Customer Reviews

This Is Graceanne's Book: A Novel

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Sometimes the most profound things are very complex and sometimes they are very simple. This is a simple story about complex human beings who appear simple. Confusing? Not very. I urge you to read this story about a mid-western family hurting in every place imaginable but which still manages to move into parts of the human heart where few of us have the nerve to go. There are scenes of such poignance that you will put the book down and reflect with your eyes closed as you feel what the characters are feeling. I finished the book about a week ago, and I find myself thinking about what Graceanne did on the other side of the bridge and wondering why Charlie never saw his sister Kentucky again. Did Edie ever get herself straightened out? The story stays with you and I will be thinking about it for a long time. It will be on my bookshelf in the section reserved for the very special. It is very simply, a wonderful book and although the story has ended, I wish the Farrand family the very best.

The first time I read "This is Graceanne's Book,"
I did so without pausing. When I closed the
book's cover at four in the morning, I knew that
I had just been privileged to experience a tale
of American literature that will remain in my
heart and my mind's eye forever.

The second time I read the novel, I found myself
poring over the chapters -- absorbing the beauty
of Whitney's vivid settings and inventive dialogue.

I treated myself to a few chapters each day, wanting
to prolong my reunion with the lovable and precocious
Charlie (the boy narrator) and his irrepressible yet
noble sister Graceanne.

Whitney archived a time in American history when
women struggled for financial independence; society
struggled with racial issues; and children struggled
to remain out of crossfire of their elders.

The kids of Cranepool's Landing didn't have television,
they had something far greater: imagination, and a gritty
determination to puzzle through life's mysteries on their
own terms, using their own self-taught codes of honor.

Charlie, Graceanne, Wanda, Kentucky, and Collier
will win your heart as Jem, Dil and Scout did in
"To Kill a Mockingbird."

Reading "This is Graceanne's Book" gives you an insight
into the American experience that should not be overlooked.

Told from the vantage point of young Charlie Farrand, you'll find yourself in love with him & his older sister Graceanne in no time. Growing up poor in the Midwest in the 1960's, the kids of Cranespool Landing have fun the good old-fashioned way by playing in the muddy river, playing ramped up versions of hide & seek and the like. Despite growing up in a troubled household the Farrand children manage to have fun, create their own excitement and love one another. This novel is about the resiliency of the human spirit and about how strong the bonds of love between siblings can run. A balance of humor and heartbreak, it will have you laughing & crying. Charlie's unconditional love for his sister Graceanne is so pure & touching you'll wish you could wrap your arms around them both.

Graceanne Farrand of Cranepool's Landing, Missouri, has a lot on her mind. And you'd better pay attention or else she'll "...whale you within an inch of your life...". It is 1960 again, and while the Mississippi is wreaking havoc by flooding its banks, it becomes a mere play-toy for the children of the town. Graceanne's younger brother Charlie, is the outsider in us all, watching with wonder how his sister moves through this world, in her magical way. This world becomes more real and unreal, with every passing page. Charlie Farrand is no fool himself, and he observes for us the most interesting event in town; an event called Graceanne. He watches her behave in ways that always intrigue and fascinate, until his world, is her world. And I was lucky enough to be along for the ride. In seeing her gifts and feeling her burdens, he must travel a road of discovery for himself, in attempting to grasp the plights of his remarkable sister. In this town, with this girl, the imagination is limitless, and the heart is human

In small-town Missouri during the '60s,Graceanne survives disasters such as floods and physical abuse through her keen intelligence and wit. Her persistence is reflected in her book, a treasure that Charlie, her devoted brother, helps her to protect.

Through Charlie, the narrator, the reader gains multifaceted layers of understanding that embrace humor and pain, and I for one laughed aloud and wept in equal measure.

P.L. Whitney has crafted a lyrical tribute to a troubled family. To Kill a Mockingbird is in the same league. Whitney, however, confronts behavior that is almost too unbearable to mention.

One does not have to have seen the Mississippi or been a child in the 60s to appreciate and marvel at this wondrous tale. The author has created unique characters in Graceanne and Charlie, yet she has accurately portrayed the universality of the dark side of childhood along with the resiliance of the human spirit that is redemptive. As Michelangelo has captured the sorrow and love of a grieving mother in the Pieta, Polly Whitney has illuminated those secret places of childhood and by bringing this light has made the reader see childhood in a different and wondrous perspective that will haunt the soul for years to come. This book may bring the horrors of a dysfunctional family to the readers, but the author also presents the humor which allows for survival. This is a book to buy and treasure.

THIS IS GRACEANNE'S BOOK is the most important and most beautiful work of fiction I've read in a long while. It is a book I will never forget.

THIS IS GRACEANNE'S BOOK transports the reader to the year 1960 and to Cranepool's Landing, Missouri, a small town on the bank of the Mississippi River. Nine-year-old Charlie Farrand tells the story of a year in the lives of the Farrand family, a year when the temperament of the river was variable and unpredictable. Sometimes it was tranquil, flowing with lazy calmness, and other times it was turbulent, its destructive currents leaving wreckage along its path. And so it was in the Farrand home.

It was the year of Ugly Blue Man. It was the year when a Negro girl became the Farrand kids' best friend. It was the year when twelve-year-old Graceanne was abused by her mother, and Charlie learned how to protect her, and Graceanne learned how to save herself. And it was the year when imagination and the magic of the planets saved them both.

Charlie's narrative voice is so clear and believable that I remembered what it felt like to be a child -- when you knew you weren't smart enough to understand things adults said and did; and when you wanted more than anything to be able to do things better, but you were just a kid, and you didn't know how. Charlie reminded me of how frustrating it was to be a kid.

Graceanne reminded me what it was like to be a kid, too -- when you had confidence to try anything because you knew you could do it; and when you had a brother and a sister you loved more than anything, but that didn't stop you from fighting with them. Graceanne reminded me of how smart I felt when I was a kid. Together, Charlie and Graceanne reminded me how wonderful, yet how difficult it was to be a child.

The writing in THIS IS GRACEANNE'S BOOK is elegant and poetic, and the prose possesses a rhythmic cadence that serves as a subtle reminder of the continual presence of the river. The river is a integral element throughout the story, and it is so richly described that it remains in my memory as vividly as do the human characters. The prose is at once gentle in voice and powerful in imagery and emotion, capable of soothing the reader at one moment and shattering the reader the next.

Readers who are familiar with Ms. Whitney's mystery series will be surprised and enchanted by this novel -- surprised because THIS IS GRACEANNE'S BOOK is not a mystery and the style is unlike the styles we have seen previously from Ms. Whitney, and readers will be enchanted by the beauty of the prose and the impact of the story. In THIS IS GRACEANNE'S BOOK, Ms. Whitney addresses themes of importance, and she does so eloquently.

Some events in GRACEANNE are disturbing, but ultimately, THIS IS GRACEANNE'S BOOK is a celebration of spirit. It is a book filled with wonders. From now on, whenever I look at Mars, I will think of Graceanne and wonder what the astronomers are up to. This is a five-star book from beginning to end

A reading experience to rival TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in its insight into the hearts and minds of children, and evocation of a time and place. You will never forget Graceanne. I know, because I haven't.

The minute I finished this book I wanted to talk about it with someone. I wanted to explore the rich Missouri setting, the strong characters that are authentic and interesting, and the issues of racisim and child abuse that rage through this novel like the river that floods Graceanne's home town.

In a nutshell, Graceanne is a spirited highly intelligent child who is the sole recipient of her mother's violent abuse. She remains strong, witty and true to herself throughout the entire novel. I strongly disagree with a fellow reviewer who believes that Graceanne "got what she deserved" because she was such a willful and devilish child. I believe her antics, such as hiding out in the school's flooded basement for two days so that she could be "Champion for Eternity" in a game of hide-and-seek, was her way of not letting the abuse do her in. It was her way of preserving her soul.

At first I was really worried that the child-abuse scenes would be too vivid. I worried that they would be the central imagery of the story. They aren't. Whitney uses them just enough, and is detailed just enough, so that you know how sick the mother really is. The author often makes you laugh and smile at a small town childhood, and small town kids getting into small town mischief.

This is really a story of kids overcoming the hands that life has delt them. Charlie overcoming his club foot, Graceanne her abuse and Wanda the racism that plagued that era of American history. These kids perservere with such charm and such thoughtfulness. In the end you are cheering for them, and praying that happiness will follow them beyond the wire hanger beatings of their childhood.

This is a book that sticks with you. Read it.

What an amazing book! The soul-touching story, combined with some of the most incredibly natural, infectious humor since Mark Twain, makes this one of the most uplifting books I've read in recent years.

The main characters -- 9 year-old Charlie, the narrator, and 12 year-old Graceanne, his sister -- are immensely endearing and admirable. They are growing up -- along with their older sister, 16 year-old Kentucky -- living with their recently-divorced mother on the 'wrong side of the tracks' in a small town in northern Missouri in the early 1960s. Their dad isn't in the picture much -- an alcoholic soldier who beats their mother, he's sent packing early on in the story, and makes himself scarce after his exit.

The mother, Edie, would probably be diagnosed today as being neurotic or psychotic. In her never-ending struggle to 'keep up appearances', she constantly nags her kids about their manners, the company they keep, &c. On several occasions, she asks out loud 'What have I ever done to deserve such demon children?' She takes most of her frustrations with her life, along with her complete misunderstanding of her children, on the intelligent, precocious Graceanne. On several occasions, she beats her until she's bloody. It's easy to understand how the kids would come to see themselves as a burden to her -- if it weren't for their seemingly indestructable spirits.

Graceanne is a tough child with a reputation to match. Near the beginning of the book, Charlie (actually short for Charlemange, which should tell you MORE about their mother), who has a correctable club foot, is musing about being bullied by the other children in town. He dismisses worrying about the other kids with these thoughts about his sisters (from p.9): 'The two worst bullies in Cranepool's Landing were ALREADY exercising their license as family members to beat me silly -- "whale on you, young man" -- on a regular basis, leaving all other potential assailants the status of respectful, but backward, admirers of my sisters' originality and prowess.'

Graceanne has an IQ of 165 -- and Charlie's is a very respectable 139. The author gives these children -- especially Graceanne, acquired by Charlie possibly simply by being in her presence -- incredible voices. Graceanne's use of newly-absorbed vocabulary words doesn't come across as much as an attempt to show off as it does as a means of asserting her inteligence and individuality in an atmosphere that tends to crush it.

She is also a universally feared and respected softball player. Some of the parents of the other kids even suspect that she's a boy. From p.248: 'She could hit anything that came at her, and she'd slice the ball belt-high through the infield, so close to the player she was aiming at that most players couldn't possibly catch it. A couple of parents complained that Graceanne was trying to peel the skin off their kids; the ball would come so fast and so hard and so tight that the only sensible thing to do was to hit the dirt when they saw it coming...'

There are several notable events in the book -- which takes place over the course of a little over a single year, from April 1960 to July 1961. It is the time of the Kennedys and Camelot, of the boiling pot of race relations in American coming to a head, before Vietnam -- a time of innocence and discovery, tailor-made for an imagination and spirit like that possessed by this young heroine. After her parents' divorce, her mother is forced by economics to move her family to a 'bad' part of town. Graceanne becomes fast friends with Wanda, the young black girl who lives next door -- which brings out some revealing comments and feelings from her mother, showing her to be anything BUT the color-blind person she has professed to be.

There are some tender, poignant moments in the novel as well -- both between Graceanne and her friend Wanda and between the siblings. Little brothers at this age historically do not endear themselves to their sisters, or vice versa. Through the course of the book, Charlie wrestles with what he eventually recognizes as growing feelings of love for his sister. From p.275, he wonders about his feelings that are awakened by hearing Elvis' 'Love me tender': 'I wondered if I loved anyone tenderly. I knew I loved Mike the dog, who you couldn't sing an Elvis song to because he was an animal. And I looked around and saw Graceanne with her doll hair and her glasses and her soft skin and I thought maybe I loved her, who would laugh at me if I sang Elvis to her. It came as a big surprise to me that I loved my sister.'

The novel is filled with moments like these -- but the action sequences never become over-the-top or unbelievable, and the touching moments never become maudlin. The author transposes her vision of this story onto the page with an easy grace and eloquence, touched with humor and sympathy for these wonderful characters. This is a story that can be enjoyed by adult readers -- and indeed, I came away with the impression that it was written for them -- and intelligent young people as well. It's quite an achievement.