Written by one of the co-authors of The Guernsey Literary and
Potato Peel Society, this novel focuses on a small town of Macedonia, West
Virginia, during the Depression era.
Layla, the daughter of a Senator, is sent to Macedonia to work on a
history of Macedonia for the Federal Writer’s Project. Her father has decided not to support her,
and she is on relief and given an assignment.
She stays with the Romeyn family – Jottie and her divorced brother,
Felix, and his children Willa and Bird.
Twin sisters Mae and Minerva also live with them during the week, and go
to their husbands on the weekend.
Stories of the Romeyn family and Macedonia unfold as
Layla meets different residents and hears their tales of the town. Felix’s father created American Everlasting,
a hosiery company, and Felix worked there.
The reader knows that something happened, and Felix no longer works at
the company. We learn that Vause
Hamilton, Felix’s best friend and Jottie’s sweetheart, was found in the
building when a fire had started, and he had money that he appeared to be
stealing. Throughout the book, the
reader tries to figure out what really happened, and finds out at the end. Willa is a strong 12 year old who adores her
father and doesn’t understand why he is gone so much.
Jottie cares for the children and acts as their
mother. Sol, who works at the factory is
interested in Jottie, but Jottie still feels her love for Vause, from twenty years earlier. In the end, we find out not only
who started the fire, but why. The book
is written from several points of view, often changing within a chapter. The story is also told through letters,
flashbacks, and through the writing Layla does of Macedonia. In the end, Layla writes a real history of
Macedonia containing the truth. She
changes from a spoiled wealthy girl to a woman who has some depth and has found
some purpose, and people whom she likes and can relate to. The book has a good story, although it strays
at points. The writer has several plot
lines going, and the story line can be confusing at times but comes together in
the end. Although her first book was
more tightly written, I really enjoy reading The Truth According to Us.
WE NEVER ASKED FOR WINGS, BY VANESSA DIFFENBACH.
2015
We Never Asked for Wings is the second novel by this author, and I really
like her writing. This novel is set in
the present day in the S.F. Bay area.
Letty Espinosa had a baby, Alex, when she was 17, and her parents took care of
Alex, and then another child, Luna, who is 9 years younger. Letty was in love with Wes in high
school. When she realized she was
pregnant, she never told Wes, and he went off to college, and then medical
school. We never learn who Luna’s father
is. Letty worked jobs to help feed the
family, and to send money to Mexico, to family members.
She has never really been a parent. Her mother, Mary Elena, and father, Enrique
have raised her children. They now want
to go back to Mexico. Letty leaves her
children alone in her apartment and drives to Mexico, to try and bring them
back. After a few days, she calls her
friend, Sara, and asks her to watch the kids.
When she returns, the children are scared and angry, mainly because
their grandparents are gone, and also because they have never seen Letty act
like a mother. She doesn’t know how to
cook, or take care of her children. Alex is 15
and Luna is 6. In the past, Letty has been drunk many times, and now works at a barmaid at the airport
Alex is not happy going to his local high school. He is very bright, bored 9th
grader who needs to be with other students who want to learn. Letty
falsifies some papers to get him into a better high school with honors
classes, and eventually moves near the
school. Meanwhile, a romance develops
between Alex and a girl in his original neighborhood, who is also very
bright. A crisis arises when Alex tries
to enroll her in the school he now attends.
The plot thickens when Alex figures out who is father is,
and meets him. A realistic story develops about undocumented
immigrants who live in terror of being deported. This novel is a good follow-up to the spring
2015 Northfield Reads book, Enrique’s
Journey. The nonfiction book describes
the difficulty of entering the country illegally. This novel describes the fear and terror that
stay with undocumented immigrants, while they are trying to better their lives
and obtain and an education.
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