Gantos, Jack. The love curse of the Rumbaughs.GANTOS, Jack. The love curse of the Rumbaughs. Farrar, Straus & Giroux Farrar, Straus & Giroux Publishing company in New York City noted for its literary excellence. It was founded in 1945 by John Farrar and Roger Straus as Farrar, Straus & Co. . 187p. c2006. 0-374-33690-3. $17.00. S Young Ivy, the protagonist and narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. , is part of a lineage of children who obsessively love their mothers, and since they have taxidermy taxidermy (tăk`sĭdûr'mē), process of skinning, preserving, and mounting vertebrate animals so that they still appear lifelike. skills ... well, the results are inevitable. Ivy goes through her teenage years in stages of shock and awe Shock and awe, technically known as rapid dominance, is a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming decisive force, dominant battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of power to paralyze an adversary's perception of the battlefield and and finally acceptance of this unique family practice as her own beloved mother dies. The story is apparently not to be taken literally. Gantos may be questioning funeral customs. After all, is it more bizarre to put makeup on a corpse and display it than to stuff the beloved one and keep her around for one-sided conversations? Another possible theme might be a twist on the story of the son saving the father. In Gantos's take, the sons obsessively love the mother but the mother wants to prevent her sons from reproducing so as to end the "love curse of the Rumbaughs." She is, however, unsuccessful. Although beautifully, almost lyrically written, the story is unappealing since it deals with societal misfits who do weird things for bizarre reasons. Perhaps morbid teenagers will find the black humor fun, or possibly the story could spark a good classroom discussion on societal mores. Myrna Marler, Assoc. Prof. of English, BYU BYU Brigham Young University BYU Bayou BYU Bob's Your Uncle BYU Bayreuth, Germany - Bindlacher Berg (Airport Code) BYU Beyond Your Understanding , Provo, UT S--Recommended for senior high school students. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion