Shadow Baby (Today Show Book Club #14) 
asked by glassysurf on November 13, 2006 4:29 PM
Eleven-year-old Clara is struggling to find the truth about her missing father and grandfather and her dead twin sister, but her mother refuses to talk. When Clara begins interviewing Georg Kominsky--her elderly neighbor--she finds that he is equally reticent about his own concealed history. Precocious and imaginative, Clara invents versions of Mr. Kominsky's past, just as she invents lives for the people missing from her own shadowy history. Her journey of discovery is at the heart of this beautiful story about unlikely friendship and communion, about discovering what matters most in life, and about the search to find the missing pieces of ourselves.
Reviews
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First off, I loved this book. It's a beautifully told, subtle and touching novel.
When I first started reading it (the first chapter), I had a little trouble adjusting to Clara's style of speaking and thinking. But, after that first chapter, I fell in sinc with her and loved her awkwardness and sensitivity and courage. Sure enough, she is an odd child, with her own warped way of seeing and understanding the world.
But that's the thing about people, especially children, we find ways to adapt and deal with our lives, even if our adaptation is unusual. Clara was pretty much left to fend for herself, emotionally at least. And she rose to the challenge, although in unusual ways, living in a world of books and creating her own myths to explain her life.
I have a daughter who just turned 12. And believe me, she is not any less "wise" and precocious than Clara. I see my daughter processing the world, making her own conclusions about what life is and isn't and creating her own way of making it through. And, many of her friends are the same. So, yes, I found Clara very believable. She is a little grown-up, with the emotional maturity of a child who had to grow up too fast.
I highly recommend this book. Clara is a character that will stay with me a long time.
When I first started reading it (the first chapter), I had a little trouble adjusting to Clara's style of speaking and thinking. But, after that first chapter, I fell in sinc with her and loved her awkwardness and sensitivity and courage. Sure enough, she is an odd child, with her own warped way of seeing and understanding the world.
But that's the thing about people, especially children, we find ways to adapt and deal with our lives, even if our adaptation is unusual. Clara was pretty much left to fend for herself, emotionally at least. And she rose to the challenge, although in unusual ways, living in a world of books and creating her own myths to explain her life.
I have a daughter who just turned 12. And believe me, she is not any less "wise" and precocious than Clara. I see my daughter processing the world, making her own conclusions about what life is and isn't and creating her own way of making it through. And, many of her friends are the same. So, yes, I found Clara very believable. She is a little grown-up, with the emotional maturity of a child who had to grow up too fast.
I highly recommend this book. Clara is a character that will stay with me a long time.
reviewed by bestseller on November 14, 2006 12:14 PM
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This would have been a 4-star book for me if not for the overly precious child narrator. The story was your typical book-club type stuff...single mom raising brainy but offbeat daughter, offbeat daughter finds lonely but surprisingly interesting old man and finds out about his surprisingly interesting past while at the same time exploring her own mysterious origins and also going through miscellaneous "coming of age" experiences. Nothing super new there but it was a solid, readable story nonetheless.
My only issue, as others have mentioned, was the main character Clara. For whatever reason, overly darling child characters are an absolute pet peeve of mine. Maybe because I work with actual, real children. Clara was a total cliched "Wise Child Who Really Knows Better Than All The Adults With Her Child's Wisdom" character. She just seemed like such an adult's conception of what a little girl "should" be like, not like an actual little girl. She was a good start at a character but became so precious (in the end, she must write all of her mother's important words in the air with her nose, so they don't get lost) that it really distracted from the narrative.
My only issue, as others have mentioned, was the main character Clara. For whatever reason, overly darling child characters are an absolute pet peeve of mine. Maybe because I work with actual, real children. Clara was a total cliched "Wise Child Who Really Knows Better Than All The Adults With Her Child's Wisdom" character. She just seemed like such an adult's conception of what a little girl "should" be like, not like an actual little girl. She was a good start at a character but became so precious (in the end, she must write all of her mother's important words in the air with her nose, so they don't get lost) that it really distracted from the narrative.
reviewed by vern on November 24, 2006 2:57 PM