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juushikaTitle: The Good Children
Author: Kate Wilhelm
Published: New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 246
Total Page Count: 67,575
Text Number: 195
Read For: curiosity piqued by a book search on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
whatwasthatbook, checked out from the library
Short review: After spending their whole live on the move, the McNair family has finally settled down in an Oregon cabin and life is good—until both parents die. Afraid of being split apart in foster care, the four McNair children try to hold their family together themselves, but they are haunted by the memory of their mother. The Good Children has an intriguing, if cliché, premise, and it's easy to consume, but the writing is unremarkable and the book is entirely immemorable. There's no harm in reading it but don't go out of your way. Not recommended.
The premise of a family of orphaned children opens the door to guilty-pleasure tropes: us against the world, the desert island paradise. The Good Children delves immediately into both, and the children's struggles to remain safely isolated and rebuild their family create an interesting narrative. They run into enough difficulties to keep the reader engaged, and there's enough sentimentality—at least at the beginning—to make the story seem meaningful. Wilhelm is not a gifted or artistic writer (in this book, at least), but she is experienced; her prose moves swiftly and the book is a quick, simple read.
Unfortunately, while premise is interesting and the prose moves swiftly, neither is particularly good. Wilhelm never takes her premise to an extreme, and so it never becomes realistically difficult or, like other examples of similar premises (such as Flowers in the Attic), enjoyable enough to be a guilty pleasure. The characters become increasingly distant and unsympathetic, and the emotional appeal of the novel all but disappears. The bland prose convey the story well enough, but it's entirely unremarkable; the book reads so quickly that it feels insubstantial. The mother's lingering presence is an interesting twist, but it's never fully developed. All told, the premise is interesting and the story is readable, but The Good Children is unremarkable and forgettable. It's not bad for a weekend of mindless reading, but don't go out of your way to get it. There are more interesting and more worthwhile books out there.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Kate Wilhelm
Published: New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 246
Total Page Count: 67,575
Text Number: 195
Read For: curiosity piqued by a book search on
whatwasthatbook, checked out from the libraryShort review: After spending their whole live on the move, the McNair family has finally settled down in an Oregon cabin and life is good—until both parents die. Afraid of being split apart in foster care, the four McNair children try to hold their family together themselves, but they are haunted by the memory of their mother. The Good Children has an intriguing, if cliché, premise, and it's easy to consume, but the writing is unremarkable and the book is entirely immemorable. There's no harm in reading it but don't go out of your way. Not recommended.
The premise of a family of orphaned children opens the door to guilty-pleasure tropes: us against the world, the desert island paradise. The Good Children delves immediately into both, and the children's struggles to remain safely isolated and rebuild their family create an interesting narrative. They run into enough difficulties to keep the reader engaged, and there's enough sentimentality—at least at the beginning—to make the story seem meaningful. Wilhelm is not a gifted or artistic writer (in this book, at least), but she is experienced; her prose moves swiftly and the book is a quick, simple read.
Unfortunately, while premise is interesting and the prose moves swiftly, neither is particularly good. Wilhelm never takes her premise to an extreme, and so it never becomes realistically difficult or, like other examples of similar premises (such as Flowers in the Attic), enjoyable enough to be a guilty pleasure. The characters become increasingly distant and unsympathetic, and the emotional appeal of the novel all but disappears. The bland prose convey the story well enough, but it's entirely unremarkable; the book reads so quickly that it feels insubstantial. The mother's lingering presence is an interesting twist, but it's never fully developed. All told, the premise is interesting and the story is readable, but The Good Children is unremarkable and forgettable. It's not bad for a weekend of mindless reading, but don't go out of your way to get it. There are more interesting and more worthwhile books out there.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
