Grade 6-9-Five years ago, 13-year-old Memphis's mother died and her father drove to South Carolina to deliver her into the unwelcoming arms of her grandmother, Naomi, who has never forgiven her daughter for running off with "that John Riley." Memphis is left with her mother's guitar, her father's weak promise to return, a preoccupied and reluctant grandmother, and a childlike 29-year-old aunt who "had the meningitis" when she was a baby. Clover's behavior is odd, and, much to Memphis's irritation, Naomi always coddles and defends her. When Clover smashes Rosie's guitar, which has been a constant source of rivalry between her and her niece, a steady release of pent-up family complexities is unleashed. The child yells at her, prompting her aunt to run away, and a creeping sense of foreboding sets in. A search for the mentally handicapped woman begins, and Memphis is left alone to struggle with her anger and guilt. "Old Roy," a deviant drifter comes begging for food, then threatens the girl, and has perhaps done worse to her missing aunt. Naomi's lifetime friend, "Aunt Birdie," finally helps Memphis come to terms with the family she didn't choose. The pulse of the story is the prevailing search for the missing woman. Yet the heart of it is all Memphis, flowing poignantly through the undercurrent. At once unsettling and inspiring, this memorable novel is as well written and honest as they come.
Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
It's 1973, and Memphis Riley, who's just turned 13, has had an explosive fight with her aunt Clover, a 29-year-old woman whom a childhood bout with meningitis left broken inside her head. After smashing her guitar, a precious memento that once belonged to Memphis's dead mother, Clover stomps off down the road. Memphis doesn't give Aunt Clover's departure a second thought until that night when her aunt doesn't reappear. Memphis's grandmother Naomi, whom Memphis has lived with since her father, John Riley, dumped her there and never looked back the day after her eighth birthday, is deeply distressed. As the hours, then days, mount, Naomi begins to think that her granddaughter, whom it's clear she never cared for, might have actually hurt the childlike Clover. Memphis only has two allies in the tiny town of Blue Parrot, her grandmother's childhood chum whom she calls Aunt Birdie and her friend Samson, and she's becoming increasingly scared. The surefooted first-person narrative keeps the pressure steadily building, and the reader becomes ever more fearful not only about Clover's fate, but how it will affect Memphis's tenuous position in her household and the community at large. Memphis comes to learn the sad lesson that being born into a family doesn't necessarily mean that they'll . . . love you, and discovers that home isn't brick or board but instead a feeling of belonging. Matthews's strength is that she creates no villains, but sees all her characters, even the most deeply flawed, with a compassionate eye. (Fiction. 12-14) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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