I kept thinking, This is going to get good. Something exciting and interesting is going to happen. However, while characters were well-developed in this novel, and while there is great deal of Cape Cod charm sprinkled throughout, from the first page to the last, this is really just a look into one girl's life during one summer.
Delsie's relationships with her friends change during these pages. The reader might be tempted to think a relationship with an estranged acquaintance will come to verbal fireworks, followed by resolution, but belay that thought (It's not going to happen.). The reader might think somebody might find romance, don't think that's going to happen either. The reader might believe somebody's going to suffer in a bad storm, it doesn't happen. The reader might imagine that one of the older characters will die, but they're all safe, as well. The fact is, none of these predictions, even though they are each inferred with the use of context clues, when the reader gets to the end of this Lynda Mullaly Hunt book, the book simply stops sharing information. The last line of the last page comes completely unexpectedly and leaves the reader hanging by many threads. The book doesn't really end as much as it just comes to the last page.
Delsie's relationships with her friends change during these pages. The reader might be tempted to think a relationship with an estranged acquaintance will come to verbal fireworks, followed by resolution, but belay that thought (It's not going to happen.). The reader might think somebody might find romance, don't think that's going to happen either. The reader might believe somebody's going to suffer in a bad storm, it doesn't happen. The reader might imagine that one of the older characters will die, but they're all safe, as well. The fact is, none of these predictions, even though they are each inferred with the use of context clues, when the reader gets to the end of this Lynda Mullaly Hunt book, the book simply stops sharing information. The last line of the last page comes completely unexpectedly and leaves the reader hanging by many threads. The book doesn't really end as much as it just comes to the last page.
 | From Goodreads: Delsie loves tracking the weather--lately, though, it seems the squalls are in her own life. She's always lived with her kindhearted Grammy, but now she's looking at their life with new eyes and wishing she could have a "regular family." Delsie observes other changes in the air, too--the most painful being a friend who's outgrown her. Luckily, she has neighbors with strong shoulders to support her, and Ronan, a new friend who is caring and courageous but also troubled by the losses he's endured. As Ronan and Delsie traipse around Cape Cod on their adventures, they both learn what it means to be angry versus sad, broken versus whole, and abandoned versus loved. And that, together, they can weather any storm. I really enjoyed reading this novel. It was enchanting. But, like so many of the books on this year's Mark Twain Award list, the ending leaves us in the shallow end without paying off. |
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