too dream-like, where everything's pretty and nothing means anything.