Citation
Walls,
J. (2013). The silver star. New York, NY: Scribner.
Description
The
Silver Star, Jeannette Walls has written a heartbreaking and redemptive novel
about an intrepid girl who challenges the injustice of the adult world—a
triumph of imagination and storytelling.
It is
1970 in a small town in California. “Bean” Holladay is twelve and her sister,
Liz, is fifteen when their artistic mother, Charlotte, a woman who “found
something wrong with every place she ever lived,” takes off to find herself,
leaving her girls enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from
school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to
take the bus to Virginia, where their Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying
mansion that’s been in Charlotte’s family for generations.
An impetuous
optimist, Bean soon discovers who her father was, and hears many stories about
why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Because money is tight, Liz
and Bean start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of
the mill in town—a big man who bullies his workers, his tenants, his children,
and his wife. Bean adores her whip-smart older sister—inventor of word games,
reader of Edgar Allan Poe, nonconformist. But when school starts in the fall,
it’s Bean who easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz who becomes
increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz.
Jeannette
Walls, supremely alert to abuse of adult power, has written a deeply moving
novel about triumph over adversity and about people who find a way to love each
other and the world, despite its flaws and injustices.
Realistic
Fiction
Scribner.
(n.d.). The silver star details. Retrieved from http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Silver-Star/Jeannette-Walls/9781451661507
Scholarly Review
Twelve-year-old Bean and
15-year-old Liz are sadly familiar with their mentally unstable mother
disappearing for days at a time. But when she vanishes for two weeks, they
decide to travel across the country to stay with their uncle in a Virginia mill
town where they learn about both sides of their family and run into trouble.
Carstensen, A., &
Flowers, M. (2013). Adult Books 4 Teens. School Library Journal, 59(12), 42.
My Analysis
This book was
interesting in places, but overall I found it to be a bit boring because the
story was so drawn out. The novel is about two girls, Bean and Liz, who have an
unreliable mother. The girls then decide to travel from California to Virginia,
where they plan to get help from their Uncle Tinsley. Liz is sexually assaulted
by the mill manager, Mr. Maddox, who controls most of the town. He is then
acquitted of all charges. Finally, Bean’s and Liz’s other uncle, Uncle Clarence,
shoots and kills Mr. Maddox. Despite the slow pace, this novel does a good job
of portraying racial tension and the bond between sisters.
Tags
#sisterhood
#assaultsurvivor
Usage
I would use this book in
a book club, either in a public or school library.
Awards
None.
Censorship
None.
References
Carstensen, A., &
Flowers, M. (2013). Adult Books 4 Teens. School Library Journal, 59(12), 42.
Scribner. (n.d.). The silver star details. Retrieved from http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Silver-Star/Jeannette-Walls/9781451661507
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