Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Quirky characters populate this promising, minor-key first novel set in a South Carolina trailer park ironically dubbed Paradise. Twelve-year-old Martin has a rare talent for music, but his father thinks it's a waste of time. Nothing Martin ever has or does is good enough, not his baseball swing, friends or pastimes. "All my life I ain't never had nothing but disappointments, and you're just icing on the cake," his father berates him. When Martin sees a violin in a pawnshop, he dreams of getting it. His unlikely allies are his grandmother Hazeline, his agoraphobic and overweight neighbor, Wylene, and the tall new girl in school, Sybil. The author, who grew up in South Carolina, has an instinctive feel for the local speech and its rhythms. Though the father's emotional cruelty may be difficult reading for some, this book ultimately has a hopeful outlookresilient people rise against the wind, and self-worth is determined chiefly from within. Ages 10-13. (Apr.)
School Library Journal
Gr 5-8Martin, almost 13, is musically talented and lives in a trailer park called Paradise. His macho father thinks that music is for wimps and that real boys play baseball, which Martin hates. Actually, when the story begins, Martin is something of a wimp, afraid to stand up to his father and assert himself. But as his love for music grows and as he finds allies in unexpected places, he discovers the inner resources he needs to get started on his own path. Sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, this very Southern novel is laden with local color and eccentric characters. O'Connor's use of specific detailsthe old Studebakers, the Little Debbies, the bacon grease everywhereseems a bit heavy-handed at first, but the author's skillful characterizations and graceful writing style save the day. Readers really get under Martin's skin, making his gradual transformation both realistic and gratifying. Like life, many of the problems here don't have easy answersand, like life, things don't always go the way one might expect them to. The theme of finding oneself despite misunderstanding parents will attract middle school kids. An intriguing first novel from a writer to watch.Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Kirkus Reviews
For every child who was ever forced to play sports, a kindred spirit: Martin, 12, the funny, angst-ridden, musically talented hero of O'Connor's first novel. "Paradise" is the name of the South Carolina trailer park where Martin lives with his long- suffering mother, sadistic father, and a peanut gallery of eccentric characters: ultra-shy Wylene, a handkerchief-factory worker who is Martin's closest friend and fellow music-lover; the scrawny, chain-smoking Hazeline, who wants her beloved grandson to stand up to his self-centered father, Ed, who believes that music is for sissies. Ed bullies the boy for daydreaming and pressures him to play on the Little League team, but he can't smother Martin's interest in a violin that he spies in a secondhand store. Wylene's purchase of the violin enables Martin to demonstrate his real talent and to experience genuine happiness; its destruction, in Ed's hands, induces Martin to take his first steps toward his destiny. Readers will relish this trip down South, and they couldn't ask for a better guide than O'Connor, who captures a young boy's heart and holds it out as a gift.
From the Publisher
Martin. . .is musically talented and lives in a trailer park called Paradise. His macho father thinks that music is for wimps and that real boys play baseball.” —School Library Journal
“For every child who never wanted to play sports, a kindred spirit. . .Captures a young boy's heart and holds it out as a gift.” —Pointer, Kirkus Reviews
“Quirky characters populate this promising…first novel….” —Publishers Weekly
