All Rivers Flow to the Sea
Alison McGhee, . . Candlewick, $15.99 (168pp) ISBN 978-0-7636-2591-7
Rose gets through life 15 minutes at a time since the accident that left her sister, Ivy, comatose. As fine points of the car crash slowly emerge, Rose's confusion with life builds. From wondering about the whereabouts of her absent father to having sex at the Sterns Gorge with Jimmy Wilson and other boys in their small town, just to feel something ("I hurt. My body hurts. The hurt feels good; it feels alive—and then that too is gone"), Rose talks to Ivy continually. At first, the disconcerting second-person style effectively puts Rose at arm's length from readers, but the narrative quickly shifts to first-person, and the moment of transition feels almost like a pep talk ("Jimmy Wilson, next to you, isn't looking at you. Jimmy Wilson, next to
Reviewed on: 11/14/2005
Genre: Children's
Analog Audio Cassette - 978-1-4193-7148-6
Analog Audio Cassette - 978-5-558-13128-4
Paperback - 168 pages - 978-0-7636-3372-1