Maggie - I chose this book because it was recommended in Barnes & Noble and it had excellent reviews on Amazon (sorry Sandy) and also because it was a part of American History that I knew nothing about. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was disappointed with it. I found the historical chapters interesting but on the whole the story was just too pat for me. While Vivian had a tough time starting out as an orphan she ended up with a rich happy family and met up again with Dutchy. There were obviously parallels between Vivian's and Molly's lives, but again too formulaic for me. I did think the author did a great job of changing her voice and writing style between the different periods in history and modern day. 6/10
Becky - I had already had this book recommended to me by a friend so I'm glad Maggie picked it. It was an easy vacation read, went through it very quickly on my trip to Buffalo. The notion of an orphan train was new to me, and must have a been a frightening prospect for the young children who had to board these trains and head to the midwest after already having lost so much. Like foster care, it's more or less a crap shoot on the kind of family the children ended up with - a true home, child slavery, or worse.
To make this point, the author gave Vivian EVERY different experience with her multitude of foster families from bad to worse, and finally good. Vivian lost her whole family, her roots, and her name; the willy-nilly changing of her name by the adults around her seemed unkind, until she took the name Vivian. No one could be bothered to treat her as a person with a past; she was there for their use and convenience only. It seemed inevitable that she would meet up with Dutchy again, and the one thing that I didn't expect of Vivian was that she would give up their baby. That didn't feel like something she would do.
Molly's situation in the foster home struck me as predictable; the mom who just wanted the $, assumed the worst of Molly and never gave her a chance, compared to the dad who tried to help but wasn't strong enough to stand up to his wife. It was nice in the story for Vivian and Molly to find each other, but despite the author's dealing with emotional, complicated subject matter it felt a bit pat and flat for me.
I'm still glad to have read it, and would have enjoyed the discussion for sure; sorry we didn't have a chance for that. 4.75/10
To make this point, the author gave Vivian EVERY different experience with her multitude of foster families from bad to worse, and finally good. Vivian lost her whole family, her roots, and her name; the willy-nilly changing of her name by the adults around her seemed unkind, until she took the name Vivian. No one could be bothered to treat her as a person with a past; she was there for their use and convenience only. It seemed inevitable that she would meet up with Dutchy again, and the one thing that I didn't expect of Vivian was that she would give up their baby. That didn't feel like something she would do.
Molly's situation in the foster home struck me as predictable; the mom who just wanted the $, assumed the worst of Molly and never gave her a chance, compared to the dad who tried to help but wasn't strong enough to stand up to his wife. It was nice in the story for Vivian and Molly to find each other, but despite the author's dealing with emotional, complicated subject matter it felt a bit pat and flat for me.
I'm still glad to have read it, and would have enjoyed the discussion for sure; sorry we didn't have a chance for that. 4.75/10
Pat - I caught the word 'chick-lit' in regards to this somewhere and was immediately dubious about reading it. But I really enjoyed the story until the ending. I thought the author did a great job describing the hardships that Vivian went through and I could see the train and the hovel and I connected with the characters. The descriptive writing raised it above its formulaic plot until the end. When Vivian and Dutchy reunite and start their romance however, the writing could no longer overcome the chick lit stereotypes. Everything went too fast and tied up too neatly. I felt like I was watching a Hallmark special the last 50 pages or so and rolled my eyes a lot. I liked reading about the history and thought the comparison between Molly and Vivian was interesting. I'm surprised I liked it as much as I did. 6/10
K'Lynn
Rating: 6.5
I first learned about orphan trains several years ago through an NPR story that included interview with survivors. One of whom was adopted by a loving family and another that was mistreated terribly. This was the first that I had heard about the orphan trains. I remember thinking, at the time, this would be a great idea for a novel.
I enjoyed this book. I read it very quickly at the beginning of the summer. Good pick Maggie. I would’ve never read this book if it weren't for book club.
There is plenty of historical detail and I felt like I could really imagine Vivian's life as an orphan train rider. Both Vivian and Molly are sympathetic characters, and over the years, as a teacher, I've heard first-hand from some of my students that foster children *still* face abuse from their foster parents, so both girls' experience had the ring of truth. But... With two story lines and a time span that covers at least 15 years (not including flashbacks or the present-day), there was just so much story to tell. There were many places where I found myself craving more depth and less summary. Several characters are glossed over quickly (e.g. Dutchy, Jake, Terry, Vivian's final adoptive parents) or treated in pretty stereotypical portrayals (e.g. Dina), and life events that seem huge (courtship, marriage, childbirth) are summarized in mere pages. I found myself imagining scenes to fill out those times--not a bad thing necessarily, I guess, but here I think it made events that should have been very emotional fall flat. I found myself wishing to linger in these moments more to understand the Vivian's thoughts/feelings/motivations. Especially the HUGE decision she makes at the end of the WWII section. As much as I liked and sympathized with Molly, and as important as I think it is to really look at the foster care system, the modern-day story felt less compelling. Yes, it was necessary to get the satisfying ending, but I would have happily read a story that just focused on Vivian's experiences from ages 9 to 23 and really delved into her relationships and emotions. So, a good read, just not as deep and resonant as I'd hoped.
I first learned about orphan trains several years ago through an NPR story that included interview with survivors. One of whom was adopted by a loving family and another that was mistreated terribly. This was the first that I had heard about the orphan trains. I remember thinking, at the time, this would be a great idea for a novel.
I enjoyed this book. I read it very quickly at the beginning of the summer. Good pick Maggie. I would’ve never read this book if it weren't for book club.
There is plenty of historical detail and I felt like I could really imagine Vivian's life as an orphan train rider. Both Vivian and Molly are sympathetic characters, and over the years, as a teacher, I've heard first-hand from some of my students that foster children *still* face abuse from their foster parents, so both girls' experience had the ring of truth. But... With two story lines and a time span that covers at least 15 years (not including flashbacks or the present-day), there was just so much story to tell. There were many places where I found myself craving more depth and less summary. Several characters are glossed over quickly (e.g. Dutchy, Jake, Terry, Vivian's final adoptive parents) or treated in pretty stereotypical portrayals (e.g. Dina), and life events that seem huge (courtship, marriage, childbirth) are summarized in mere pages. I found myself imagining scenes to fill out those times--not a bad thing necessarily, I guess, but here I think it made events that should have been very emotional fall flat. I found myself wishing to linger in these moments more to understand the Vivian's thoughts/feelings/motivations. Especially the HUGE decision she makes at the end of the WWII section. As much as I liked and sympathized with Molly, and as important as I think it is to really look at the foster care system, the modern-day story felt less compelling. Yes, it was necessary to get the satisfying ending, but I would have happily read a story that just focused on Vivian's experiences from ages 9 to 23 and really delved into her relationships and emotions. So, a good read, just not as deep and resonant as I'd hoped.
Comments
To make this point, the author gave Vivian EVERY different experience with her multitude of foster families from bad to worse, and finally good. Vivian lost her whole family, her roots, and her name; the willy-nilly changing of her name by the adults around her seemed unkind, until she took the name Vivian. No one could be bothered to treat her as a person with a past; she was there for their use and convenience only. It seemed inevitable that she would meet up with Dutchy again, and the one thing that I didn't expect of Vivian was that she would give up their baby. That didn't feel like something she would do.
Molly's situation in the foster home struck me as predictable; the mom who just wanted the $, assumed the worst of Molly and never gave her a chance, compared to the dad who tried to help but wasn't strong enough to stand up to his wife. It was nice in the story for Vivian and Molly to find each other, but despite the author's dealing with emotional, complicated subject matter it felt a bit pat and flat for me.
I'm still glad to have read it, and would have enjoyed the discussion for sure; sorry we didn't have a chance for that. 4.75/10 Becky
I first learned about orphan trains several years ago through an NPR story that included interview with survivors. One of whom was adopted b a loving family and another that was mistreated terribly. This was the first that I had heard about the orphan trains. I remember thinking, at the time, this would be a great idea for a novel.
I enjoyed this book. I read it very quickly at the beginning of the summer. Good pick Maggie. I would’ve never read this book if it weren’t for book club.
There is plenty of historical detail and I felt like I could really imagine Vivian's life as an orphan train rider. Both Vivian and Molly are sympathetic characters, and over the years, as a teacher, I've heard first-hand from some of my students that foster children *still* face abuse from their foster parents, so both girls' experience had the ring of truth. But... With two story lines and a time span that covers at least 15 years (not including flashbacks or the present-day), there was just so much story to tell. There were many places where I found myself craving more depth and less summary. Several characters are glossed over quickly (e.g. Dutchy, Jake, Terry, Vivian's final adoptive parents) or treated in pretty stereotypical portrayals (e.g. Dina), and life events that seem huge (courtship, marriage, childbirth) are summarized in mere pages. I found myself imagining scenes to fill out those times--not a bad thing necessarily, I guess, but here I think it made events that should have been very emotional fall flat. I found myself wishing to linger in these moments more to understand the Vivian's thoughts/feelings/motivations. Especially the HUGE decision she makes at the end of the WWII section. As much as I liked and sympathized with Molly, and as important as I think it is to really look at the foster care system, the modern-day story felt less compelling. Yes, it was necessary to get the satisfying ending, but I would have happily read a story that just focused on Vivian's experiences from ages 9 to 23 and really delved into her relationships and emotions. So, a good read, just not as deep and resonant as I'd hoped.