From Publishers Weekly
Using strong visual imagery and occasionally alternating points of view, Holmes (My Sister the Sausage Roll) adroitly conveys the discord in a household haunted by the past. Homer Winthrop, the principle narrator and a young artist, yearns to know about his father, who died when he was a baby. But Homer's mother, a linguist who "heard words instead of what a person was saying," ignores her son's questions. As the novel opens, she is driving Homer and their housekeeper, Madeleine, to the coastal town in Maine where her late husband lived his final years. As the boy roams the streets, he feels a vague sense of familiarity and determines to learn something about his own history. He becomes convinced that "Fake Man," a strange, middle-aged man who disguises himself as someone much older, may hold the key. The author ably evokes an elegiac mood and crystallizes the essence of the characters in a few well-defined strokes. Homer, for example, notes the essential difference between his mother and Madeleine simply by observing their hair: "I opened my eyes and stared at the back of my mother's head: a circle with a bun in the middle, all perfect and neat. I stared at the back of Madeleine's: a boingy-haired triangle sticking out to the tips of her shoulders. A bird could be living in there." Holmes draws a detailed, complex portrait of the young protagonist, who gradually breaks his own code of silence to participate fully in the world around him. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7-Twelve-year-old Homer doesn't remember his father, who died when Homer was three. Since his mother, the stiff Dr. Winthrop, refuses to talk about anything connected to the past, he has learned to slam questions into his "suitcase brain" to squelch them. However, a summer trip to the family's former home in Maine brings the past rushing back to the present in unexpected ways. The memories drive Homer's mother to bed with another of her frequent migraines. Under the less-strict eye of Madeleine, the housekeeper, Homer is free to form his first real friendship. Roger, a local boy, quickly arouses Homer's curiosity when he reveals that he is following a man wearing a disguise whom he believes to be a smuggler. It soon becomes obvious that there is some connection between "Fake Man" and Homer's parents, and he follows the stranger with the hope of learning the truth. It turns out that the man is a famous artist who disguises himself merely to paint in peace, and that he was Homer's father's best friend. He provides the boy with the much-needed history of his past, and when the two of them confront Homer's mother, it appears that the Winthrops may be able to take the first steps toward building a future together. The strength of this book lies in the characters, and the real jewel is Madeleine, the housekeeper. Her homespun musings provide insight into the other characters and add humor to the story. A genuinely satisfying book about friendship and family.
Leigh Ann Jones, Staley Middle School, Frisco, TX Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
