The Girl Who Fell from the Sky (original 2010; edition 2010)

Beautiful book--elegant and understated, yet somehow deeply emotional at the same time. Durrow's story is unexpected, sad, and hopeful. Worth all of the accolades it has received. I love how the author took the events of a tragic story she read about in a news paper and intertwined them with her own past to create these characters. An impressive feat of writing and imagination. ( )

Growing up biracial. Pulled a lot from her own childhood, apparently, added a great conflict at the center - good example of exploring a personal issue within/around an intriguing plot. I loved the way she wove the stories of two different children together. My copy had an interview with her at the end, was quite interesting to learn she also grew up with a Scandinavian mother. ( )

I'm still digesting all the elements of this story. It's quite compelling, and there some wonderful passages. There is also an underlying sense of melancholy, which is not a bad thing, but I think my actual rating would be more like three and a half stars. After a few days of rumination I may get energetic and put a real review on here. ( )

This isn't helping my perception of award-winning books. Soon, I may not try at all.

Although, I primarily chose this book because the library rarely has e-books I want to read available and this novel does have a great title.

[b:The Girl Who Fell from the Sky|6449290|The Girl Who Fell from the Sky|Heidi W. Durrow|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1285276805s/6449290.jpg|6639392] is about a girl named Rachel who is biracial and has an extraordinarily tragic background. According to the description, this allows the author deal with "society's ideas of race, class, and beauty." For me, though, it fell short. Rachel discusses these issues a great deal in her internal dialogue, as do the other POV characters on occasion. But none of the characters felt real to me, or compelling. They were just the vehicles through which the narrative could comment on social issues.

Right from the beginning though, I wasn't going along with the story. Young Rachel and Young Brick, who are both children, I think, during the beginning of the story (another thing, I had so much trouble following the timeline) have very simplistic narrative voices, as does Nella, Rachel's mother. They sound like someone who has never actually met a child imagines they speak. Kindergarten level maybe. And yet—Rachel, especially—they have an ability to read other people bordering on omniscience.

These are all primarily issues of technique. I feel guilty for not liking this book. How can you not feel for Rachel and all she's dealt with during her short life? But while I feel for the situation, I wish she'd felt less constructed, and more like a person. ( )

My review: http://youtu.be/eQnELcfL6-4 ( )