Sometimes I read a book and get the feeling that I completely missed something, that there is probably a giant bear dancing about and I just didn't notice. Sadly, Angela Johnson's Sweet, Hereafter (The Heaven Trilogy)
, gave me that impression. Shoogy is a girl who doesn't like school much, who has left her home and moved in with a college guy who has bad memories of his time in Iraq. She has some good friends and a sharp, assertive way of viewing the world. But Johnson barely sketches her in (maybe deliberately) so I don't have a feel for what her family life is like, what her dreams are, who she is growing into. The other characters are even more shadowy, especially Curtis, the veteran whose crisis drives the entire short book. The entire effect was of a delicious eclair -- beautiful and sweet, but really mostly air. But it's gotten great reviews so I suspect I just missed something. Also, it's the third in the Heaven trilogy, and I've read one of the other books without recognizing anybody in this one. Maybe the first book provides some background? B-
2 comments:
Interesting review. I've had this feeling about books before and more than once, I've closed a book permanently that has been raved about so, it isn't just you!
I'm still want to go back and read the first book, which might round out Shoogie's character.
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