Emily Norton Norton itibaren Fântânele 317120, Romanya
i read this one and passed it right along, in the spirit by which it came to me. this is a serious must-read. it helps people who are not in the lowest rungs of society to feel what it might be like, using personal characterizations of one individual's deep rapport with those who do dwell in such haunts.
I just put this book down and I wish it had gone on and on or was a series so I could read more. It was perfectly written. Holling Hoodhood (the kid's stupid name is the worst part of this book) is just starting out his 7th grade year at Camillo Junior High and his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. His family barely knows he exists. And he's the only Presbyterian in his class, which means that on Wednesday afternoons when half of his class goes to catechism and the other half goes to temple he's stuck, all alone, with Mrs. Baker. The same Mrs. Baker who hates his guts. Set in 1967-68, this book follows Holling through the school year where so much is going on outside of the world of Camillo Jr. High (Vietnam, MLK, Bobby Kennedy, etc.) and where Holling is dealing with all of it and then some. Though I read a few reviews that cited the outlandish, would-never-happen-in-a-thousand-years scrapes that Holling gets into as a reason to enjoy this book less, I just went with it and loved every moment. And I fell in love with Holling and Mrs. Baker and Danny and Meryl Lee as I went. When Mrs. Baker decides to stop making Holling bang erasers during their Wednesday afternoons together and starts assigning him Shakespeare he's wondering what he ever did to make her hate him so much. But Holling is a thoughtful boy and his understanding and interpretation of the classics is so right on in some parts and so laughable at others (if you aren't laughing out loud by the 5th or 6th time Holling refers to Romeo as a jerk then you are humorless.), there is nothing to stop you from loving this kid. Schmidt is a wonderful fiction writer because he doesn't tell you what to think about every situation the way some authors do- it's so fun to read. For instance, from Holling's point of view Mrs. Baker hates his guts. But as the reader Schmidt allows you to interpret Mrs. Baker's actions in an entirely different way without asking or telling you to, or even acknowledging that there could be another motivation for her behavior. It's all left up to you. Same with many of the other characters and situations. And though there are some truly reprehensible, even evil, I-would-like-to-smack-you characters, like Holling's dad, there's never anything that tells you that Mr. Hoodhood is a big fat jerk. I know that this whole "Show don't Tell" thing is a goal among authors, but I think in a first-person story it's hard to accomplish sometimes. Maybe it's because Holling is a 7th grade boy that makes his inferences easy to discount, or perhaps this author is just particularly skilled at it, but it really stood out to me in this book. I'm not describing it right, but it's marvellous. I'm going to stop rambling now. But Holling, dear Holling of the worst-name-in-the-world Hoodhoods, is totally unassuming and especially non-whiny, which made him the perfect hero.