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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Confronting History to Salvage the Present, October 17, 2008
This review is from: Thank You for All Things (Bantam Discovery) (Mass Market Paperback)
Sandra Kring is gifted with an ability to create characters that remain in your psyche long after the story is read. Through them you are able to grasp concepts and understand behaviors of those damaged by a harmful past. Lucy, Milo and Tess are no exception to these rules.
Tess, mother of the genius children, Lucy and Milo, was deeply damaged by a father who refused to show affection, concern or consideration of his intelligent, independent daughter. Thus, Tess, discontinues contact with him until he is dying and she is forced to return with her the children and her mother to the small home town she detests. Her intuitive, people smart daughter, Lucy, hopes to uncover secrets and aid in the healing of this dysfunctional family.
Many avenues lead to the road of redemption and Lucy walks them with spunk and determination. She is witty, winsome, wise, and worldly beyond her years. Working like a detective she unearths clues, dissecting the past so that the present can be salved with the help of a new-aged grandmother, a Native American friend, and a cast of unruly characters. The pages seemingly turn themselves as the reader is so engrossed in the discoveries and solutions Lucy renders.
If this is your first time with Sandra Kring you are in for a treat. May I also recommend "The Book of Bright Ideas" and "Carry Me Home." Soon you will be like me.....eagerly anticipating the next novel from this witty and wise writer.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
From S. Krishna's Books, October 22, 2008
This review is from: Thank You for All Things (Bantam Discovery) (Mass Market Paperback)
For some reason, when I began reading Thank You for All Things, I thought it was about the grown up Lucy returning home to care for a dying grandfather and uncovering secrets from the past (I think because of the way the summary starts - at eleven, she already knows she wants to be a psychologist. So when she grows and becomes a psychologist, she has this other stuff to face.). I didn't realize that the story was told from the point of view of an eleven year old. Would that have prevented me from picking up the book originally? Maybe. But I'm very glad I stuck with it anyways.
Lucy is not a typical eleven year old. She is incredibly precocious and very intelligent. She is intuitive and is perceptive enough to be able to read body language. This means that she is a gifted narrator; there is little frustration associated with the fact that she is young.
It's also incredibly interesting to witness the story through Lucy's eyes. If we were seeing it through Tess's eyes (the mother), her irritation with Lucy's obsession over the identity of her father would be palpable. The reader would become irritated with Lucy - whatever the story, why can't Lucy just understand that Tess is trying to protect her daughter?
Instead, the reader feels Lucy's need to learn who her father is. We see the unfolding of the history of dark secrets and family tragedies through the eyes of a curious eleven-year-old. Though Lucy can seem much older than her years, she works wonderfully as a narrator. Seeing the story through another's eyes would make it entirely different, which is why it works so well. It is an extremely interesting point of view, and Kring deserves credit for writing it convincingly.
Thank You for All Things is a story of forgiveness and understanding. It also explores the friction between a mother's need to protect her children and a child's need to know and understand. It's a great read, and I definitely recommend it.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This book tries too hard., April 12, 2009
This review is from: Thank You for All Things (Bantam Discovery) (Mass Market Paperback)
I was thrilled to come across this book because I had really enjoyed reading Kring's "The Book of Bright Ideas." So when I started this book I was already hooked into the story. However, less than halfway through I was waiting for the good part only to find that while the story remained interesting, there wasnt anything in particular that held my attention and I kept reading simply because I wanted the story to end. Lucy, the main character, is into psychology and able to read people pretty well. Now, this would have been fine if she had mentioned it only once or twice but every chance we get the main character needs to assert that she is a people person. Lucy's mother is annoying and although we know why she is unable to love freely, I didnt exactly feel much sympathy for her because she was holding on to so much anger. I felt that it was way too easy for us to find out what was going on in the family (Lucy reads her mother's journals) and it wasnt very creative the ways in which we found out. Maybe now just wasnt the time to reas this novel. It was boring, there were too many characters and I just didnt feel very much sympathy for the characters except for Lucy, but that alone wasnt enough.
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