A distinctly Southern flavor, swift pace and ebullient characters distinguish this fine first novel. Egged on by Papa, their Korean War vet grandfather, 11-year-old Leah and her younger sister, Kelly, invent their own brand of summer adventure right in their own backyard. Some of their antics include stealing their father's car, hiding the corpse of a dog, carrying out a Tom Sawyer-esque cure for warts, skinny-dipping at midnight and shooting bullets at the bedroom ceiling. The reckless hilarity comes to a halt as fall approaches and tragedy strikes. . . . While most of Williams's narrative is smooth and appears effortless, her conclusion is somewhat knotted. Kelly dies suddenly, during an argument about Pop Tarts. The grieving process that follows--coming to terms with mortality, reconciliation among survivors--is glossed over in a few pages. Ultimately, what will be remembered most about this novel is not the shocking climax but rather the partners-in-crime relationship of the sisters and their ability to enjoy life to the fullest. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Leah, 11, recounts a summer of outrageous escapades with her sister/best friend Kelly, 10, and ``Papa,'' their recently widowed grandfather. From the first scene, when Papa escapes from a locked bedroom (Leah's parents were desperate to keep him sober) by climbing down knotted designer sheets, Williams's broadly comic tone is deepened with a tough reality. Papa vaguely meanders his car into a minor accident en route to the nearby Florida beach; when he's arrested and flees the scene, it's Leah who drives the car (as he's taught her) and overtakes him. The girls conceal his dog's death to protect him, but Papa's distress at its absence comes to an absurd end when he learns they've buried it by the family well. And Papa's childishly overzealous teasing--he's pretending, all too realistically, to be a werewolf--is nearly recast in horror when a young cousin finds a loaded gun. As it can in real life, a tragedy in the last pages comes as a total shock. With subtler character development, an experienced writer might have made a closer link between the response to this death and what precedes it (cf. Sarah Ellis's A Family Project, 1986, or Peter Hartling's Old John, 1990); still, though the mood change is jolting, Williams deals believably with the bereaved family's healing. A capable first novel that views both boisterous comedy and wrenching loss with a perceptive eye. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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