The Box Children [Paperback]

Sharon Wyse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

Lou Ann Campbell is nearly twelve years old. She lives on a farm in Texas, and keeps five little dolls in a homemade shoebox house she fixed up for them. The box children are her only friends, the brothers and sisters she never had, the babies her mother was supposed to have but didn't. This is her first diary, and it's hard to hide it from her bullying older brother, her philandering father, and her crazy pregnant mother. But these are her secrets, her hopes, her dreams. And this is the summer she will stop talking to dolls...and start thinking about people and places she doesn't know yet.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Taking the form of the diary of a na‹ve 11-year-old girl growing up in 1960s West Texas, this emotionally complex story entertains, frustrates and tugs at the heartstrings. Wyse's simply written tale is alive with the raw honesty and humorously candid observations of farm girl Lou Ann Campbell as she struggles to make sense of her family's ever-increasing dysfunction. Her neurotic mother, who has suffered through five miscarriages, is pregnant again but is still downing beer by the six-pack. Lou Ann's father is no better, carrying his sexual exploits from outside the home into his daughter's bedroom. As the emotional distance between Lou Ann and her older brother, Will, increases by the day, she finds herself with only five small dolls to talk to and the scattered pieces of paper that make up her secret diary to confide in. The dolls, which she keeps in a shoebox and takes out only when she is alone, represent her five unborn siblings, each with its own persona. As her story progresses, Lou Ann finds human friendship with a pen pal from Oklahoma City, one of the older boys hired to help with the wheat harvest and to her mother's grave disapproval the daughter of a Mexican prostitute. Wyse captures the voice of her young protagonist with remarkable skill and naturalness, from her innocent fantasies ("I wish we knew how to do acrobatics together or sing all in harmony so we could go on TV as a big famous family") to her bleakest moments ("My eyes are flat. All they are doing is looking out"). The novel's conclusion can only just be construed as hopeful, but Lou Ann's hardheaded (and hard-won) optimism rings true.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Most importantly, in this memorable summer, Lou Ann learns what she needs to survive. (BookPage ) Wry and heartfelt, this is a quietly impressive debut. (People) What Lou Ann lacks in being loved, she makes up for with lifesaving imagination. (O: The Oprah Magazine) Most importantly, in this memorable summer, Lou Ann learns what she needs to survive. (BookPage)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573229962
• ISBN-13: 978-1573229968
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,074,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN UPLIFTING COMING-OF-AGE NOVEL, July 24, 2002

By 

Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Box Children (Hardcover)

Sharon Wyse's literary debut is an impressive one. To write a coming-of-age novel like this, finding an absolutely perfect voice for her 11 year-old narrator, as well as treating her young character with the respect she deserves is quite an achievement. Too many authors attempt this type of novel and wind up being offensively patronizing toward the children they depict. Wyse's insights, sensitivity and skills allow her to avoid such pitfalls.

Set on a farm near a (very) small town in the Texas panhandle in the 1960s, the story is narrated by 11 year-old Lou Ann Campbell -- one of the most unforgettable, admirable characters the reader is likely to run across in contemporary fiction. She lives with her parents and her older brother -- and they're packing a lot of baggage. Her mother is decidedly -- and increasingly -- neurotic, taking out her frustrations with her philandering husband, her emotional damage caused by numerous miscarriages, and her feelings of being trapped in poverty out on her children, especially Lou Ann. Lou Ann's brother, with whom she has enjoyed a close sibling relationship, is maturing to the point where he sees his little sister as more of a liability than as asset -- and his sexual curiosity is making her increasingly uncomfortable as well. Lou Ann's father, despite being unfaithful to his wife, is not such an unlikable character. He doesn't understand his wife's emotional problems, and he too is frustrated with the family's economical stagnation, their dependence on his wife's parents (who own the land they farm) for stability.

Lou Ann is convinced that the five babies miscarried by her mother are with her -- she has a cardboard box and five tiny dolls to live in it, the 'box children' of the title. She plays with them daily, confides in and talks with them. These conversations, along with the outlet of her secret diary (which makes up the novel) are the outlets that allow her to get through the events of the book, to find some meaning in her life, and to strengthen her determination to be strong and live her life as she sees fit.

The novel is moving, well-written and compelling -- I had to pace myself, allowing myself to savor it, rather than rush through it. It's a reading experience I thoroughly enjoyed, and one I will never forget -- and one I can most highly recommend.

Other great coming-of-age novels I've read in the past couple of years -- all of which I can recommend just as highly -- include THE ABSENCE OF NECTAR by Kathy Hepinstall, SHADOW BABY by Alison McGhee, and THIS IS GRACEANNE'S BOOK by P.L.WHITNEY.

Read on...

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Gem, May 25, 2003

By 

Erika K. Moore (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Box Children (Hardcover)

As a voracious reader, and a writer, I am rarely so impressed. Sharon Wyse's heroine speaks with a wholly original, and heartbreakingly true, voice; I simply cannot get it out of my head -- I want to personally, and permanently, rescue this child. On a literary level, the book is pure and brilliantly wrought. On an emotional one, it burrows to the deepest places -- taking the reader inside the mind and heart of an unforgettable young heroine, and what looks like an impossible-to-survive place, but maybe (thrillingly) isn't. Extraordinary.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes you want to reach into the pages and rescue this child, September 24, 2003

By 

J. Fercho (Calgary, AB. Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Box Children (Paperback)

For such a small novel, the author packs an emotional punch with the character of eleven year old Lou Ann. To say Lou Ann's family is dysfunctional is an understatement; Daddy has a roving eye and Mama's laundry list of neuroses would fill the page. To cope with this intolerable home life, Lou Ann creates an imaginary world with "The Box Children", the unborn babies from her mother's many failed pregnancies. This novel speaks to the resiliant spirit of children from dysfunctional homes, and offers a somewhat hopeful future for our heroine. If you read this book you will think as I do, that Lou Ann was able to triumph over adversity and make her way in the world. 4.5 stars