Customer Reviews

Oh My Stars

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OH MY STARS by Lorna Landvik

May 6, 2005

I've read only a few books by Lorna Landvik so far, but I already look forward to each new book she writes. Her latest, OH MY STARS, was quite different from PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL and her more recent ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS, but I think this latest book is one that I'll remember for a long time.

Violet Mathers starts out in life feeling unloved and unwanted. She's too tall, too plain, and then after she loses an arm to a horrific accident in the sewing factory where she works (she is only sixteen years old at the time), she soon feels that her life is not worth living. At the age of 18, she leaves her father (her mother had left them years ago for another man), gets on a bus bound for San Francisco, hoping to be the second person to end their life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.

What can only be fate happens during this bus trip. The bus ends up in an accident, and because they are stranded somewhere in North Dakota, she ends up being rescued by a very handsome young man named Kjel, and his good friend Austin, and they bring her home. This is the turning point of her so far miserable life, and her life is now on the upswing.

A good part of this book entails their travels as a musical band they call THE PEARLTONES, and Kjel becomes something of an Elvis-like music idol. The time period is the late 1930's, so rock n' roll has not yet been invented, color lines have not been crossed, and so their musical world is a bit different than what we know today. They encounter racism during their travels, as Austin and his brother Dallas are black, but Kjel doesn't see color, and while Violet was brought up to believe that blacks and whites should be segregated, she learns something new through her friendships with Kjel and Austin.

I really loved this book. I do have to admit that there were times when I felt the book could have been edited differently, but by the end of the book, I had a feeling that this was a story I would not forget easily. I am glad I read it and am looking forward to more by Lorna Landvik. This may have been her best book yet. Violet's early life was depressing, however, and some may not enjoy reading about her early years, but I saw this story as an uplifting type of novel, where even the almost impossibly sad lives can turn around if surrounded by people that care about them.

Violet narrates: "Who'd have ever thought a shunned, husky-voiced, one armed, big-chinned girl with a hive of bees in her head could live a life so full of miracles?"

I think that summed up the book quite nicely.

While not roller in the hair funny like her Patty Jane's House of Curl, or as witty as Angry Housewives Eating Bon-bons, still, ja, sure, Minnesota author Lorna Landvik's newest foray into the foibles of the US NorthLand is a fun and graceful frolick. This time, we're in and out of North Dakota and on a road trip with a band in the 1930's. The travelling band features a pre-Elvis, Preslian precursor Norwegian/American Lutheran Boy Named Kjel (pronounced in the Norwegian way as "Shell" just as their native son Kjierkegaard is pronounce "Chicago" <-accent on the first syllable)and includes 2 black brothers and a 1 armed girl/manager.

Told alternately in the first "old ladies are the ghosts-boo!-of American culture;only a few people actually see us" and third person, the story wends its way from the old Kentucky home to North Dakota through the segregated South and back to a Garrison Keillor-esque North Dakota. Landvik's latest is a fresh brisk breath of North Dakota air. /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer

It's the Depression; Violet Mathers is 18 years old, creatively accomplished, a cacophony of ugliness, the product of an absent mother and a cruel father and the casualty of a factory accident that robs her of her talents and sets her on a suicide mission to the Golden Gate Bridge. As chance (or fate, luck or doom?) would have it, the bus she is traveling on crashes in a small North Dakota town. Here Violet meets the men who will change her life, musicians, Kjel Hedstrom and his 'black as night' friend Austin Skyes. In love with Kjel, repulsed by Austin and eventually annoyed by Dallas (Austin's ex-con brother), Violet joins the threesome as they travel across America on a tuneful, almost Elvis-like adventure of self-discovery and social issues.

The self-discovery is nicely done. It's quite easy to become drawn into Violet's world thanks to Landvik's brillant humor and empathy.

The quartet of characters, though not deep, is fun and pleasing and easy to care about.

Landvik ultimately loses her reality when dealing with the social issues of a distinctly black/white 1930s America. They are never fully addressed or even worse, developed into the sticky situations and considerable quandaries they were. An encounter with the KKK is woefully short and flawed with no ensuing aftermath or logical social ramifications for the times. I sensed as if the author was floating through the period and was apprehensive about taking on racial matters and losing the cloudy, lighthearted, atmoshphere on which much of the novel rests.

While this is a pleasurable read, nonetheless, historically, it lacks a significant punch to give it the real impact it could so easily have had.

Lorna Landvik excels with this masterful tale of Violet Mathers, an ugly duckling, deserted by her mother, beaten by her father, and just to make sure she has more than her share of misery, a horrible accident that causes the loss of her arm. But an amazing thing happens to Violet on her way to commit suicide. Violet's life has taught her that when things look as bleak as can be, they can still get bleaker. And her bus ride to San Francisco for the express purpose of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge proves that point. How she winds up on a farm in North Dakota, how she meets the man she will love forever but who can never love her in the way she needs him to, how lemons truly become lemonade is about the most uplifting, heart-wrenching story I've had the pleasure of reading.

Her dreams of being a fashion designer may have died with the loss of her arm, but a life she never envisioned rises up to meet her. Through a series of circumstances Violet could never have dreamed, she finds herself traveling through the United States as a band manager during the Great Depression. Twenty years before Elvis, a beautiful and charismatic man named Kjel Hedstrom had young girls swooning and grown men wanting to join the band. His relationship with Violet, the other band members he brings into her life, and the unforgettable adventures of the Pearltones will keep you mesmerized. Be forewarned that this book will not end as you expect, and perhaps not as you would have wished, but end it does and don't be surprised if your tears of sorrow and joy have stained the pages.

I am a big fan or Lorna Landvik, and was not at all dissapointed in this book. There are so many things that I loved in this book. I loved that the characters went from rock bottom, to top of their own worlds and back down again but make it out ok. And I realy liked that the ending wasn't what you thought it would. A great read!

The books main character was a lame dog at first, one arm, no self esteem, and her only goal in life is to be the 2nd person to jump of the Golden Gate Bridge. You want to take her in and fix all her woes. But then she meets the two people who will change all that.

This is a great story that will stay with you. It is very dramitic with powerfull race issues that remind you how far we have and have not come over the years.

Oh My Stars opens with Violet describing The Off Ramp Café. It is your regular Anytown, USA diner where truckers are eating burgers, salesmen are reading the papers, and waitresses are writing down orders. Violet soon invites us to sit down for a cup of coffee while she tells us a story about miracles and love.

Violet had a hard depressing childhood. Her mother deserted her when she was just a child and her father was physically and verbally abusive. Rebelling against everything her mother told her not to do, Violet went without using soap, bit her fingernails, didn't brush her hair, and slept in her clothes. For those reasons plus many more she was tormented by the town people and other kids.

Violet spent much of her time alone reading and learning until one day her father told her to get a job instead of sitting around all day doing nothing. Violet was hired at the thread factory where she finally got to experience something she never had before, friendship. The days spent there were some of the best times but it quickly ended when she was involved in an "incedent" which caused her to lose an arm. Violet could not take life the way is was any more so she decided to clear out her bank account, take a bus across the country, and jump off the San Francisco bridge. Little did she know at the time that her life was about to radically change.

On the way across the United States, Violets bus broke down in North Dakota. She was rescued by two men - Kjel a man who made her feel like no other and his friend Austin. These two men who where stuggling musicians took her in on their journey to fortune and fame and made her a part of their life and the pursuit to make their own special kind of music.

Oh My Stars is not a bright and funny kind of story like Lorna Landvik has written in the past but it sure is worth the time it takes to read it. This story deals with some serious issues such as abuse and racism but it also has love and hope and shows that miracles can happen. You can't help cheering on Violet as she makes her way through this book.

I'ts about time Lorna Landvik wrote a new book and Oh My Stars will not disappoint you. Enjoy!

Don't be put off by the corny title of this book (for me, it gives the impression of a sappy romance) - this book is great. I was pulled in right from the beginning and could not put this book down.

I loved Violet's character and enjoyed seeing her transformation. I loved the other characters as well - the band members, Elwin, the Clamshells, etc. My only (very slight) criticism is that the book got a tad slow for me at the very end but not enough that I wanted to stop reading it.

This is definitely one I will be recommending to my friends and to my reading group.

In general I liked this book quite a bit. Landvik's books always seem to have that "feel good" vibe to them. The characters are well written and the story, although at times a little implausible, (I would have thought that Violet and the Pearltones would have encountered a bit more racism and bigotry on their travels,) nicely told. Violet was a great character and I found myself rooting for her throughout the book.

There were a few too many "around the campfire" scenes that really should have been edited better, but on the whole, this was a very enjoyable book to read.

I read this book on vacation in 3 or 4 sittings. I could not wait to see what developed next, and was always surprised at the turns the story took. This is a really good book!

As a fan of Lorna Landvik's writing, I found this book as good as her others. The character descriptions were so vivid that I could easily see them in my mind. Definitely, a book that was "hard to put down!"