Maybe

Secret Sisters of the Salty Sea is just a book that doesn't stir up a lot of a BIG feelings.

And that's okay!

I mean, Last Night at the Lobster might have been like that, but I still think about it! 

I should say that I have never read Lynne Rae Perkins before and so many of the positive comments about this book mention that is much like her others in that it is "gentle" read and introspective.  And she is a very excellent author.  The book is very well written, yes, yes!  It was just that a lot didn't happen.  Or maybe it did, in quiet ways but I am too loud to have heard it? 

Hmm...maybe I will be thinking about this one for a long time to come...

Or maybe it was just really boring.

Metaphors

So was Orphan Island one big metaphor?  I think it was just too smart for me. I have read reviews from people I really respect and admire, like  Czechgirl, who absolutely loved this book, so I am sure I just didn't understand it.  I really had a hard time getting through it because I found the main character to be so unlikable and I really didn't get to know the other characters enough to care about them, though some did seem likable.  I wonder if this is one of those deals where the author had more in what she wrote, but the publisher made her take out a bunch so that they could make it into a sequel.  That is what happened to my friend and her husband with their book Claws.  They weren't too happy with the final product because it was so different from what they had written and was to be made into two books or even three.  The book sold very well!  But the publisher lost a big client during the time the whole thing was coming out, Cornelia Funke, so they didn't end up doing a sequel.  Funke reunited with Chicken House this year, but still, it just goes to show you that money changes everything.
Again, however, everyone else really seemed to love OI for what it was, so it probably was just me. They are saying it is Newbery worthy, so I probably need to take another look.  But there were so many unanswered questions.  Which is great!  But it just didn't pull me in enough to warrant me wanting to ponder the answers.  Again, probably all on me.

Dragged for Me

Beyond the Bright Sea was really, really not the book for me.  I found myself feeling as if it were much longer than it really was.  Like Wolf Hollow I just really didn't find myself able to enjoy this book very much.  I did like the message.  I don't know.  I figure it will maybe get some Newbery buzz, maybe not.  And I figured I wanted to give it a try but it was one that I could have passed on and not felt bad.

Jubilee Year

There is something that is niggling in the back of my mind...about a Jubilee Year and what that celebration means.  I think it has something to do with religious orders.  I am going to google.  I mean, I know it means other things, but the aspect that is niggling at me in particular is Jubilee Year as it pertains to religious orders.
Hang on...
Oh it is a BIG thing.  Here it is.
And this BIG thing in the Roman Catholic Church.
And here is the anniversary aspect.
In any case, Jubilee doesn't have anything to do with an anniversary.  But the book is joyful.  And the book is a celebration, even if it is heart-breaking at times.  To borrow an old cliche, it is a celebration of the human spirit.  This girl, Judy (her aunt calls her Jubilee because she is such a joyful celebration to her), she has tons of strength and she is wicked smart.
This is just a really, really powerful and simple and complex story.  I really like Patricia Reilly Giff a whole, whole lot.

Esau Have I Hated

The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, the movie, not the song or the remake of the song, has a scene in it, with a line in it, that I have often quoted and always loved.

Travis: And I asked the Lord, "Lord, why have you forsaken me?". But there was silence. So , I asked again, "Lord, WHY have you forsaken me?", and there was silence. So I asked again, "LORD, WHY have you forsaken me?"... and this great booming voice said "Geez, I don't know Travis, I guess something about you just chaps at my ass."

I am thinking that Louise feels that way.  Jacob Have I Loved is a book I read a long time ago by the most amazing, Katherine Paterson.

Having a sister must be very hard.  It is really hard for Louise who always feels out shined by her twin.  There were so many times in this book that I spoke aloud, "What?!" or "No way!"

I was just thinking, I wonder what the book would have been like if told from the POV of Caroline. I bet someone has asked Paterson that.  I have to investigate!

I investigated, but I didn't find anything.  But I didn't look too hard.  I just think that would be a neat thing to find out.

The book takes place on the fictional island of Rass in the Chesapeake Bay.  Louise and Caroline are 14 when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, that's about when the story begins, and the story finishes when both are grown women.  Though the main details are mostly about their growing up years.

This is a good, good, beautiful story.  But can anything else be expected from Paterson, who is just magic with words.