Helpful Score: 3
While I picked this up because I was intrigued by the Tinker portion of the tale, I was a bit disappointed in that regard. But the story is well-told and I loved the character of Christy. The author does a good job of painting the Tinker lifestyle, I guess originally I was look for more history, but overall I like this book a great deal and highly recommend it.
Helpful Score: 2
I liked this book so much, that first my 14 yr. old daughter read it and then we mailed it to my 24 yr. old daughter...suitable for many ages.
As a mom to many sons, I think the author did a good job portraying the mind of a 12 yr. old boy. Christy views the world as an outsider, a traveler or tinker. Good insights on his relationship with his grandfather, inc. a few heartbreaking scenes and also his relationship with his dad. One of the story lines is a non-existant mother and trying to find out who she is/was.
It is difficult to sum up this book, but if you like stories about relationships and character driven, with an outsider's twist, you should enjoy this one.
As a mom to many sons, I think the author did a good job portraying the mind of a 12 yr. old boy. Christy views the world as an outsider, a traveler or tinker. Good insights on his relationship with his grandfather, inc. a few heartbreaking scenes and also his relationship with his dad. One of the story lines is a non-existant mother and trying to find out who she is/was.
It is difficult to sum up this book, but if you like stories about relationships and character driven, with an outsider's twist, you should enjoy this one.
Helpful Score: 2
This is a coming-of-age story about a young, 10-year-old boy, who is an Irish traveller or Pavee Gypsy, during the 1950s. What initially drew me to this book was the fact that it was a historical novel and that it had family secrets. Christy has grown up without a mother, and deals with the grief and guilt of thinking he killed her during childbirth. After his grandfather passes away, he finds a piece of information about his mother and strives to learn more about her, and about his own past. It started out slow moving and stayed that way for most of the book, but the characters were what kept it moving along. This was truly a character based book and without them it would not have been as good. Christy is the main character and has a lot of internal thought and monologues going on. The reader truly sees what it's like to live as a traveler in a society where travelers are shunned.
