"The day I laid Robert Morgan to rest was remarkable for two reasons. First, even though it was August, the sky overhead was as rough and cold as January lake; and second, it was the day I started to shrink."
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
Truly Plaice is a big girl. So big, in fact, that her mother dies in childbirth and her father blames his daughter, and the doctor, for her death. Everyone assumes that Truly killed her mother but the reader knows that isn't the case. Her mother died from a cancerous tumor. Unequipped to raise Truly and her sister Serena Jane on his own, the girls are neglected by their father and finally given away to neighbors to raise.
Serena Jane, the epitome of feminine beauty is Truly’s polar opposite. She is raised by the small town’s preacher and his unkind wife as the princess they always dreamed of having. Truly is sent to the home of a poor family with a near-mute daughter and spends her childhood in overalls (the only clothes that would fit her) and working on the farm. The sisters see each other weekly and go to the same school but as time passes, they begin to have less and less in common.
Physically, Truly is hard to overlook. Her size makes her stand out in her small town and school is difficult. Her teacher finds her repulsive and labels her a "giant" – the first time Truly hears this word in reference to herself.
Her sister Serena Jane's beauty turns is a two-edged sword. She marries the new town's doctor the right out of high school and has a son, but dreams of a larger existence and disappears under cloudy circumstances. Truly steps in to care for Serena’s son and husband and becomes a research subject for the doctor. Family secrets are discovered in the doctor’s home and Truly finds a way to control her destiny as well as "help" others who need her assistance.
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is a good read. I enjoyed the quirky characters; the accurate descriptions of what it feels like to live as an outsider in a small town and the kind of magical aura this book reveals as you get further and further in. What makes this book even more magical is that it's a debut novel by a talented, new writer.
Truly Plaice is a big girl. So big, in fact, that her mother dies in childbirth and her father blames his daughter, and the doctor, for her death. Everyone assumes that Truly killed her mother but the reader knows that isn't the case. Her mother died from a cancerous tumor. Unequipped to raise Truly and her sister Serena Jane on his own, the girls are neglected by their father and finally given away to neighbors to raise.
Serena Jane, the epitome of feminine beauty is Truly’s polar opposite. She is raised by the small town’s preacher and his unkind wife as the princess they always dreamed of having. Truly is sent to the home of a poor family with a near-mute daughter and spends her childhood in overalls (the only clothes that would fit her) and working on the farm. The sisters see each other weekly and go to the same school but as time passes, they begin to have less and less in common.
Physically, Truly is hard to overlook. Her size makes her stand out in her small town and school is difficult. Her teacher finds her repulsive and labels her a "giant" – the first time Truly hears this word in reference to herself.
"I blushed. It was a word I'd heard before in Brenda Dyerson's fairy stories, wherein magic stalks grew out of regular dried beans, ordinary geese laid jewel-encrusted eggs, and enchanted harps sung of their own accord. To me it was a word that swirled with extraordinary promises of castle spires and treasure chests. That's not how the teacher said it, though. She spat the word through the front of her teeth, as if she were expelling used toothpaste. "Huge!" she elaborated. "Surely its not normal."Truly’s size keeps her from finding healthy relationships with most other people. Marcus, an undersized boy at school, has always been kind and has feelings for her but she can't allow herself to let him inside her well-maintained barriers.
Her sister Serena Jane's beauty turns is a two-edged sword. She marries the new town's doctor the right out of high school and has a son, but dreams of a larger existence and disappears under cloudy circumstances. Truly steps in to care for Serena’s son and husband and becomes a research subject for the doctor. Family secrets are discovered in the doctor’s home and Truly finds a way to control her destiny as well as "help" others who need her assistance.
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is a good read. I enjoyed the quirky characters; the accurate descriptions of what it feels like to live as an outsider in a small town and the kind of magical aura this book reveals as you get further and further in. What makes this book even more magical is that it's a debut novel by a talented, new writer.
This one gets a big thumbs up.
No comments:
Post a Comment