Customer Reviews

Letters In The Attic

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This is one of the best books I have read this year. It is both funny and touching by turns - and the writer has captured the trials and tribulations of adolescence to perfection.
You will come to genuinely care for the feisty heroine as she sets out on the bumpy road to womanhood and you will find yourself closing the book with a sigh of mingled satisfaction at a well-told tale - and regret that it is finished.
If you have to choose any book, make it this one. You won't regret it!!

Heroines.

Female protagonists, if you prefer.

Being a guy I can't think of that many off the top of my head. If I had to name three, second and third place would go to Emma Peel (of TV fame, Diana Rigg of "The Avengers") and Wonder Woman (of comic book fame).

Lizzy McMann would top my list.

So who's Lizzy McMann? Like the other choices on my list, she's a fighter, a strong spirit who doesn't give in to adversity. But unlike Emma Peel or Wonder Woman, she doesn't possess any extraordinary talents - well, outside of dogged determination and a wicked sense of humor.

Lizzy is the heroine/female protagonist of Bonnie Shimko's novel, "Letters in the Attic." She's caught between being an adult - acting as a mother to her mother - and being an adolescent, trying to fit in with her peers, dealing with feelings of love for the first time.

Shimko has done a great job of making Lizzy a real person, a character with depth. Beating up bad guys becomes boring after a while; even an overgrown adolescent such as yours truly needs more in characterization and conflict. (Sorry, Mrs. Peel and WW, but you couldn't cut half of the adversity that Lizzy faces.)

"Letters in the Attic" is an impressive debut novel that many readers will enjoy. Lizzy McMann is a heroine for everyone.

Bonnie Shimko has mastered the art of storytelling in her Letters in the Attic. The well-paced novel introduces us to a feisty heroine and involves us in the varied relationships she has with the other characters.

I immediately connected with the characters, especially 12-year-old Lizzy. Lizzy is the girl all of us wish we could be (or could have been), displaying a maturity and dignity level beyond her young years. Additionally, Lizzy's biting wit comes alive in the dialogue. I haven't love a storybook heroine that much since Jo in Little Women.

Letters in the Attic is an engaging, quick read. It would be a great discussion starter for parents and teens. I recommend it to anyone who remembers what it is like being an adolescent.

I've read Bonnie Shimko's book, Letters in the Attic, several times now and with each reading experience Lizzy brings me to tears. The love of a daughter for her, yet to mature, mother touches all the vital emotions of life. Grandparents dancing at their daughter's wedding as Lizzy watches, fills the heart with joy, hope and swells of tears. I want to read this compelling story again and again knowing that I will find new treasures each time. Bonnie Shimko's insightful writing abilities should be shared by all. What a ride it will be.

Bonnie Shimko's debut novel, Letters in the Attic, takes place in the 1960's and begins when twelve-year-old Lizzie McMann's sleazebag father, Manny, announces that he would like a divorce. She and her unstable mother, Veronica, leave Arizona for upstate New York to live with her grandparents. In New York, Lizzie finds letters that indicate that Manny was not her father. But the core of the story comes from the new relationships of both mother and daughter. Veronica begins to date Mr. Stephens, a nice man. Lizzie meets Eva Singer, a Jewish girl, who is dyslexic, smokes, and looks like Natalie Wood. Lizzie is immediately attracted to Eva. With humor and tenderness, the novel portrays Lizzie's confusion and pain about her budding sexuality as well as her mother's often erratic behavior. Judaism does not seriously impact the dramatic turns of this novel. Although Eva is Jewish, religion and spirituality are not central to the novel's themes. The novel's strength is its protagonist. Lizzie is charming and inquisitive. She sometimes seems more mature and observant than the usual twelve year old and sometimes the abundant descriptions slow down the pace of the narrative. In general, however, the novel is emotionally driven and offers enough surprises to keep the reader interested. Ages 12 and up. Reviewed by Sara Aronson

Lizzy McMann is a 12-year-old who has to deal with seeing her father be a jerk to her mother and her mother constantly standing up for him. When Manny leaves Lizzy's mother to "marry the love of his life," she and her mother move back to New York.

Lizzy has to learn to deal with her mixed-up pre-teenager feelings. She isn't sure why growing up has to be so hard. She falls for another girl, something not even accepted in the 1960s. But it happens. She has to suppress her feelings-never to expose them. Lizzy must watch her friend, who is a couple of years older, deal with her dyslexia and her attempt to take her life because she feels so stupid. Add to the batch that friend Eva knows of Lizzy's secret and you have a real coming-of- age story.

This is a wonderfully written story that will have you cheering and crying for Lizzy all the way to the end. Definitely a tear jerker at just the right places. This is by the same author as Kat's Promise, which I reviewed previously. Another well-written story of a 12-year-old who comes into her own through the events that change her life.

Armchair Interviews says: Definitely recommendable reading.

"Letters in the Attic" is a delightful story. It contains much humor (laughed quite a bit) and heartache. Shimko has a wonderful crafted story here, although the main character seems a little TOO mature for her 12 year old existance. The story somewhat reminds me of Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone" but on a smaller scale. Overall, its entirty was quite enjoyable and i recommend it.

This was a lovely coming of age story! Great fun and quirky characters and a warm tale about family, secrets and love.

I really enjoyed reading LETTERS IN THE ATTIC, set in the early sixties.

Lizzy, the heroine, lives with her mom and dad in a Phoenix hotel. Her father comes in, a real sleezeball, and with his new girlfriend in tow, proceeds to tell her mother that he is divorcing her. He even has the gall to ask Vonnie, her mother, to apologize to his girlfriend because she isn't being nice.

Well, with no place to go home to, they head to upstate New York to Vonnie's parents' house. Lizzy meets her grandparents for the first time. Her grandfather is great, but her grandmother is verbally abusive.

There, Lizzy learns a lot about her mother's past through letters that are in the attic. She examines her sexuality and helps her mother to become the person that she is meant to be.

While reading this book I laughed, cried, and was hopeful for the characters. I really liked Lizzy and her family.

Reviewed by: Marta Morrison

I've read Bonnie Shimko's book, Letters in the Attic, several times now and with each reading experience Lizzy brings me to tears. The love of a daughter for her, yet to mature, mother touches all the vital emotions of life. Grandparents dancing at their daughter's wedding as Lizzy watches, fills the heart with joy, hope and swells of tears. I want to read this compelling story again and again knowing that I will find new treasures each time. Bonnie Shimko's insightful writing abilities should be shared by all. What a ride it will be.