Customer Reviews

I Heard My Sister Speak My Name

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This novel tells two very different stories which come together at the end. The common theme is the importance of family to those who grow up uncomfortable with the ones they have: one protagonist is adopted, and the other lived as a boy with a step-father. Now, I would have thought that loving parents can make adoption irrelevant, but from a close relation I know that is not necessarily true. One of the strengths of the novel is that the tone of the two stories is quite different, corresponding to the difference in setting and type of family. Another strength is that it conveys a feel for small town Western life in the earlier part of the 20th century (2nd story). The novel is a fairly good read. The main problem is that Savage is not a particularly good writer. For example, he must repeatedly describe his characters, rather than let them reveal themselves in less direct ways. Also, he stuffs lots of material about the stepson's life into a letter written almost at the end: this is material Savage didn't seem to find time to introduce during the novel, but which he should have