Review by Booklist Review
Harvey is just six when her parents are killed in an automobile accident. Her closest relative is her uncle, Jason, an unemployed ex-con with a prosthetic leg and a history of violent behavior. Not exactly promising dad material, but Wanda from social services sees something in him and works to make him Harvey's legal guardian. Nearly 25 years later, Harvey is a graphic artist living in Paris, and Jason comes for a visit. Van Booy (The Illusion of Separateness, 2013) shifts back and forth between Harvey and Jason's time in Paris and their previous history as her vulnerability taps into his protective instincts, and he learns to become the dad that she needs him to be. As a Father's Day gift, Harvey has put together a box filled with items that are reminders of their shared past, emblematic of the accumulation over the years of all the ordinary objects and events that helped shape and fortify their bond. The good outcome notwithstanding, the novel is almost heartbreaking in its expression of the hunger to love and be loved.--Quinn, Mary Ellen Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Van Booy's moving, redemptive new novel, a little girl grows into a talented and insightful young woman under the tutelage of her uncle, a disabled, unemployed ex-con with tremendous rage issues. The story unfolds in two timelines, the first of which begins when six-year-old Harvey becomes an orphan, and a rule-bending social worker convinces Harvey's reluctant uncle Jason to take in a child he's never met. The second story line, when Harvey is 26, revolves around Jason's visit for Father's Day in Paris, where Harvey lives and works. The novel fleshes out much of the intervening years, with a clean writing style that avoids any mawkishness. Harvey's thoughts and feelings as a child, for instance, are age appropriate in content and expression; she never comes off as overly precocious. The third-person narrative gives both characters their own, distinctive voices that nonetheless change over time. Van Booy (The Illusion of Separateness) creates refreshing, humorous, yet poignant childhood milestones that the two reach with emotional honesty. As Jason raises Harvey, he grows as a person, his absolution coming from surprising places. Agent: Carrie Konia, Conville and Walsh Literary Agency (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
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