"Your mom away somewhere?"
In Two Moons in August, Martha Brooks explores what it's like to lose someone close to the heart. Ever since her mother passed away almost a year ago, Sidonie's life has been awful. Dad is rarely home anymore, Bobbi has organized the kitchen drawers, and the only person she can talk to is her eight-year-old cat. Any friendship she and her sister once had has vanished, especially now that Bobbi is spending so much time with her strictly-best-friend Phil. When a new boy moves in across the street and wrecks her book, all Sidonie can think of is her mother's signature dripping down the front page. And the fact that this boy, Kieran, is cute. And that she really, really needs to fix her family before things get even worse. But relationships can't be fixed with a hammer and nails, so if she's going to make things right, she has to start with herself--and all the baggage that entails.
From the first page, it's evident that Sidonie has only just begun to heal after her mother's death. She's still raw over the birthday sweater she refused to try on when asked. It doesn't help that it happened the day she turned fifteen, forever linking the two events in her mind. Bobbi's temper has turned sour now that she's taken over as unofficial housekeeper, and without her dad around to help her grieve, Sidonie's only escape is through books. Her emotions are so prominent in the writing that even readers whose families are intact should have little trouble connecting with her. The others are a little harder to relate to, given their slightly less pleasant personalities, but overall the effect is the same.
The writing style used throughout this tale is somewhat curious. On the one hand, it's rich with emotion, making clear how Sidonie's world works and exactly what she feels about it. The downside, though, is that this is somehow achieved with a passive narrative voice. Even with a thousand churning waves of turmoil clearly visible in every word, the audience is kept at a distance, able to empathize with the characters yet not quite able to submerge completely within the setting. This has the unfortunate effect of reducing the urgency of the climax and generally reducing the tension, even when things start getting crazy.
This depiction of Sidonie's summer is a mixed bag of highly clean and slightly questionable content. Overall, the language is relatively clean, with only a few curses dropped here and there. There's no violence to speak of, though at one point two characters find their lives in danger. The biggest factor to consider is the romance. Even in 1959, the year our story takes place, social restrictions on physical contact are few and far between. Kieran and Sidonie's first kiss quickly escalates, but she puts a stop to it before things get out of control. Bobbi, on the other hand, is not so conservative. Thankfully, descriptions of her romantic adventures are thoughtfully skimmed over. They do, however, play a big part in her own private plot line.
I would recommend this book to readers fifteen and up who want a short read with lots of heart. While the writing style keeps readers at a short distance, Sidonie and her family deal with a tangible sense of grief and enough realistic problems to retain a strong hook. Although there's a bit of romance, the bigger story is about Bobbi, Sidonie, and their father figuring out how to move on after an enormous tragedy. For intriguing characters and a good plot, Martha Brooks' Two Moons in August deserves three stars.
The writing style used throughout this tale is somewhat curious. On the one hand, it's rich with emotion, making clear how Sidonie's world works and exactly what she feels about it. The downside, though, is that this is somehow achieved with a passive narrative voice. Even with a thousand churning waves of turmoil clearly visible in every word, the audience is kept at a distance, able to empathize with the characters yet not quite able to submerge completely within the setting. This has the unfortunate effect of reducing the urgency of the climax and generally reducing the tension, even when things start getting crazy.
This depiction of Sidonie's summer is a mixed bag of highly clean and slightly questionable content. Overall, the language is relatively clean, with only a few curses dropped here and there. There's no violence to speak of, though at one point two characters find their lives in danger. The biggest factor to consider is the romance. Even in 1959, the year our story takes place, social restrictions on physical contact are few and far between. Kieran and Sidonie's first kiss quickly escalates, but she puts a stop to it before things get out of control. Bobbi, on the other hand, is not so conservative. Thankfully, descriptions of her romantic adventures are thoughtfully skimmed over. They do, however, play a big part in her own private plot line.
I would recommend this book to readers fifteen and up who want a short read with lots of heart. While the writing style keeps readers at a short distance, Sidonie and her family deal with a tangible sense of grief and enough realistic problems to retain a strong hook. Although there's a bit of romance, the bigger story is about Bobbi, Sidonie, and their father figuring out how to move on after an enormous tragedy. For intriguing characters and a good plot, Martha Brooks' Two Moons in August deserves three stars.
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