Customer Reviews

Mocky's Revinge: A Novelette

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I found this short novel to be haunting and deeply moving, with a remarkable sensitivity to the inner world and mode of expression of a child. Two other items came to mind as I was reading it: A Death in the Family, by James Agee, and the film Slingblade. Lehman uses the idiosyncratic spelling of an 8-year-old to convey the mind of a child; this and the regional dialect provide an interesting and amusing dimension, but they are really only a small aspect of its impact as a whole. The whole issue of revenge and the question of whether one can gain from it the satisfaction often used to justify it is quite a profound matter, and one that is always relevant. I was just describing the book to a friend of mine this morning, and as I was talking I realized how much substance and detail there was to it despite its brevity. I sincerely hope that it reaches even a small portion of its potential audience, as I am sure a broad range of readers would react as I have.

Author Lehmann's narrator, Carrie Ann Watson, is the beleaguered, resourceful, emotional, touching nearly 8-year-old who's moved to write this story of the summer that her "outsider," big-city Uncle Mocky came to her small Ohio town to visit his dying father, her grandfather. This unforgettable novelette is made even more personal by the narrator's take-no-prisoners approach to spelling; if she's heard a word, she can spell it. For instance, you'll meet her older sister, Mariah, a "pre-Madonna too busy to play with her little sister," and the book's title is not a typo but pure Carrie wrestling with grown-up words. The spelling mishaps are often puns--offering some gamesmanship, as I struggled a few times to get the meaning and wouldn't go on until I had unlocked the words. But it's the simple but insightful narrator you'll always remember. As I read, I kept wondering what Uncle Mocky's "revinge" was going to be, and when you learn Carrie's part in it, you might fear that this tender-yet-tough kid might be a Bad Seed in the making. But I say not to worry, for devilish though it may be, there is a poignant denouement (what would Carrie do to that word?) for Mocky and Carrie. This "novel written by an 8-year-old" is an understandably short book--but one long on resonance.

good read. very diff. style of writing, but creatively done. endearing characters you will think about and relate to. a great first effort by the author.

I was assigned this book in a modern literature class. While I thought the author had an original idea, I think the story left something to be desired. The child-spelling was cute for about three sentences and then quickly became annoying.

I really enjoyed and was enthralled by the voice of Carrie Ann Watson, this book's first-person eight-year-old narrator. This author has really captured a young person's perspective, desires and intelligence. She shines off the pages and more than once put me in mind of Harper Lee's heroine Scout Finch.