Customer Reviews

Lullabies for Little Criminals: A Novel (P.S.)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I loved this book for three different reasons: the writing style, story line, and themes. Wow. First, I have to say that the author is a master at figurative language. There are lines in the book that I read, reread, and reread. Absolutely loved them.

Next, I loved the story line and fell in love with Baby. I wanted to take Baby home and give her the love she so desperately needed.

Last, I teach students just like Baby. My classrooms are full of girls and boys just like her. Baby's story made me stop and think about those kids that I might have overlooked in one way or another. Baby reached out subtly and perhaps I'm missing those subtle clues from my students.

This is a must read. Please write another book, Ms. O'Neil!

Heather O'Neill's novel is not for the faint of heart. This is a raw and grimy account of a girl, ironically named Baby, who grows up with no mother, an addict father, and an uncanny ability to survive even the most desperate of circumstances. Set in Montreal's red-light district, readers delve into the underbelly of both a city and its culture through the eyes of its adolescent protagonist.

Read this novel with a pen because you will want to mark the absolutely gorgeous turns of phrases and descriptions. O'Neill's writing is beautifully sad- "My breath in the cold air was bleach that accidentally spilled on a black t-shirt" is just one, small example.

Ultimately, Baby's story is compelling, and that's what kept me reading, despite her miserable circumstances. Her appreciation for little kindnesses and glimpses into "normalcy" provide an insight into a world that few authors are able to describe without sounding like a Lifetime movie. I look forward to O'Neill's next work.

Heather O'Neill deserves a round of applause for this book. The characters she creates are vivid and heart-breaking; the writing, evocative.

Baby and Jules' story is one of grim hope. Despite miserable circumstances and bad decisions left and right, you find yourself rooting for the characters. Throughout the story's twists and turns, you can feel Baby's struggle to adjust to everything thrown at her. You can feel her desperate need for love, as well as her unconditional love for the people in her life, especially her father.

Lullabies for Little Criminals shows us the world through the 12-year-old eyes of Baby. It is a world where you take happiness where you can find it.

Don't pick up this book unless you have a large block of time available. I couldn't put it down. What I liked most about this story is how original it is. I've read other hard-luck stories, but none captivated my heart the way Baby and Jules did. The characters are what make this book special and the lyrical writing frames them so well.

The story of Jules and Baby made me cry and gave me a deeper understanding for the things that drive people to desperation. It helped me to see that people on the street or in destitute circumstances are all just people like me, that life has kicked around. When you live near homeless people, it's easy to become cynical. This book opened my heart.

This is one of those stories I can say changed my life. Read it and let it change yours.

This book, as so many people have already attested to, is written in a fresh way - one that will envelope you immediately. It is a very easy, quick read. I must admit, after the first chapter or so, I deliberately started reading slower to make the experience last longer....

Loved the book, and actually have now read some of the author's favorite books that she has listed in the back pages of this book. I read "The Clown" - which was another very uniquely written story about an unemployed depressed heart-broken clown in post WWII Germany.

After hearing her short stories on This American Life I looked up this novel - her first. Very creative writing style that I can't really compare to any other author. I hope to see more long form stories from Ms. O'Neill.

The author does a masterful job of capturing the outlook of a 12 yr. old. The authenticity of the story is breathtaking, you keep asking yourself, "How does she know this stuff?" Having a daughter and step-son who have experience as social workers with kids, the portrayal of the system's missteps are very accurate. Very insightful and enjoyable book.

Heather O'Neill certainly struck a chord with this one. This is one powerful book! The character of Baby touched my heart in a way that many characters from novels do not. To be so young and so alone!! Baby's father, Jules, was 15 when she was born, and her mother is no longer around. Jules is a junkie and certainly no role model. They moved around all the time; from one bad place to another. Although depressing to see a child that doesn't have the benefit of a traditional loving family, her perseverence and her ability to adapt to change is really a bit of an inspiration. Baby has to make decisions and live her life the way no child should ever need to. Her harsh journey is one that needs to be told.

In Montreal, Baby is turning twelve shortly. Her mother has been with for quite a while her twenty-seven years old father who is a junkie. They move around a lot from dive hotels to run down apartments to abodes worse than either always in the red light district where Jules seeks easy marks to con. Jules is a schemer, but never succeeds in making money because he usually explodes in a berserker rage when the slightest thing does not go in accordance to his plan, which is often as his heroin dependency rules his logic.

Baby hides as much as possible at the community center or in the apartments of other children especially when her father is raging. Foster care, school and juvenile detention are respites from the violence though none are safe. She knows that charismatic but dangerous pimp Alphonse and kindhearted student Xavier seem to want her though she knows first hand that sex means pain. Soon Baby's world will crash further leaving her to make adult decisions that a kid should never have to face.

Though depressing to read about a child who never had any opportunity for youthful innocence, LULLABIES FOR LITTLE CRIMINALS is a powerful look at how the young adapt to their changing circumstances. Baby is a terrific protagonist, aptly named, as she endures in an ugly world made nastier by her father's needs fueled by heroin. The story line focuses on the little criminal, an offspring of a kid having a kid, doing what she must to endure. Heather O'Neill writes a compelling character study that showcases a young survivor.

Harriet Klausner

Worth reading? Yes. The voice is beautifully controlled and Baby, the main character, heartbreaking and quite impossible to forget. Be prepared, however, for a grim, squalid read, albeit with moments of real humor. Child prostitution, drugs and despair in equal measure. I don't shock easily, and have been accused of writing some 'too-dark' tales myself, but this one's a corker.