A Solitary Blue (The Tillerman Series #3) (Paperback)

by Cynthia Voigt (Author)
Key Phrases: Brother Thomas, Miss Opal, Miss Melody (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Horn Book A fine achievement. -- Review

Review
USA TodayHonest, controlled and uncompromising.

New York Times Book ReviewBeautifully written.

Bookliststarred reviewRichly resonant -- perhaps the best Voigt venture yet.

Bulletin of the Center for Children¹s BooksBeautifully knit, a compelling and intelligent novel.

Horn BookA fine achievement.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689863608
• ISBN-13: 978-0689863608
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #78,496 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Books > Teens > Authors, A-Z > ( V ) > Voigt, Cynthia
  #33 in	Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Family Life > Marriage & Divorce > Fiction
  #46 in	Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Family Life > Marriage & Divorce > Divorce

• This item is part of The Tillerman Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What it means to be human, November 4, 2001

By	Alice Fielding "kangarunitarian" (Norman, OK USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Solitary Blue (The Tillerman Series #3) (Mass Market Paperback)

This might very well be my all-time favorite book, and I'm an adult with a college education, not a kid who was force-fed "literature" all through school. Jeff as a character is real and beautiful, and his feelings are relayed throughout the book as universal human emotions of loneliness and longing. I tend to be self-loathing, so I identified with Jeff on that level ("He couldn't think of anything he wanted to do. Ever."). The story is so real that I dream about the characters and wish I could meet them--Brother Thomas working through a crisis of faith by harvesting crabs out of the Chesapeake Bay, the Professor working through a crisis of love by writing a history book. It's so great. I even convinced my aunt and uncle to take me to Crisfield, Maryland, so I could see what Jeff saw and felt. Voigt's descriptions are accurate and clear without boring the reader in the least. This is a book of life.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The book was very touching and I just couldn't put it down!!, May 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Solitary Blue (The Tillerman Series #3) (Mass Market Paperback)

A Solitary Blue is based around a boy, named Jeff's, life. When Jeff was young his mother took off and left him with his father. His father was a caring man but he never showed it. He always had his nose in his studies and never really associated with Jeff. Then when Jeff was around the age of 11 he visited his mother for the first time in years. His mom seemed very caring and fun to be with. Jeff didn't want to leave but he did. Jeff tried to get in touch with her but she never wrote or called. Jeff met his fathers friend, Brother Thomas, who brought life to the house. Jeff then visited his mother again but this time she was way different. The whole summer she was gone and only saw him for like 2-3 days. Jeff hated her from that point on. Not really hate but he was very hurt by what she said to him. This whole happening brought Jeff and the Professor(Jeff's father) together. They did more things together and even laughed together. When they moved Jeff made friends and even had a crush. Melody wanted a divorce so she contacted them and she wanted Jeff. But Jeff didn't want to go to her so he stayed with the Professor. When Jeffs great-grandmother died he got her inheritance and her diamond ring. Meoldy was at Jeffs house waiting for him. She said she was moving but she needed money. Jeff knew what she really came for so he gave her the diamond ring. Melody gave him her jade ring. The moral of the srtory was that Jeff found out what the true treasures in life were. He knew it was the little things that count not just money. But that was all Melody thought about. In conclusion I thought this was a really good book. It was interesting and it kept you wanting to read more.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book, April 7, 2005

By	Dancing Jackaroo (Tacoma, WA USA and Bucharest, Romania) - See all my reviews

I just read this book for the first time in several years, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone else has already given a basic summary of its plot, so I won't try for that. However, I greatly appreciated this book.

My favorite part of "Solitary Blue" was the character development. I loved watching Jeff grow and change throughout the book, from what he described as a ghost, even in his own life, to someone actively involved in the world, making friends and finding things that he loved to do. I ached for him when his mother broke his heart and he thought it was his fault, got angry at himself for being so fragile and easy to break, and determined not to be that fragile again (I wanted to shake him and say, "You're SUPPOSED to be easy to break at 12 years old! That's because you're supposed to be able to TRUST your parents to protect and watch over you."). I also enjoyed watching his father grow and develop as a character. At the beginning he came across as almost completely unaware of Jeff, as well as unable to care for him at all. However, as the story progressed he began to open up, to care for his son, and to reach out to him. I was glad to see that it wasn't too late, that despite all of his hurt Jeff was still able to respond to his father and develop that relationship.

His mother, on the other hand, was something else. One of the strong points of this book was that it got me involved enough to feel passionately angry at Melody for her treatment of her son. Perhaps because I have feminist do-gooder tendencies like the ones she claimed, I had no patience for her constant desire to hide behind her beliefs. I'm sorry, it doesn't matter how much good you want to do the world; you don't abandon your child(ren) to do so (if it was so important to her that Jeff learn about social justice issues, why not take him with her?). You don't send them off on a 16 hr. bus ride with no money or food. You don't use and manipulate the people around you for the "greater good of society". All in all, I was thoroughly disgusted with her. In a weird way, that speaks to the strength of the book; I don't generally get so angry with a book character, and the fact that I did means that Voigt knew what she was doing.

As I mentioned, this is a good book and worth reading. It may be for slightly more mature tastes, however; I remember that I thought it rather boring the first time I read it years ago.