_A Solitary Blue_
book three of the Tillerman Saga
by Cynthia Voigt
Jeff Greene's mother walked out on him and his father when Jeff was in
second grade. The Professor and Jeff both reacted by retreating to
safe ground, hiding from their mutual grief and confusion in routine
and "safe" activities. Neither appeared to deal well with strong
emotions, and Jeff did all he could to provide his father with no
serious distractions or concerns.
It took years to learn the truths about his mother and father, and to
realize that Jeff barely even knew himself, so carefully had he tried
to remain invisible to everyone. Accepting that his beautiful mother's
much vaunted social consciousness hid extreme narcissism and
acquisitiveness and that she'd do anything to draw attention to herself
and to blame everyone else for her failures was a terrible blow to the
boy.
The descriptions of how Jeff realized he could choose to be different
from her, and that his father was a person to emulate rather than to
protect and pity is well done. Voigt follows the turns in his
experiences that leads him to explore his own capabilities rather than
continuing to hide from the world, and leads us into the beginnings of
Jeff's growing involvement with Dicey Tillerman and her family as they
settle in with Gram.
A good book looking at how we must learn to accept ourselves first
before we can grow and develop and achieve in our own right.
Got this as an e-book and read it on my Nook. All of Voigt's Tillerman
family books are available in this manner.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise
cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
