Waiting
for the Other Shoe to Drop
There is little mystery to A Harvest of Stars. In the
synopsis, the author tells us that Locklyn (Lock) Gaines lives with a drunken,
abusive stepfather, Bobby Wyatt. Her
mother is too sick to help. The
townspeople turn a blind eye. There are only so many ways that story can
end. Then, there’s the boy obsessed with
her, Isiah Parker. That storyline too
has limited options. But even with much
of the mystery gone, the author keeps us immersed, running our emotions from
despair, to hope, to hate … as we wait for the other shoe to drop.
Before getting into characters and plot, it’s worth
mentioning to the potentially interested reader that the genre for this book is
misleading. At the time of this writing,
it was listed as a children’s book on dysfunctional relationships and abuse. To me, this book is adult reading, or at a
minimum, advanced teens. The violence is
not graphic, but it’s tense and suggestive, especially toward the end.
The author uses a theme – child abuse – that’s virtually guaranteed
to elicit our emotions. Lock is in a desperate
situation. But for us to fully feel her
pain, to despise those that want to hurt her or who look away, the writing
needs to be crisp, the characters real, and the plot believable. There are places where the author meets these
goals quite well. I liked, for example,
the way Lock had romanticized her mother and father’s relationship, when
objectively, it seemed little more than a one-night stand. She had little hope beyond her dreams.
But while parts were good, the author could have done more. The writing was a bit muddled, often repetitive,
and very slow developing. Many of the
sentences were run-on. The
characterization of both Lock and Isiah was lacking. Lock, for example, seems almost fatalistic in
the final scenes, trusting to the same defensive ploys that had failed her in
the past. Isiah, on the other hand, seems
the quiet, overly polite friend, until suddenly in the second half of the book,
he develops a temper and fighting skills.
It seemed a very convenient shift in personality to support the
plot. And finally, it’s never clear how Lock’s
dire situation is perpetuated, why the townspeople never help. The great grandmother’s haughtiness is blamed,
but would anyone really care after so many years? Then, her mother’s poor life choices are
questioned, but why does that reflect on Lock?
And through it all, everyone knows that Bobby is a vile, brutal drunk,
but they still ignore injuries even Isiah as a child noticed. It doesn’t add up.
Overall, the theme – child abuse – is bound to elicit our
emotions. But the possibility of making
us really ‘live’ Lock’s pain wasn’t fully realized, weakened by some muddled
prose, inconsistent characters, and implausible obstacles.
See on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2JRXPtC
Crater Lake is
known for its deep blue color and clarity, which I only partially captured since
the day was overcast (as if my phone could really capture the beauty). At a depth of 1,949 feet, it’s the deepest
lake in the United States, formed when the volcano, Mount Mazama, erupted some
7,700 years ago. The resulting caldera was
then filled by the heavy snowfall and rainfall of the area, the snow averaging
over 500 inches a year.
