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<div style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin-left:.5em;"> <div style="margin-bottom:.5em;"> <div style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin-bottom:.5em;"><span style="vertical-align:middle;"><b>Elegant and Compelling</b>, March 8, 2013</span></div> <div style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin-bottom:.5em;"> <div> <div style="float:left;">By </div> <div style="float:left;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2AIE9DO5QSVBD/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdp" style="color:rgb(0,75,145);"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Pop Bop</span></a> (Denver, Colorado United States) - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A2AIE9DO5QSVBD/ref=cm_cr_pr_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview" style="color:rgb(0,75,145);">See all my reviews</a></div> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> </div> </div> <div class="tiny" style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:x-small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin-bottom:.5em;"><span class="crVerifiedStripe"><b class="h3color tiny" style="color:rgb(228,121,17);margin-right:.5em;">Amazon Verified Purchase</b><span class="tiny verifyWhatsThis">(<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/community-help/amazon-verified-purchase" style="color:rgb(0,75,145);">What's this?</a>)</span></span></div> <div class="tiny" style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:x-small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);margin-bottom:.5em;"><b><span class="h3color tiny" style="color:rgb(228,121,17);">This review is from: </span>The Wayward Gifted - Broken Point (Kindle Edition)</b></div> <span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">This book defies attempts at categorization - by genre, by target audience, or by pretty much any other measure. The best short description I can come up with is this - if Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and William Faulkner had collaborated on the most literate Twilight Zone episode ever conceived, the result might have been something like this. It's very hard to write anything else without touching on possible SPOILERS, but I'll try. (And know this at the outset: this is not anywhere nearing being a standard issue middle grade magical adventure romp, despite the impression that you might get from the brief Amazon description.)</span><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">We start with Steuart and Samantha, ten and twelve year old siblings, late at night on the crumbling sleeping porch of the southern mansion they share with their mentally unstable adoptive mother. They have a long, languid, awkward and rambling conversation that establishes their own idiosyncrasies, and firmly places them in an elegant YA southern gothic world. They are innocent lost souls surrounded by confusing adult disharmony. It feels like the first act of a Williams memory play, (and I'm not sure that their surname being "DuBoise" is a coincidence.)</span><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">Now, I say "YA", (and Amazon lists this as a "children's" and "coming of age" book), but I don't know if you could call this YA or middle grade just because the protagonists are children. (Is "The Turn of the Screw" a children's book just because children feature so prominently?) It sort of seems young adult or even middle grade because there are no "adult" themes - no sex, no violence, no focus on adult preoccupations. And the point of view is always drawn to and from Steuart and Samantha, with virtually all of the dialogue involving one or the other or both of the children, and everything that happens being filtered through their perceptions.</span><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">But that said, the quality of the writing is in a whole different world from anything else I've read recently in the YA/middle grade category. There is elegant word play; there is dialogue as sharp as broken crystal; there is atmosphere, mood, and sly humor. This is demanding and rewarding material. I could see this book captivating a confident and patient young reader. This is a book that could make a lasting impression.</span><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">You'll note that I haven't mentioned the plot. Out of deference to its Twilight Zoneness, I would just say that it incorporates, subtly and over the course of the book, the best aspects of the Zone's uncanny, unnerving and vaguely threatening aesthetic in a very satisfying way.</span><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">So, it seems to me that a book like this illustrates exactly why one browses through Amazon Kindle freebies and independently published books. This is a book that deserves attention. In that regard, the sample that is available for this book is very generous and will give you a very good idea of what will be in store for you.</span><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><br style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);" /><span style="font-family:verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:small;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">Please note that I found this book while browsing Amazon Kindle freebies. I have no connection at all to the author or the publisher of this book.</span></div> </div>