[set star] “An emotional roller-coaster ride . . . A profound and heartwarming message about the various manifestations of love.”—Publishers Weekly (starred) [set star] “Only a writer as talented as Han Nolan could make this improbable story line and bizarre cast of characters not only believable, but ultimately uplifting, intriguing, and memorable.”—Booklist (starred)
In this sometimes outlandish, often poignant exploration of a chaotic household, Nolan (Dancing on the Edge) delectably takes the notion of "nontraditional family" to extremes. The novel opens when narrator James Patrick (JP) has just lost his grandmother. The son of a fragile mother and mentally disabled father, JP begins to realize just how much his grandmother held them together. When his childlike mother attempts to take charge, she moves them to a rambling old farmhouse that she wins in a contest for invoking a Harpo Marx quote ("When she came home from work each day she wanted to see `a face in every window' "). JP becomes increasingly distressed as his mother invites an odd assortment of outcasts, artists and musicians to live with them. Nolan takes readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride right along with JP, who initially holes up in his room, trying to distance himself from the unwelcome visitors, then opens his door and heart little by little as he begins to accept his new role in an ever-changing family. In addition to a supporting cast as compelling and offbeat as the main characters, the author delivers a profound and heartwarming message about the various manifestations of love. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Gr 7 Up-When 14-year-old James Patrick's grandmother dies, the small family that she kept solidly knit together comes undone. Left in the care of his fragile and impractical mother and his retarded father, the mature and highly intelligent JP feels his orderly life slipping away. When his mother returns from convalescing at the hospital, she is increasingly preoccupied with the attentions of her doctor. When she wins an old farmhouse through an essay contest, JP must steel himself and Pap through another transition fraught with emotional turmoil. Mam becomes a social magnet, attracting an odd assortment of people who take up residence in their rambling new home. JP is beset with annoyance over her free-spirited behavior and is disquieted by the crowded living arrangements. Pap's love for his wife and son remains solid and unconditional, yet his intuition alerts him to the shifting relationships, and his vulnerability and innocence deepens JP's despair. Mam takes a trip to Switzerland with the shadowy Dr. Mike, but returns early and announces that she's pregnant. JP confronts the man, who suddenly, and quite tellingly, is no longer in the picture. The teen then confronts himself, making a far more satisfying discovery. Revealed through JP's eyes, the story engages readers and leads them to accept the reality and prevalence of human frailties, allowing for mistakes and best intentions gone awry. They will applaud the young man as he gains tolerance for the complications of family life with all of its imperfections and inexplicable tangle of emotions. Nolan has used her adroit writing skills to show the pathos of unusual circumstance within everyday lifestyles.-Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
A teenager's resistance to change drives this meaty tale from Nolan (Dancing On The Edge, 1997, etc.), about people who are reinventing themselves, or reaffirming who they are. The death of JP's Grandma Mary not only sends his frail mother to the hospital and his mentally retarded father out into the yard to dig holes with a spoon, it also brings an end to the harmonious, neatly ordered household in which he grew up. Changes are rolling over him like ocean waves as he and his parents move to a big old farmhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania, along with a gay ex-druggie, a gaggle of budding young poets and musicians, and Bobbi, a teenager fleeing her father's beatings. Alternating fits of outrage with awkward, sincere efforts to fit in, JP sees his mother take up with a too-friendly doctor and Bobbi with a man ominously like her father, tracks changes in other members of what becomes an extended family, falls in and out of love, and ultimately regains senses of place and self. Nolan makes JP engrossingly complex, prickly but good at heart, confused about his own strong feelings, given to endearingly trite observations ("While everyone around me seemed to have found themselves, I grew more and more lost"), steadfast in his love for his father, and just as steadfast in his love for his mother, although their connection is a stormy one. Most, not all, of the people here make good choices, and Nolan beautifully captures the shifts and textures of human relationships. (Fiction. 12-15)
