This is one deep novel that honestly was a bit difficult emotionally to finish the week before Christmas. I'm still reflecting on it.....it's hauntingly well written and really grabs you. I couldn't put it down.
STORY SUMMARY
Walk (nickname for Chief Walker) has always lived and worked in the coastal town of Cape Haven, California. He's the chief of police but he continues to struggle with the old wounds of having given the testimony as a teenager that sent his best friend Vincent King to prison 30 years earlier. Now, Vincent is being released. Will their relationship continue??
Dutchess is the 13 year old daughter of Star Radley. Star is the older sister of a Sissy who was killed at age 7 by Vincent in a horrible accident. Dutchess is a self-proclaimed outlaw. Walk has always tried to protect his friends Star and Vincent....and now Star's children Dutchess and her little brother, aged 5, Robin. But both Vincent and Star seem hell-bent on destroying themselves. Dutchess sometimes has to parent her own mother! Dutchess is often made fun of at school by her peers....her clothes are always torn, her hair a mess but when her peers throw sticks, she throws stones. Rules are not for her...they're for other people. She is only trying to survive and keep her family together.
Walk, a 40something man, and Dutchess, a young teen, might not seem to have anything in common but both of them have come to expect that people will disappoint you and/or leave you. And if you open up your heart, you will get it broken.
When trouble arrives via Vincent King, Walk and Dutchess find that they won't be able to do anything but just embrace it with arms wide closed. But is it Vincent who is really the source of the trouble? What about Star's odd neighbor Milton, the local butcher and a hunter? What about Dickie Darke who wants to own more land and change the atmosphere of Cape Haven? And who is Martha May? Where does Hal, Dutchess' grandfather, fit into this story?
Read this novel and be left pondering some of life's toughest questions.
MY THOUGHTS
This book is powerful. It's sad with happy moments.
It has such deep character development that I was wishing Dutchess and Robin were real so I could bring them into my home and love on them. How I longed, while reading this book, to reach out to Star and get her in a good rehab with good counseling.
This book has many twists and turns but all are deeply profound and very sad with a reality that I'm sure is common across America.
Some themes in this story: unforgiveness, addictions, single parenting, family strife/bitterness, gun violence, emotional and physical neglect, love, perseverance, betrayal.
This book also shows us just how the human spirit can prevail while going through devastating circumstances. There is some humor and hope all throughout this book.
And in the end, love wins. because love wins everytime even if it has different looks for different people.
This book will break your heart but it will also show you that healing can occur when you allow people to love you.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
2 comments:
I will have to see if the library has this book. Sounds interesting.
This sounds very good.
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