Color Us Convinced
By Margaret Hicks in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 29, 2006 1:50PM
Last month’s Convince Us asked for the book that made you cry. We picked Curmudgeon’s recommendation, “Oh My Stars” by Lorna Landvik.
And let us say a big, hearty thank you, because we loved “Oh My Stars”.
The book is the story of a homely, awkward teenager, Violet. Violet is too tall, too vulnerable and too loving for her own good. When her mother runs off with the local druggist, Violet is stuck with her cold, drunk father who offers her none of the love and safety that she needs. Our tears started flowing early when Violet seeks comfort the only way she knows how, “When the urge to hold another living thing became a necessity, she went to hug the river birch that grew by the creek behind the woodshed, pressing herself against the trunk and running her palms against the fissured, shaggy bark. It became her little joke to call it ‘Tree Pa’, to accept as personal gifts its tiny yellow flowers in the spring, its cones in the summer”. This got us teary right away, and Violet’s story had barely started yet.
Violet finds her one talent that brings her happiness and acceptance, she discovers she’s a wonderful sewer and can design beautiful clothes. She starts work in a clothing factory and makes new and interesting friends, until she has an accident there, and loses her arm.
We worried then this book might turn into some depressing “Jude the Obscure”, where we were afraid to hope for Violet because we didn’t want to be let down over and over. But her sense of hope, her optimism, and her friendships kept us going.
After leaving home to make a cross-country trip to commit suicide, Violet stumbles upon the handsome Kjel, a “pre-Elvis” type, who saves her life in more ways then one. She becomes the manager of his band and is happy finally, but not unrealistically so. She has great moments of anger and frustration, where she hates everyone and everything, but no matter how much she tries to hate the world, it never takes root, and her hope rises again.
“Don’t get your hopes up,’ was one of the few pieces of advice Violet’s father had given her, but watching the band from the sound engineer’s booth, Violet thought, Why not, Daddy? That’s where hopes are supposed to be – up. They’re like balloons, and you hold on to their strings and they lift you up too.
The book is sad and sweet and gentle and heartbreaking, without the cheese of melodrama. We felt we knew Violet so well; when we put the book down and picked it back up, sometimes we were shocked to see it in third person.
We won’t be forgetting Violet anytime soon, or “Oh My Stars”. Thanks to Curmudgeon again for the great recommendation.
Stay tuned on Monday for our next request for Convince Us.