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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | Fic Stace, W. 2007 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
By George unveils the fascinating Fisher family--its weak men, its dominant women, its disgruntled boys, and its shocking and dramatic secrets. At once bitingly funny and exquisitely tender, Staces novel is the unforgettable journey of two boys separated by years but driven by the desire to find a voice.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, writing under his given name Wesley Stace (Misfortune), crafts a British performing family's saga filled with wit, warmth and imagination. George Fisher is 11 years old in 1973 when his mother, Frankie, enjoying a successful run as Peter Pan, delivers him to Upside Boarding School. George misses his family, particularly his 93-year-old great-grandmother Evangeline, who for many years performed as a ventriloquist-as did her son, Joe. Under the watchful eye of the headmaster, George learns to escape student responsibilities by cheating, throwing his voice and befriending the groundskeeper, who gives him ventriloquism how-to books. George's school-days narrative alternates with another memoiristic voice from 1930, that of Joe's dummy, also called George. While George the schoolboy leaves Upside, eventually finding work in the family business, George the dummy accompanies Joe on the road to entertain troops during WWII. In different eras, boy and dummy each finds his own voice, plus some understanding of a world full of trickery and illusion. Family secrets revealed are not much of a surprise, but Stace amasses enough gently ironic humor (including sly references to Harry Potter and David Copperfield), emotion and insight to carry his voices beautifully. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
In this second novel about different generations of British entertainers, family secrets loom large, as they did in Stace's debut Misfortune (2005); Stace is the pseudonym of singer/songwriter John Wesley Harding. First, in the early 20th century, there was Evie Fisher, the premier ventriloquist of her time. Her son Joe, another ventriloquist, became famous when he entertained the troops during World War II. Joe's daughter Frankie is a stage actress, and her teenage son George also seems destined for show business. That's simple enough, but Joe's dummy is also called George; the two Georges get alternate chapters, and when you throw in Joe's wife Queenie, her second husband Reg (Joe was killed in WWII) and Frankie's sister Sylvia (sshh, she's only her half-sister), confusion sets in. When you add the mystery of George's father (a married man, died in a car accident, never mentioned), confusion reigns. Something went badly wrong in Stace's conception, to the extent that we never know whether he's taking a lighthearted look at an obscure corner of vaudeville or doing a serious study of the toll secrets take on a family. Nor is it clear why so much attention is given to George's unhappy years in the 1970s at a boarding school (whose arcane details will create more confusion for American readers), though his friendship with a depressed handyman there will become important in retrospect. George the human makes a big discovery when he unscrews the legs of George the dummy and finds some letters from his grandfather Joe to his one true love Bobbie, a ventriloquist and drag artist; Joe was a closeted homosexual forced into marriage by the scheming Evie. The discovery sends George into his own depression. This all seems pretty serious, but when at the end George confronts Frankie with an even more shattering discovery (his father's true identity), his mother murmurs apologies, the moment passes lightly and attention shifts to Joe's and Bobbie's dummies united, whimsically, in a museum. An unconvincing mishmash. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
"*Starred Review* This second novel by the author of Misfortune (2005) wends its way through a labyrinth of familial idiosyncrasies, grudges, and conundrums. As John Wesley Harding, Stace writes lyrics and performs music, and his folksy style infuses an air of warmth and humor to what is essentially the story of a controlling woman who nearly ruins her entire family. The multilinear and multigenerational tale begins with the last days of an elderly vaudeville ventriloquist, Echo Ender, whose onstage success with her dummy, Naughty Narcissus, ensures entry into the entertainment world for future generations of her family. First comes Echo's son, Joe, also a ventriloquist, who has a dummy named George; he's followed by his flamboyant daughter, Frankie, an actress; and then by her withdrawn son, also named George, who develops his own talent for throwing his voice at boarding school. The two Georges one a boy, the other a dummy are the joint narrators in this saga of the backstage failures behind one family's onstage success. The two Georges' stories eventually merge in a surprising conclusion to a novel that most readers will hate to see end. Characters spring to life in the words of the sardonic dummy, whose pointed comments about his wacky family make the book a hoot to read and beg the question, Who's in control, the puppet or the puppet master? Book groups will enjoy sorting out this one!"--"Baker, Jennifer" Copyright 2007 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Stace's second novel (after Misfortune) shifts between the viewpoints of two boys named George. One is a ventriloquist's dummy; the other is the ventriloquist's grandson. The dummy's narration takes some getting used to, and it sometimes drags, but it picks up as the duo entertains British troops during World War II. Overall, though, it's the story of the younger George that is more captivating, especially when he discusses his unhappy experience at boarding school during the 1970s in an interval that recalls some of John Irving's storytelling. The two Georges ultimately meet as part of the younger boy's search for his place in a family of domineering women. His search leads him back to a manuscript written by his long-dead grandfather, himself oppressed by the family matriarch. Stace, who writes and performs music under the name John Wesley Harding, has a real talent for re-creating a variety of settings, from battlefields to boarding houses to the backstages of vaudeville. This novel is an original, and it ends with a most satisfying revelation. Recommended for all libraries.-Evelyn Beck, Piedmont Technical Coll., Greenwood, SC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.