Started this morning but had to head for work. It's time for some gender balance in my list, which tends to be male author heavy. Seems interesting so far but I'm a bit concerned after looking at some Goodreads reviews. Have any guys read this book??? Done now after another one-night read. This will be my first pre-composed review. I don't know if I'll keep doing it or go back to improvisation with notes. I took a night off from books last night for this and other stuff including a great story in the latest New Yorker that reminded me of "Bonfire of the Vanities". So... I thought this was a pretty good book. No reason for guys to shy away but it is in the female-themed category. I place this book in the company of three others I've read recently. These have featured: a)difficult mother-daughter relationships, b)trauma and stress in the family, c)uncontrollable and unforseen outside events, d)pain and suffering, e)poor family communications/suppression of secrets and f)some sort of catharsis/ improvement/growth/learning/emotional-relational progress. Yup... gal stuff. These other books are:"We Were the Mulvaneys", "The Liar's Club" and "She's Come Undone". The latter is mostly a bad book and the only one written by a man. It does, however, feature a lonely only child girl protagonist with a clueless mother. I rate "Shadow Baby" the best of the four but the competition is not strenuous. MINOR QUIBBLES: a) the central metaphor(s) of metalworking and apprenticeship, while touching and apt, are a bit repetitive, b)Tamar uses the word "beforehand" on page 37. Doesn't work... c)AM never mentions some important metalworking tools; those used to finish and ease the sharp edges(files, a grinder, abrasive cloth/paper), d)goggles are not necessary for soldering, only welding and e)duct tape does indeed tear in both directions. MEDIUM QUIBBLES: a)Tamar's cluelessness about the chicken and egg issues is not credible. She didn't seem THAT distracted, b)in a passage near the end the daughter briefly takes the role of adult/parent/therapist while Ma is the child/patient. That's a cliche' and not credible. DOUBLE DRIBBLE QUIBBLES: a) the author uses snow and winter a LOT. Not just one but two blizzards come into critical play. The scene of the second one seems to be a direct and blatant "borrowing" from Joyce Carol Oates(see above). The rural NY setting is the same too. I assume it was unintentional. I did the same thing in High School. And b)Clara's voice was not consistently convincing as that of an 11/12 year old. Cute, smart, wordy, quirky, funny, spunky and adorable but nobody's THAT precocious. She seemed at times more like a precocious, nerdy and slightly autistic 20-year old. LITTLE LIKINGS: a)the Conrad Aiken reference("Silent Snow"), b)the bits of Bhuddist understanding, c) the "You Can Count On Me"(another rural New York tale) reunion let down, d) the Duvall("Sling Blade") homage in the same scene and e)an emotional connection to "Bridge to Terabithia", a mournful tale of childhood loneliness and loss. Credibility is always an issue for this kind of "realistic" fiction. Because it's fiction we cut the author some slack. It's understood that in order to make a point some manipulation is likely necessary. But... we need to believe that the characters and events have a grounding in logic and believability. This author does an OK job on that score but only OK. Always good to avoid any TV movie special twists and turns. Is she a good writer? I think so. At least I enjoyed reading this more than "... The Mulvaneys" 3 1/2 stars...
#1. I suck at writing reviews of. . . anything and this is my first review of a book on here. Shadow Baby is not long, but it took me longer to read than almost any book I've ever read. The book is narrated by Clara Winter, a girl of 11 or so. Frankly, it was hard reading a naive girls account of self exploration. She is an unreliable narrator and she knows it. It was hard for me to force my way through her multiple fictitious realities, her diatribes on why she likes certain words, and the crux for me was that the author took it upon herself to insert the definitions of some words in order to "enlighten" the reader. I never felt drawn to Clara's story and found myself intrigued by her mother, Tamar and the old man, Goerg Kominsky. The thing that most bothered me was that after 1/2 a book of her attempting to find out Georg's story for her "history project," I feel like I came no closer to understanding him than I did at his introduction. Mostly what we get of him are Clara's dislocated realities (fictious meanderings) of what she supposes has happened in his life and this goes for her mother and grandfather as well. I suppose in some ways the book had a realistic representation of a young girl. A girl uncertain of who she is and exploring her desire to fulfill gaps in an uncertain history, but I am uncertain that Alison McGhee does a good job creating a believable character to tell this story. Perhaps if the narrator had been a little older and a little wiser I would have enjoyed this one a little bit more.
What do You think about Shadow Baby (2001)?
I liked this book very much. I usually do enjoy books written in the voice of a child (and/or juvenile), I just can't help myself.This book was particularly well written, this child (Clara, 11 years old) reminded me of my own child (Cleveland, 8 years old) although some of the things about her were hard to believe (do 11 year old's really think and talk in such adult terms?) Some do. Throughout the book, the reader is kept going and curious about the "missing" information concerning family and circumstances and thank goodness, the author was kind enough to explain it in the end.I can appreciate struggle and tradgedy, but I hate the tragic sadness of this book.There are beautiful quotes and sentences to stop and re-read, think about, and to share and discuss with others.Very good book. Enjoy it!
—Karen nelson
Quirky and irrepressible Clara at eleven years old, has many unanswered questions. Her mother blatantly refuses to answer most of Clara's questions. Clara tries many methods to squeeze her questions in and once in a great while she gets a small bit of information.Clara winter is a strange girl they say. She makes up stories and book reports about people and places way beyond what should be her realm of knowledge, for Clara is a word person. She spells her last name with a lower case w because winter has been harsh to her and she dwells on that quite a bit. She was born in a blizzard and this fact works at her. It's one of the areas she repeatedly questions, her mother, Tamar.When Clara is assigned to interview an older person, she already knows who she will pick. She's seen an old man that lights lanterns in the night and she knows right away that he's the person she wants to write about. She goes over on Wednesday nights, while her mother is at choir practice and tries to question the old man. Like Clara's mother, the old man often does not respond to her questions but over time the two find a meeting of mind and spirit. There's more to this story than I'll tell you here. This was a very good book though at times, as children will, Clara became a bit annoying. Well worth persevering through to the end.
—jimtown
i read this book in two sittings. it's very easy to read. and i'm not sure i really liked it. i mean, it was well written, the story was cute. characters pretty likable, i guess. the main character, i know, i know, was supposed to be this 11 year old girl who admittedly "didn't talk like any other 11 year old." she's wise beyond her years, and all that crap. but i didn't really believe it. no 11 year old would, or could, for that matter, speak like she did. and it made the book a bit unbelievable.i think the story was a good one...girl coming of age, learning about her family, coming to terms with death and isolation, etc...but the way that the main character spoke made the whole thing...just...wrong.that's all i have to say about it.
—Beth Anne
