Heaven Eyes, by David Almond is a novel about four orphans. The main character is Erin Law, she narrates the story. Erin lived with her Mother in paradise up until she was three. Her Mother died and she has lived in Whitegates for ten years. Whitegates is an orphanage that is a home to many children. Erin and her best friends January Carr, are getting sick of the orphanage. January has a plan to run away from the orphanage with Erin and live in the wild where they can be free. Erin doesn't agree with him at first but she soon makes her decision after a couple of days. Erin goes with January and they go to the black middens. One of the younger children from the orphanage, Mouse Gullane, finds them and asks if he can come with them on their journey. January strongly disapproves, but Erin convinces him to let Mouse come with them. The three ride along the black middens on a raft January made. At night they find land, and a girl about Erin and January's age approaches them. The girl is Heaven Eyes, and she lives alone with her Grandpa on the strange land. Heaven Eyes is a very strange girl, but she is also very beautiful. Grandpa is a little crazy, and he will do anything to protect Heaven. After a couple of days on the mysterious land, Heaven and Erin are so close, they are like sisters. Erin, January, and Mouse have no idea what happened to the rest of Heaven's family. They begin to wonder what Grandpa has done.I absolutely love this novel! Heaven Eyes is a very strange and loving girl. My favorite part in the story is when Heaven Eyes first meets the children and thinks they are her siblings, "Such lovely lovelies. Come. Come and follow Heaven Eyes!" I like this part because it's the first time in the novel when Heaven shows her unique personality. I love how Heaven Eyes only sees all of the good things in the world.I recommend this book to kids ages 12 to 14. Heaven Eyes inspired me to notice all of the good things in the world instead of the bad. If everyone did this, we might all become happier, and more grateful for the things we have.
Erin Law is an orphan, living in Whitegates children's home with 11 other children. Her closest friends are January Carr - named for the month and the hospital he was found on the steps of - and Mouse Gullane, a child desparate to please. Before his father abandoned mouse he tatooed 'Please look after me' on his son's arm. Life is haunted by loss and sadness, by the attempts of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and care workers to get the children to express their griefs and Erin's resistance and anger.The children often run away, returning after a day or up to a week away, but always returning. January comes to Erin with a new idea, no one has yet run away from Whitegates by raft, and he has made one hammered together from wooden doors abandoned on the local tip. Absconding under the cynical observation of two care workers that they will be back they acquire Mouse along the way and escape downriver, becoming marooned on the Black Middens, a mud flat they crawl across to the security of dry land. They are brought out of the mud by a strange girl their own age, who names herself as Heaven Eyes and asks them if they are her brothers and sisters. She brings them to an abandoned warehouse where she lives with an old man known only as 'Gramps' and offers them food and shelter. Gramps is unstable and confused, and Heaven Eyes has some decidedly odd concepts about people and a sad past herself, but Erin learns about creating a family when you have none.Moving and interesting, but too brief and concepts of lovelessness and coping alone are not as well developed as in his other novels
What do You think about Heaven Eyes (2002)?
I've read several books by this author, all YA lit. His novels tend to mix reality with supernatural, and are usually just weird, but intriguing. This odd book hangs between realistic fiction and fantasy. Orphans Erin and her friend January escape from Whitegates, the home where adult Maureen pesters them about their memories and calls them “damaged children.” They float on their makeshift raft to the Black Middens, mucky mud flats revealed when the river is at low tide. There they meet the mysterious “Heaven Eyes,”an odd and vulnerable girl who sees good wherever she looks, and her “grandfather,” an old caretaker of the abandoned factories where they live who has lost much of his short term memory and reeks of violence. Positive, but this novel will not appeal to all readers. It takes a very willing suspension of insistence on clarity, since the reader only slowly infers setting, situation and genre. Touches of supernatural and death add quality to the narrative.
—Sandra Strange
Gosh, this was beautiful! Complete and utter madness, of course, but nonetheless so incredibly descriptive and... lovely. Tragic and lovely. Heaven Eyes is pure bliss, intervowen with beautifully detailed sceneries, and such innocence. 'Lovely as lovely', as Heaven would call it. Can't help but wonder if how old the characters even were--and what happened to them; this is my reality-conscious self talking. The other part, the dreamer in me, is fine with, as Erin would say, leaving things just like they are. It's an awful life, but it's a lovely one; we're happy to be alive. Such loveliness.
—Lili Kathey
Heaven Eyes is a tightrope walk between reality and unreality. It tips into latter territory the deeper you get and I admit my suspension of disbelief suffered for it. From a technical point of view I enjoyed the way it was written. I liked the characters in a general sort of way too but it was difficult to get a solid grasp of... anything really. I was getting a lot of how Erin feels but I didn't get a clear read on where all the action was taking place. In a way it's cool because I feel this speaks of how in the moment it all is and how well we are seeing things from Erin's POV. She is a sensible person but she feels very strongly - her feelings are clearer to me than the situations that evoke them. Haven't decided if I admire this more than it frustrates me.This was a good book but I'm pretty sure it takes a certain mindset to enjoy it. Give it a go if you don't mind a story that is not entirely grounded in reality.
—Anabelle
