From Publishers Weekly
Weaving his work more tightly than in his Seven Spiders Spinning, Maguire produces an idiosyncratic and touching story about personal tragedy and growth. Thirteen-year-old Hand Gunther finds his altruistic, pacifist father dead on the floor of the rundown Massachusetts motel they own. Abandoned by his mother three years earlier, the boy resents her fiercely when she moves back from the West Coast to take charge of the family and the motel. Numb with denial, awash with guilt, Hand misguidedly suspects his mysterious Uncle Wolfgang has some connection with his father's death, despite Wolfgang's efforts to help him through his loss. When two Iranian immigrants, father and son, come to the motel for refuge, Hand finds himself capable of his late father's kind of generosity. Slowly, he begins to feel something again. The discovery that Uncle Wolfgang is dying of AIDS finally brings the boy's stifled emotions to the surface. Although the text is over-saturated with chestnuts of wisdom from Emily Dickinson, Maguire steers clear of the earnest tones that often characterize YA bereavement stories. Instead, he deftly draws a cast of small town characters, and endows Hand with sharp and frank powers of narration. Ages 11-14.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8-A multilayered, beautiful, sensitively written story about 13-year-old Hand Gunther, who is coping with the death of his father while slowly allowing his mother to become a meaningful part of his life. The book's dramatic and engrossing opening introduces Hand's father, Rudy, a man committed to world peace and understanding. Maguire meticulously unfolds the boy's history so readers can appreciate the emotion of the moment. When Rudy dies, Hand is suddenly alone, having lived with his father since his mother left them three years earlier. The author's skill at character development brings Hand's confusion and inner tension to life. He has been bitter about his mother's abandonment, and even refuses to speak to her on the phone when she receives the news of her estranged husband's death. Now circumstances force her into Hand's life, but he is not quick to forgive or accept her. Several contrasting subplots develop that help Hand acknowledge his grief as he gradually comes to believe that his mother never stopped loving him. How aptly named is Hand's home, the Oasis Motel, for it is there that love and a sense of family is rediscovered as it is surrounded by conflict, prejudice, and turmoil. An excellent addition to books with similar themes, such as Cynthia Rylant's Missing May (Orchard, 1992) and Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons (HarperCollins, 1994).
Renee Steinberg, Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
