Friday, August 2, 2013

Reveiw Orphan Train Christina Baker Kline

The story of two women who forge an unlikely friendship: a 91-year-old woman, an orphan-train rider in her youth and a teenage girl with a troubled adolescence. 
Nearly eighteen, Molly is months from "aging out" of  her foster home, a family she has a rocky relationship with already. Faced with community service for stealing a library book she accepts a position helping an elderly woman clean out her home. 
Vivian has been living on the coast of Maine recently but in her attic, hidden in trunks, are the remains of her own turbulent youth.  As Molly helps Vivian organize her possessions and memories, she discovers that the two unlikely friends are not that different. Vivian was an Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children and placed for adoption. 
As the two grow closer Molly helps Vivian answer questions about her own past, ultimately helping them both. 





A good read but ultimately disappointing. Orphan Train had so much potential for more - deeper characters, more feeling and more of a history. I often felt like the author was rushing to get through Vivian's life and left out so much that could have enriched her story. I also had a hard time with the age given to Vivian, she was an 8 or 9 year old girl but through much of the book I identified her as  an older teen, this was the authors attempt to make her more mature, but something about it didn't  work. Molly, I found to be stereotypical and and with out a lot of depth. The relationship between the two main characters I also felt was not fully fleshed out - again sort of rushed. This book had so much potential but just didn't get there. 
This is a three star book, an easy entertaining read but it lacks so much.   
 

2 comments:

  1. What a lovely cover--too bad the rest of the book did not deliver. Glad I saw your follow on my twitter feed and love your site! -rebecca
    http://twoorthreelittlebirds.com

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  2. Thanks for following. Orphan Train was entertaining enough, just wish it had been meatier!

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