Tomorrow River
By
Grade : B

Ah, the summer of '69. I didn't get to enjoy it (or remember it if I did) being only an infant, but apparently it was really something. There are songs. There are books. There are undoubtedly films. This latest offering introduces us to Shenny and Woody Carmody as they face entering the turbulent teens without a mother - and a father who is rapidly becoming someone they don't know.

It has been a year since the twins' mother disappeared. A year since Woody has spoken. A year since they have been allowed out of their own backyard. It has been a year most assuredly marked by what they don't have - proper parents, a decent home life, help, friendship. Their father has grown increasingly abusive during his drunken rages (which are many) and their sitter is more interested in engaging in sexual escapades with their uncle than in taking care of them. Shenny has at this point determined there is only one thing to do - find their missing mother and get some sort of life back.

The road she takes to do this is a simple one. Get help from the neighbor boy with crush on her sister. Use him to get into town and then question her mother's friend Sam. Have him begin an investigation (he's a former detective) and hopefully all this will lead to her mother coming home. But Shenny's pursuit of the truth leads her on a perilous journey that will force her to rethink the way she views the world and the people she shares it with.

Let me start by saying this is a well written story. The author has a gift for turning a phrase and uses it here often. The imagery is good, the portrayals of people vivid and life like. And the book is incredibly easy to read. It's not that the book is simple but the voice telling it is so clear and eloquent that it makes misunderstanding impossible.

The mystery here is not intense but utilizes the style of a warm, slow buildup. We suspect - long before our eleven year old protagonist- at least part of what happened on the day Mama disappeared. We also have a much clearer understanding of why. In the end I was still a touch surprised by the specifics of what occurred, though. I was impressed with the author's ability to juggle what she feeds the reader and what she surprises them with.

Despite the author's outstanding wordsmanship, I did have some struggles with the novel. I found Shenny, our narrator, none too bright. It wasn't that she was naive so much as she refused to see what should have been obvious. In some cases (especially some of the circumstances going on with her father), I found that almost unbelievable. I couldn't really determine if this was due to her age or character, but it was a definite negative to my reading experience. An important part of a coming of age novel is for us to empathize and sympathize as the character loses the sugar-coating of the childhood world while joining the adult one. I couldn't do that very much here because I had a sense of things being off - that the character should have had more of an inkling earlier on or that certain things should have been clear to her from the beginning.

Another stumbling block for me was the PTSD suffered by Woody. It was very difficult to believe. Again, things just didn't add up quite as well for me as they could have.

Even with these flaws, though, this is an good story of life in a small Southern town at a critical point in American history. If you enjoyed such novels as The Secret Life of Bees or Saving CeeCee Honeycut I think you will find much in this one to love.

Reviewed by Maggie Boyd
Grade : B
Book Type: Fiction

Sensuality: Subtle

Review Date : June 11, 2011

Publication Date: 2011/05

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Maggie Boyd

I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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