He could be any ordinary, respectable citizen.But he's not.
This man watches with careful scrutiny the five Herbert girls - Beauty, Mim, Stevie, Fancy, and Autumn.
Like The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, the story is told with alternating viewpoints of predator vs. prey. Norma Fox Mazer carefully weaves the dialogue between innocent schoolgirls to a haunting pedophile.
The reader sees the girls pursue through life, completely unaware of the impending danger.
Then, the reader sees The Man carefully calculating his next plan, making a schedule of the girls' movements.
As a special education teacher, I always have a tendency to read these stories through the eyes of my students. I found this book very difficult to read. The five Herbert girls range in age from eleven to seventeen and have very similar voices within the text. The students would need specific character notes to keep the girls and their point of views straight. While I don't deny Norma Fox Mazer's talent, I believe this book would be a little too much for my middle school students.
2 comments:
You have a really catching intro here! Creepy but makes you want to know why the man is watching!! Your connection to The Lovely Bones makes me want to read this book even more because I thought the Sebold's style was unique and interesting. I am intrigued and interested to read another author that utilizes this style of writing. Great review!
I agree...creepy! I have never read The Lovely Bones, but I have read The Poisonwood Bible which, if I'm interpreting it correctly, is similar to the style of this book. I think I would be interested to read this, but it would definitely make me paranoid about any man I saw looking in my direction. Maybe, like you said, a little too much for middle schoolers.
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