Yoss [Paperback]

Odo Hirsch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 2003

From a village high up in the mountains, a young man sets out to encounter the world. On the plain below, a town sweats with schemes and deceptions. Merchant, mistress, trickster, thief - many are drawn to this innocent newcomer. But all who seek to possess him will pay a price.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up–This lengthy novel begins in a remote mountain village where boys who turn 14 undergo a ritual of manhood. In the past, youngsters would go forth and return with a needed skill. Now, however, the custom is largely symbolic and most come back the next day. When Yoss ventures forth, he is eager to explore. Before long, he encounters two ruffians who involve him in a robbery. He is so innocent that he believes their excuse about settling a debt with their victim, a merchant, and does not realize a crime has occurred. The merchant eventually catches him and extracts his revenge by making the boy his slave. When his wife allows Yoss to spend time in the house, the man is so infuriated that he throws him down a marble staircase. After Yoss escapes, he takes his experiences home with him and eventually becomes the village leader. This largely allegorical tale of innocence lost is a reverse of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, as Yoss goes from the Celestial City to the City of Destruction, although he returns to the more virtuous place at the end. Hirsch does not portray humanity in a flattering way. In the harsh and hostile town, untrustworthy people lie, murder, and gamble. While much transpires in this coming-of-age tale that mixes fantasy, historical fiction, and adventure, the pace tends to be slow. And, as with any allegory, the moral dominates the story.–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. "Towns swallow men up. . . . A man disappears into a town and is never heard from again," warns a village elder when 14-year-old Yoss wonders about what lies beyond their isolated valley. Determined to broaden his horizons, Yoss sallies forth into a city suggestive of Renaissance Europe, whose startling contrasts-- between rich and poor, ugliness and beauty, compassion and cruelty--are appropriately represented on the front cover by Brueghel the Elder's chaotic yet exquisite Tower of Babel. Initially so trusting that two bandits manipulate him into committing a crime, Yoss finds himself bailed out by the very merchant he robbed, not realizing that the protection offered by his liberator amounts to a kind of slavery. The harsh coming-of-age allegory Hirsch proffers may have greater resonance for adult readers than for YAs, who may vaguely resent the depiction of an adolescent fortune seeker as an ingenuous tabula rasa. Even so, thoughtful readers will appreciate Hirsch's vivid evocation of the disorienting universe Yoss enters and, eventually, leaves, both wiser and tougher than when he arrived. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Walker Childrens Paperbacks (November 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0744583373
• ISBN-13: 978-0744583373
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,591,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't read this please, May 4, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Yoss (Hardcover)

Yoss
By Odo Hirsch
(...)

I have read a lot of books that take place in ancient times, have strange and magical plots, and they usually entertain me the whole time I'm reading them. Sadly Yoss is another story. With a plot that could use some work, and false descriptive statements that get you exited over nothing.

On the front of the book you'll notice the statement "An extravagant, haunting novel by Odo Hirsch". That statement is one the main factors to why I picked up that book. During the beginning of the book it was kind of boring, but we all know a good book does not give away the plot on the first page, so I decided to give it a chance.

Yoss is about a 14 year old boy who takes part in a ceremony at his village where he must leave the village for at least one day, and come back with something new he has learned that can help the village. During his little quest he decides to go where no villager has reportedly gone before. He runs into two "travelers" that befriend him in a way, and that is just about where Yoss' adventure begins.

I had to use quite a bit of my own imagination to picture the environment that the author tried to create. If it weren't for my imagination this book would have been very strange and boring.

I would give Odo Hirsch a second chance considering the fact that this is his first book that should have appealed to older kids, maybe he still has to get a feel for this style of writing.(...)

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A mom's review, January 7, 2009

By 

M. Heiss (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yoss (Hardcover)

My kids are still pretty little, and when I take away their privileges for some infraction, and they cry and I comfort them, sometimes I tell them that there are many worse things you can lose than an extra half-hour of playtime. Making right choices is important. And in their youth and inexperience, they don't know what they have that they could lose.

And that's where I start from with Yoss.

This book begins with a coming-of-age ritual in Yoss's village, a manhood ceremony. Yoss is just turning fourteen, and he walks away from the village determined to find something of value and bring it back. Within the first few chapters, he begins to understand the scope of the world outside the secluded mountains where he has grown up, and he walks on with a mixture of anticipation and wonderment.

The book quickly turns into a cautionary tale, as Yoss encounters two outlaws who spare his life but use him wickedly in their schemes. Captured, sold into slavery, mystified at the course his life has taken, and still wondering what he will bring back to the villagers, he impresses those around him with his willingness, his hard work, and his innocence.

Until the last few chapters of the book, I thought this was going to be a parallel of the Old Testament Joseph story -- a young man deceived and enslaved who makes good; in the end, becoming a wellspring of safety, security, wealth, and forgiveness for others.

Yoss does not end that way. In fact, the book is so inconclusive that I dropped my rating from the five stars which the writing and the characterization should have earned, to three stars. I think I'm just wistful for the ending this book might have had.

This is my second Odo Hirsch book (I really liked Bartlett and the Ice Voyage). I would certainly recommend it for young readers (early teens or matures tweens), but I think parents should read it too, so they can maybe work on alternate endings with their kids.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, March 17, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Yoss (Hardcover)

This is an awesome book about a guy that goes on this trip to this weird city. I really liked it. It's suspensful and exciting. 5 stars!