Customer Reviews

Onion John

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Twelve-year-old Andy Rusch has lived in a small town named Serenity all his life, working part time in his father's hardware store, but this fall proves anything but serene. In additon to a few buddies his own age, he has added a most unusual, adult, friend, who quietly grows in personal influence on the impressionable youth. Eventually Andy feels the strain and frustration of this emotional tug of war; he writhes under the unfair burden of having to choose to honor his new friend's different background or to obey his father re his future. The book presents this moral dilemma: does a Democracy--with the best of intentions--have the right to force modernization upon a harmless immigrant with a childlike faith in his power over Nature and the human heart?

Onion John is the kindly-given nickname of a man from Eastern Europe, whose English is undecipherable to everyone but Andy--who has to work at understanding his speech, until he discovers the trick of translating John's gutteral tongue and bizarre (medieval) ideas.

The boy, with no more ambition than to become a shopkeeper in New Jersey, becomes a companion to the strange but friendly hermit; they combine forces and enthusaism as they attempt to produce first rain, then gold. Onion John knows the rites to ward off "evil" spirits, to protect innocent workers, and even to fumigate an entire town. But does Serenity Need to be fumigated out of its expansive good will and generous desire to improve

John's living conditions--dragging him into the 20th century against his will? There is NO black magic, just European folklore and superstition. This is a simple, down home story about a boy who views his dad as a hero and his adult friend as a victim. Serious themes with elements of humor and touching family values.

I thought that this was a kind of book that was really hard to understand at times. This was a really good book about friendship. The friendship between these two friends is powerful no matter their height,age, or lifestyle. But even their frienndship has changed because at the end of the book they go their separate ways. I recommend this book to any person who is beginning to make friends

Onion John is a book that displays family in an interesting way. This story is in the point of view of Andy Rusch Jr. who enjoys working at his father's store. Andy Rusch Jr. is happy with his life but his father seemed to always expect more from him, he had the idea that things could always be better then they were.

This book is kind of a "get what you give" book, thus reading it with an open-mind, will help the reader realize some of the key points. For example, Andy Rusch Jr. has such a unique outlook on things, that the reader would only notice if the story has been read carefully. The family life, represented in this book, "rings true" because of the fact that the family is pretty ordinary, which makes connecting to the book much easier. The characters such as Andy Rusch Jr. and Onion John are what make this book unique, family-wise, because of how different from each other they really are.

The author intends to get the point across that things weren't always supposed to be better when people think they should be, and that giving someone help when you don't know if they want it or not may or may not always be a good thing. He wrote this book about an average family to prove that expecting more from a child, or another person might turn out differently than expected. Learning lessons like this make us grow as people.

Parents and teenagers should read this book because it might help families become closer and learn more about each other.

Onion John takes place in a city called Serenity,about the mid 1900's. It's about a boy named Andy who was at a baseball game and met Onion John. Andy and John tried crazy ideas together,like making gold,and fumigating. Andy and John were best friends until Andy convinced Onion John and Andy's father to become friends. After that the people of Serenity built him a new house. He burnt it down the next week because he didn't know how to use his new stove. Onion John is a man who can't speak English. It was a really boring book and didn't make sense in some parts.

I am in 4th grade. This book was so slow I couldn't finish it. If you want a good book, try Hatchet. I can't believe I couldn't rate this book with a zero. I would like to be on that Newbery Committee to select good kids books like Wayside School, anything by Roald Dahl or other Louis Sachar books.

Hey folks. Onion John was real. The story was embelished, sure, but he really never learned English and there really were kids that could understand him: my Aunt and my mother, in fact. They showed me the remains of the foundation of his house. Unfortunaletly they are both gone now, so I cannot ask them any more questions. No, it's not the greatest book in the world, but it is a darn good story, and I should hope it inspires its readers to treat everyone with dignity, with no regard to their status. Onion John, as was told to me, was a hard working honest man. Thanks for listening.

In a recent writing assignment, my son wrote the following about Onion John:

The events that take place in Krumgolds' Onion John would probably never happen today. For instance, if a homeless man dressed in a strange coat and reeking of onions approached me on the street and spoke in a foreign language, I would not stop to wonder, If I listened long enough, would he start making sense? No! I would walk away - quickly. Not Andrew J. Rusch, Jr. He stops and really listens to Onion John, leading to their friendship and, eventually, the concern and care of their home town, Serenity. I enjoyed the interesting ideas Onion John had; for example, making rain with a parade and driving ghosts and evil spirits away with smells. I also like the part of the story that dealt with the "race to space" and Andy's dad's desire for Andy to get to the moon. I tend to prefer more adventurous stories or stories with a little more "action," which is why I chose to give Onion John four stars.

Onion John takes place in a city called Serenity,about the mid 1900's. It's about a boy named Andy who was at a baseball game and met Onion John. Andy and John tried crazy ideas together,like making gold,and fumigating. Andy and John were best friends until Andy convinced Onion John and Andy's father to become friends. After that the people of Serenity built him a new house. He burnt it down the next week because he didn't know how to use his new stove. Onion John is a man who can't speak English. It was a really boring book and didn't make sense in some parts.

I won't go into a lengthy synopsis of the story here. There's much more at stake. John and Andy Jr. are the greatest of friends, but what Andy learns is that their lives are both being shaped without their consent or control. This book explains how people want autonomy, to be able to live their lives and make their own choices about their fate (among other things). Though the cultural "quirks" of the locals in this story may not seem to fit the mold that we have envisioned for our society today, it still makes perfect sense and shows that we could get back to our roots where there IS a sense of community and that people can begin to help each other again. Of course, the way things are handled in this particular town flies in the face of what Onion John and Andy Jr. truly want.

As I slog through reading as many of the Newbery Winners as I can this summer (in no particular order), I realize that this isn't my most favorite, but neither is it a horrible attempt at driving home some really deep themes. I liked it for the most part, but can see how others would be expecting something different. I think the interactions between father, son, and occasionally mother, are, hands down, the most well-thought-out discussions that I have ever read. Very real and original. That's why this gets four stars. If I could put halves in these ratings, I'd give it half a star as well. To see this rated as poorly as it has been is slightly disappointing.

This is a book that after I read I was astonished to see the weird, peculiar and unexpected ways of Onion John. I can see why he does all of these things because he is such a simple man.

Although this story is slow it has many redeeming qualities to it. I like how Onion John gets when he doesn't get something or when he does understands something but tries to give it a new definition to it. He also does things that were done a long time ago and he still thinks that they work. He also thinks that some things are real like ghosts and such. I also like the way he tries to speak in English. The reason I say that is because he speaks in a language of his own. It is like the English language but it has a lot of s's at the end of each word. I also like the way he tries to make up his own words like mayaglubpany and Hemarzrich.


I think that the kind of person who would read this book is someone who is a moderate reader who can understand what is happening in the book. I also think that it would be better to read this book for a long time before you stop and take a break.