Rosenfeld, Stephanie. Massachusetts, California, Timbuktu.ROSENFELD, Stephanie. Massachusetts, California, Timbuktu, a novel. Random House, Ballantine. 403p. c2003.0-345-44826X. $14.95. SA Twelve-year-old Justine and her younger sister Rona are uprooted and taken across the country by their mother Colleen col·leen n. An Irish girl. [Irish Gaelic cailín, diminutive of caile, girl, from Old Irish. in this poignant tale of growing up too soon. After a break-up with yet another deadbeat dead·beat 1 Slang n. 1. One who does not pay one's debts. 2. A lazy person; a loafer. adj. Not fulfilling one's obligations or paying one's debts: a deadbeat dad. boyfriend, Colleen takes her daughters on a trek from West Coast to East Coast, searching once again for that elusive, perfect love. During this journey, roles are reversed as Justine becomes the mother, doing her best to take care of both Rona and Colleen as Colleen falls deeper and deeper into depression and further away from reality. Rosenfeld creates a parallel story line with Justine's school assignment to develop a diary of a frontier family traveling from east to west. The assignment provides an escape for Justine and the chance for her to write her own story, create her own destiny. Through the character Zebulina Walker, Justine is able to have strength and success and power as head of the family. At the novel's conclusion, Justine has matured well beyond her 12 years and Rona completely looks to her as the maternal figure in the family. Justine accepts that Colleen cannot be the mother she wants her to be and that waiting for Colleen to change may be an exercise in futility. Other characters in the novel provide stability and a sense of normalcy nor·mal·cy n. Normality. Noun 1. normalcy - being within certain limits that define the range of normal functioning normality for Justine and Rona, and sparks of humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was create levity lev·i·ty n. pl. lev·i·ties 1. Lightness of manner or speech, especially when inappropriate; frivolity. 2. Inconstancy; changeableness. 3. The state or quality of being light; buoyancy. in this often-serious story. Fast-paced, entertaining, and heartbreaking heart·break·ing adj. 1. Causing overwhelming grief or distress. 2. Producing a strong emotional reaction: heartbreaking loveliness. . Kristen LeBlanc Ivory, Baltimore, MD |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion