8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow", July 27, 2007
In this last of the "Tending Roses" series, Lisa Wingate has written a lovely goodbye from characters that we have come to know and love.
Dell, now 20, longs to connect with her half Choctaw Native American heritage and goes in a spur of the moment search to Oklahoma searching for roots in a biological father and family she has never known. As in all journeys for truth, Dell finds this a long, twisting path, meeting the present tribe members while learning of their proud, but beleagured past. "The trails of tears" march crippled this noble lot, but they persevered and remain strong and proud. Paradoxically, Dell's own trip is filled with tears, disappointment, but also success in finding her strength of character. Beautifully written, her struggles carry the reader along, laughing when she laughs, crying when she crys, feeling release when she feels release. The story is a very cathertic event; it was especially poignant to this reader as one who can identify with the need to understand the past in order to accept the present.
I have loved this series so saying good-bye is difficult, but Lisa Wingate made the process so rewarding that it is a bitterweet parting. Each novel progressed in style, form, prose and storyline, which is every reader's hope. Ms. Wingate deserves congratulations on gifting us five books that reaped realization, understanding, acceptance and most importantly Love. Love of oneself, and of the Creator who knew from our conception that their is reason and purpose for each existance.
I look with great anticipation to her next work.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I loved it!, November 15, 2007
A THOUSAND VOICES by Lisa Wingate
November 15, 2007
Rating **** (4 Stars)
Reading A THOUSAND VOICES by Lisa Wingate was a treat. This is the final book in the Tending Roses series and continues the story of one of the main characters from THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES, Dell Jordan, who was adopted at the age of thirteen after being abandoned by her biological mother. She never knew who her father was, and now at age twenty, she needs some answers. Her adoptive family is loving and close and her memories of the woman she called Grandma Rose will always remain with her. But as she watches her family during a baby shower, and realizes that no one will say HER future babies resembles anyone in this family, she feels that she will never truly belong.
Dell resolves to find her biological family, to search for that father she never knew. She has one clue found on her birth certificate that he was a Native American from Oklahoma. With that information, she travels to the Kiamichi Mountains without telling her adoptive parents, and soon her adventures begin.
After much driving and stopping to ask for directions and a motel room, Dell arrives at a campground with an empty spot where she could park in, just for the night. She has hardly any food with her, not having planned on camping out. As she sits awkwardly alone at a park bench, eating an old candy bar for dinner, she can hear the music being played a few campsites over. Coming from one of the tents, she spies two young Native American children and soon after that, a man's voice breaks into her reverie. He is Jace, the children's father, and the two form a friendship after he invites Dell to his family's party.
Dell slowly gets the information that will lead her to the answers she's been looking for regarding the mystery of her father. In the mean time, she and Jace bond as he helps in her search. And, she feels that for once in her life she can truly say that these are HER people. Somewhere in this group of people are the clues that will lead her to her father, the man that may possibly give her the family she always craved.
This reviewer loved A THOUSAND VOICES just as much as THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES. These are the last two books in the Tending Roses series, and the reader will want to read the entire series after finishing reading this one. Dell Jordan is a standout character who comes across as a naive child, although she is already twenty years old in this book. It isn't apparent whether this was intentional by the author, but it showed how fragile Dell was because she is searching for her father, and that she was so hopeful in finding him that the thought of not succeeding never enters her mind. As far as she's concerned, he's out there waiting for her.
Secondary characters that play an important role are Jace, the man she meets during her travels, a man she envisions having a future with. His children Autumn and Willie play a major role in leading Dell to Jace, and last but not least, Shasta, Jace's sister, plays a nurturing role in Dell's newly found family, someone who feels like a sister to Dell. Of course Dell's adoptive parents Karen and James also play an important part, through flashbacks and phone calls as Dell goes in search of her father.
Dell's need to create a new family for herself, people that LOOKED like her, was touching, but what she finds out about herself during this trip is most important. It's not who we are related to that is family, but who was there for us and took care of us when we needed someone the most. Family is not all about blood ties. Dell's search for her father may lead her to what she is looking for, even though it may not be exactly what she had hoped for.
This reviewer highly recommends A THOUSAND VOICES, the last of the four novels in Lisa Wingate's popular series of books, and hopes that readers who have yet to read the previous three books will not hesitate to check them out as well. - Courtesy of Love Romances and more - M. Lofton
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning!, August 20, 2007
With a voice as authentic and finely penned as any I have read, the author tells a tale that is both achingly sad and quietly triumphant. A Thousand Voices, written by Lisa Wingate, is a skillfully crafted book filled with the language of poets and the heart--simply, yet beautifully told.
" She (Grannie) said every bird in the air came from a thought of God, and so did I.... It's a powerful thing to realize you were put in this world on purpose. It changes the way you feel about everything."
The story of conflicted young woman, filled with love for her adoptive parents, yet longing to know her Native American heritage, A Thousand Voices elegantly expresses the complexity of a journey from love, through fear and disappointment and back again.
A Thousand Voices is one of my favorite kinds of books--it teaches without teaching. For those of us who haven't experienced the pain of not belonging often felt by adoptees, Wingate provides more than information, more than an education. In Dell Jordan, the author gives us someone we can love. And love changes us forever. Dell personalizes the angst of adoption, the bigotry felt by Native Americans, the longing for roots that many of us take for granted-and I love her for that.
It's said we all need roots and wings. I think that may be true for books as well. And A Thousand Voices has both. It's rooted in honest feelings and soars on wings of faith and compassion. The rare experience this book delivers-- to be entertained, educated, and fall in love--is what we all hope for every time we open the pages of a new book.
Armchair Interviews says: Want great writing filled with emotions, this 5-star story is for you.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
