What do You think about Dicey's Song (2003)?
This is the second in what has become called the Tillerman Series. I would recommend NOT reading these books as a series but as a the same setting from different perspectives.Again, I connected with the grandmother most, though I enjoyed the overall idea of children being capable and competent. Given the opportunity, kids come up with pretty amazing solutions. They shouldn't have to worry about whether they will eat or where they will sleep, but they should be allowed and encouraged to participate in their own upbringing, and included as valued partners. It was the keeping doors open aspect that caught me in this book, as in Homecoming. Gram made choices that pushed her children away and they never came back. One son died in Vietnam. Another was in California and she'd never responded to his wedding invitation, and believed the door was closed. The last contact with her daughter was to hold her hand as she died in a state mental institution. But the going and holding her child's hand was important and held the door open even though no one would walk through.
—Ryan
I really liked this book. Although it doesn't have the excitement and adventure of other stories, it is still a good story. It is a very human story with characters that are relate-able and human. I think Dicey is a great character and her siblings have all been forced to grow up before thier time, because their mother had a "mental illness." It wasn't disclosed exactly what she had, but felt that some of her actions were really selfish, like not sending her children to her aunt's or her mother's sooner. But then of course we wouldn't have a story....
—Ricci
Without Homecoming, I can see that this book would lose some of its weight. But as a sequel, I found it fantastic and just as compelling. (Perhaps reading the two back to back helped that feeling.) Dicey is a great character, and there are still so many unanswered questions and avenues yet to be explored in her life. I can't wait to read more of the series. I often find that I'm most excited about a book just after I finish it, and then my excitement cools. We'll see if that happens here. Usually, I want my highest rated books to be ones that have sticking power with me. They're typically full of interesting characters and plot, but also have powerful life lessons, compelling and extraordinary writing, and one-liner quotations that ring true and beg to be copied down or underline. They're the books I mark up and add notes to in the margins. But sometimes I read books that, while not leading me to mark them, are still wonderful reads and have many of, if not all, the elements I'm looking for. With these books, I often second guess my first reactions and rate them lower than I initially feel. Perhaps it shouldn't be that way. With that in mind, I'll just say that this feels like a five-star book to me now, and perhaps the initial reaction should be the best one from which to judge.
—Megan
