So you think you know what it means to be lonely? Let me introduce you to Jeff Greene, a boy who was raised by his father after his mother ran off. Jeff’s dad is a college professor who has very little time to spend with his son, so he leaves the household chores to a series of graduate students. With his mother gone, Jeff spends his days dreaming of her…until one summer, she invites him to visit her in Charleston, South Carolina. Over the course of the next few years, Jeff gradually explores his relationship with his parents, and discovers his own kind of solitary happiness.One of my favorite parts of this book was the way that it lets you keep pace with Jeff as he explores his family tree. You can almost feel Jeff’s sense of emotional numbness when his mother leaves and he’s left in the hands of uncaring babysitters. Also, Jeff’s dad seems genuinely cold in comparison to his mother, but over time we discover that he’s actually a loving parent who’s rearranged his life in order to support Jeff’s needs.To be completely honest, I was a little put off by the way that the plot developed slowly at the beginning. I wasn’t sure who Jeff Greene really was, or why I should care about him. If you find yourself feeling that way during the first few chapters, my only advice is to keep reading through it. It seems like the author wrote the book that way on purpose, to help us understand Jeff’s sense of withdrawal. This is a very deep book, and about halfway through you’ll feel like you’ve dived all the way inside the story.One last note is that “A Solitary Blue” is the third book in a series called “The Tillerman Cycle”. If it’s important to you to read a series in order, then by all means go back and start at the beginning. I had heard that this book could be read on its own, so I decided to jump right into the middle of the series. While I agree that this was a fine book on its own, now my reading list has gotten a lot longer since I’ve got to go back and see if the rest of The Tillerman Cycle is just as awesome as “A Solitary Blue”!To learn more about the books that boys like, please be sure to check out my new website at http://booksboyslike.blogspot.com/
A Solitary Blueby Cynthia VoigtI picked the story A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt because it looks interesting. I had a friend recommend this book to me. So I went to the library and checked the book out then started reading it.A Solitary Blue is about Jeff Green and his difficult life through his seventh and eighteen years. His mother Melody leaves him, and his father the professor, she leaves them both with a little note to read. The professor knowing how Melody is stays expressionless unlike Jeff who’s just young and helpless, knowing the reason why she left yet still trying to understand. Then years later his mother Melody sends him a letter to spend summer with her. She gives him care and all the love he needs so he thinks his mother loves him and cares for him so he opens up. That summer officially lead him to close up more from people. He had realized his mom wasn’t who she seemed to be. She was a liar, someone who would hurt people, soon realizing she didn’t care about him. He left helpless that summer shocked without the same feeling he had when he was going there, surprised from what had happened. Just confused of how someone could have played him so well to make him believe he was being loved and when coming back to his hometown he decided he hated his mom. Yet his dad and him felt the same and talked out things little by little they tried moving on and succeeded. But, one day Melody comes down to their home surprisingly and it was up to Jeff to decide what happened next in which he explained to his mom how selfish she was and careless.I recommend this book to anyone, It is a solid story and makes you wonder what it was like to be in his shoes. Honestly if you read this book you will feel his pain and hurt. It will put you right in his shoes.
What do You think about A Solitary Blue (2003)?
This may be more 4.5 than 5, only because I think some younger readers will find it a little slow to get off the ground but my 11 year old just started and she likes it so far and I loved it. In fact, I think its overall rating is too low, so let’s just go with 5. I love the idea of taking the Dicey books and exploring some of the side characters more fully and it looks like that is what the rest of the Tillerman books do, starting with a closer look at Jeff Greene in A Solitary Blue. I thought this was one of the most emotionally honest books I have ever read. That yearning for and attempt at earning the love of a parent, the its my fault they don’t love me mentality that eventually turns to anger and then acceptance but never understanding, the deciding whether or not to take ownership of your own life and happiness, the person who can go out and save the whole world but can’t seem to love the people right within their grasp, the learning to work on the relationships that you can change and let go of the ones you can’t. All so honest. So perfectly written. I felt the whole thing. If you have ever had to deal with divorce or abandonment this one goes right up inside of what that feels like. I LOVED it! I also loved the Dicey books because I related to that protective love between siblings. I know that when we see a large dysfunctional family we think why did they have all those kids and it is madness to have kids you don’t love and awful to have siblings that you have to watch suffer but so often the siblings pull together and become each others strength. This book really brought to life the struggle of going through it as an only child, and the loneliness and hopelessness broke my heart at times but in the end I was left with hope and faith in the power of the human spirit, the power to triumph, the power to choose.
—Julie
From my back door I can see a pond. Sometimes a solitary blue heron will visit the pond, a reclusive bird that stalks along the edge of the water. If you approach the heron, it immediately takes flight. I find the bird fascinating. Now I realize that one of the reasons I find blue herons so fascinating is that I read this book 20 years ago.Jeff Green is like the solitary blue heron. He was deserted at age 7 by his immature and manipulative mother, and left alone by his emotionally distant professor father. When his mother returns to his life, he is torn between the two as he tries to grasp who each member of his family is (including himself!). How can you tell who loves you? How can you protect yourself from manipulation, and still show love?Weighty matters for a child's book, but grim as the subject may be, I suspect it is not an unusual situation. Voigt is an excellent author. The book can be a stand-alone (I didn't suspect it was part of series when I first read it). However, those who are fans of the Homecoming series will appreciate seeing the character Dicey again, and from an new point of view.
—Alice
A few wonderful characters here, in the protagonist, his father the Professor, and the Professor's friend, Brother Thomas. I enjoy the sense about the secondary cast that they are all struggling at the centres of their own stories; we might well drop in on their travails and be equally enthralled -- and in fact I discovered upon finishing the book that it's part of a universe of tales; characters minour here star in other Voigt novels. Voigt is finely attune to emotional cause-and-effect; large
—Weathervane
