Sunshine State Young Readers Award Master List Nominee

2004-2005

Booklist

"Doyle has written a sparely eloquent, deeply moving family story that is enriched by its wonderfully realized rural setting. Her characters are complex and not always sympathetic, but their lives are as authentic —and ruggedly beautiful —as the Vermont countryside in which they live."

Publishers Weekly

"Like the central image of her novel, Doyle's debut is quietly electrifying. ... Doyle's prose gracefully metes out the rhythm of farm life, capturing the silence and beauty as well as the unrest lurking beneath the surface. …Readers may well close this mesmerizing gem of a novel believing, like Ian, that the Vermont landscape itself has the power to heal."

Kirkus Reviews

"Powerful writing, in a gentle, low-key style, sets this apart from the standard teen angst offering; its climax will leave readers breathless … it is sure to strike a deep chord. Doyle is an exciting new voice and definitely someone to watch.

Booklist

"Doyle has written a sparely eloquent, deeply moving family story that is enriched by its wonderfully realized rural setting. Her characters are complex and not always sympathetic, but their lives are as authentic —and ruggedly beautiful —as the Vermont countryside in which they live."

Publishers Weekly

"Like the central image of her novel, Doyle's debut is quietly electrifying. ... Doyle's prose gracefully metes out the rhythm of farm life, capturing the silence and beauty as well as the unrest lurking beneath the surface. …Readers may well close this mesmerizing gem of a novel believing, like Ian, that the Vermont landscape itself has the power to heal."

Kirkus Reviews

"Powerful writing, in a gentle, low-key style, sets this apart from the standard teen angst offering; its climax will leave readers breathless … it is sure to strike a deep chord. Doyle is an exciting new voice and definitely someone to watch.

School Library Journal

"This distinguished first novel chronicles six months in the life of the troubled Daley family. Ian, 11, lives on his struggling father's small Vermont farm. His mother has abandoned them; his older brother is uncommunicative, and his verbally abusive father has never shown much interest in his quiet, younger son. … As tensions worsen, the boy grows increasingly disaffected until the night his drunken father deliberately sets fries to their barn with the cows inside. Ian then finds the courage to stand up to him and rescues the animals. Although many situations remain realistically unresolved, including the relationship between father and son, Ian has learned that he has the strength to survive. The author uses metaphors most effectively, as when she compares the family to hurt, silent dogs that are going through the motions, surviving, but waiting to be kicked. The raw language is appropriate, given the anger and desperation of the characters. The author's obvious understanding of the young adolescent mind makes this a fine choice for reluctant readers."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Doyle presents a view of modern farm life reminiscent of A Thousand Acres; there's acute and sympathetic realism in the depiction of the changing life of the farm, where the family livelihood is sapped from underground and even the most iron-fisted patriarch must bow to the force of the marketplace. Ian does make his way beyond the bleakness of his mother's abandonment and his father's estrangement, though, and his hard-won resolve to set his own goals is satisfying and right."

Voice of Youth Advocate

"In this stern, uncompromising novel, the story is not a despairing one. As if to counteract the stray voltage, another more hopeful symbol runs through in the appearances of the Hale-Bopp comet in the clear winter nights above the farm. At the low ebb of the Daley's fortunes, the comet puts on its most spectacular display, filling Ian with a sense of wonder, and helping to sustain his will to endure a bleak situation. The book is short, simple, and direct, and thus quite approachable for a reluctant reader who is not counting on a cheerful story or a contrived happy ending."