Unseen Companion [Hardcover]

Denise Gosliner Orenstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2003

Bethel, Alaska -- a small community in a stark landscape where a powerful and richly textured story spins together, one voice at a time. It is the late 1960s as beaten teenaged Dove Alexie sits in prison. One day, Dove suddenly vanishes, and there is nothing in the prison records to mark his arrival or departure. Out of the tundra, four young people step forward with their stories:

Lorraine Hobbs, a precocious loner who brings meals to the prison;

Annette Weinland, the local minister's daughter, who volunteers at the prison;

Thelma Cooke and Edgar Kwagley, two Yup'ik adolescents orphaned and displaced from their native communities.

At the core of each narration is Dove -- and the mystery of his disappearance. Like planets in the solar system, these four young people travel in separate orbits with an unseen companion, Dove. Denise Gosliner Orenstein's masterpiece of intertwining voices captures the complexities of human existence with humor and insight.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 10-12. In this kaleidoscopic first-person novel, set in 1968 and 1969, the point of view shifts from one Alaskan teenager to another. Each contributes something to the shadowy portrayal of the novel's central, tragic figure, Dove Alexie, a 16-year-old "mixed-breed" who was imprisoned for striking a white teacher, beaten by his racist jailer, and lost in the system until the story's end. The narrators are two Gussak (Caucasian) girls who live with their single-parent families in Bethel, Alaska, and a Yup'ik (native Alaskan) girl and boy sent away from their communities to live in a boarding school. Though their tales revolve around pivotal questions concerning Dove's history and his fate, it is their own lives that are more sharply in focus and fully developed here. In distinctive voices, the four narrators tell their own involving stories, separate from each other at the beginning, but increasingly interconnected. Hope, love, and occasional humor provide welcome relief from the sadness and despair that pulse through the characters' lives as they deal with separation, anger, alienation, blackmail, rape, and death. Slowly the pieces of narrative fall into place to form an intricately patterned mosaic. The appended glossary defines Alaskan terms. A sensitive observer and a compelling storyteller, Orenstein offers a novel that is both touching and harsh. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A sensitive observer and a compelling storyteller, Orenstein offers a novel that is both touching and harsh." -- ALA Booklist

"Older readers who want to further explore the realm of Jean Craighead George’s Julie will find this an eye–opening journey" -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"This gritty, tightly written Alaskan realism…tackles harsh conditions and whether a sense of self is possible despite them." -- Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: HarperTempest; 1st edition (September 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060520566
• ISBN-13: 978-0060520564
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,327,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding1, September 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Unseen Companion (Hardcover)

This book was recommended by a friend, and I have to say I am eternally grateful to her. I couldn't put it down. Ms. Orenstein writes with compassion and understanding of the complexities which bind and separate people. And in a single paragraph I was often moved to both laughter and tears.

In addition to a compelling plot -- a young man who is jailed and then seemly disappears (the book is also a bit of a mystery story!) -- the author rights authoritatively about Alaska, making you almost believe you have visited the town of Bethel, and have wandered its street, and feel your heart tugged by the relentless poverty and isolation. More than anything, she writes of the terrible toll this takes on the children, who have no escape.

READ THIS BOOK! I hope it finds its way into many hands, and that the author receives the recognition she deserves. Barbara Johnson

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reminded me of 'To Kill a Mockingbird', February 13, 2004

By 

Karen S D Robinson (Loveland, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unseen Companion (Hardcover)

Though it was set in the cold muddy tundra of Alaska, 'Unseen Companion' reminded me of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Dove Alexie is as mysterious and haunting as Boo Radley, though he's a completely different kind of character. The reader is left with a sense of outrage at the racial injustice that takes place, and yet there is humor to lighten the darkness. The characters of Lorraine and her mother are particularly enjoyable. Though the narrators (four of them) are all teenagers, this is not just a book for teens, any more than 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is a children's book because the narrator is a child. The narrators speak in an authentic vernacular, and yet the writing is lyrical and beautiful. The images of stars and planets wheel in the background, along with the wonder of man's first step on the moon. I expect this book to become a classic.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unseen Compainon By:Denise Gosliner Orenstein, May 4, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Unseen Companion (Hardcover)

"Bethel, Alska- a small community in a stark landscape where a powerful and richly textured story spins together, one voice at a time.
It is late 1960s as beaten teenaged Dove Alexie sits in prison. One day, Dove suddenly vanishes, and there is nothing in the prison records to mark his arrival and departure. Out of the tundra, four young people step forward with their sotries.
Lorianne Hobbs, a precious loner who brings meals to the prison; Annette Weinland, the local ministers daoughter, who volenteers at the prison; Thelma Cooke and Edger Kwaigly, two yup'ik adolescents orphand and displaced from their native communtites.
At the core of each narriation is Dove - and the mystery of his disaperance.
lIke planets in the solar system, these four young people travel in seperate orbits with an unseen companion,..... Dove! Denise Gsoliner Orenstein's masterpiece of interviewing voices captures the complexities of human exisitence with humor and insight."

After reading that I can tell that there are going to be alot of discription, because they way she ties the solar system into the review of the story, I know she has imagination.
So I would really want you to read this book!