Beamis12

Bunny is eight years old in the late 1930's, the war has ended and he and his family live in a small Midwestern town, Bunny is our narrator for the first part of this novel. This is not really a coming of age novel, though it does include two young children. The Spanish Flu is rearing its ugly head and causing devastation in many, many places, people are being told to stay home. This is not a novel about the Spanish Flu either, though it does play a significant part of this story.

This is the story of a family, could be any family, middle class, nice house, a few tragedies in their past such as their son Robert's accident, just trying to get by day by day. It has one of the best viewpoints, narrated by Bunny, of a young sons love for his mother. IT was wonderful to read and really made me remember my five sons when they were this age and I was their whole world. Anyway all eventually grow up. Robert, who narrates the second section, is 13, and his viewpoints of the family is a little different, not quite young, not quite grown-up. A quiet novel about a normal family that will have to deal with more than they ever thought they would, one that will change them all.

I love this author, this is the second book I have read by him and intend getting my hands on more. He has such a subtle, poignant just natural way of telling a story. No big scenes meant to shock just novels about lives lived, normal people dealing with extraordinary events, just so incredibly real.