Barbara Stuber

Set in 1926, this is the gentle story of teenaged Iris Baldwin, sent away by her ambitious businessman father (as he prepares to open up a Kansas City shoe store and remarry)to be a companion to an elderly woman, Mrs. Nesbitt, whose son is a busy doctor. Iris's mother died some years before, a victim of T.B. Her father has had little interest in her since. With the Nesbits, Iris finds love and family. A gentle romance develops between her and childhood friend Leroy, who comes to visit her at show more the Nesbits whenever he can. The author writes well, though I admit that I dislike reading novels told in the unfolding present tense as this one is. I'm not sure why the author made the decision to tell it in this way, unless it was to enliven an essentially quiet story. Interestingly, the author is daring enough to include a rough character, Dot, apparently impregnated by her cruel moonshine-drinking father--whom Mrs. Nesbit and Iris attempt to spirit off and save. As well, the author implies that Dr. Avery Nesbit has a male artist lover in New York. All is fairly subtly and gracefully managed by the author. I'm not sure that the story has enough "umph" for the average teen girl reader. I liked the book enough to finish it and suspect that there might be some special readers for this book. Would I purchase or re-read it? No. show less

For those of you who, like me, love the character of Mattie in A Northern Light and Anne ("with an e") of Anne of Green Gables, I think you will also love fifteen-year-old Iris in this lovely coming-of-age story set in 1926 Missouri.

Iris Baldwin’s mother died when she was 5. She barely remembers her, especially because her father will not talk about her. In fact, her father barely interacts at all with Iris, preferring to spend time at his successful shoe store and with his latest (and show more much younger) girlfriend, Celeste. The only one Iris really has to talk to is her friend Leroy, who, two years older than Iris, even had to tell her the facts of life when she was thirteen!

Iris discovers by accident that her father is planning to send her away for the summer. He hired Iris out to a Dr. Avery Nesbitt to be a live-in caretaker for his elderly mother.

Iris is hurt, but soon finds the warmth and support with the Nesbitts that she never received in her own home. In a sense, she is like the battered stray dog Marie that arrives when Iris does. Both Iris and Marie blossom in the care of the Nesbitts. Iris gets involved with their lives and the lives of the neighbors, finding to her surprise that “the more you belong with people, the more there is to do.”

And as she learns about what love and forgiveness really mean, she learns how to fold heartbreak and tragedy inside that love, and “aim high. Help hobos and strays. Dust the people you love. When lost, use the stars.”

Evaluation: I can’t say enough positive about this heartwarming book. Nor can I imagine how anyone could not love Iris, the Nesbitts, Leroy, and Marie. I think this is a book you’ll consider a life-long favorite. show less

This DNF legitimately saddened me. I started Girl in Reverse amid the first wave of #WeNeedDiversity tweets, and I was so excited to read about Lily and her experiences. Sadly, the prose lost me almost from the beginning. Lily has a way of narrating that I think was supposed to feel natural and easy, but the text felt a little too elliptical, literally leaving me feeling lost. I don’t like having to stop to back up and figure out what half-tossed aside I missed buried within a sentence. I show more also was not digging the present tense at all.

More importantly, I couldn’t get a feel for either Lily or her world. I tolerated Lily and wanted to empathize with her situation, but her family felt too abstract. They were odd little caricatures off in a corner doing insensitive things. At least Ralph pulled his weight and called out Lily when she was making fun of “cupcake” sorority girls. Yeah! Fight ALL the stereotypes, Ralph! Also, except for the mentions of the Korean War, I had no sense that I was stuck back in the past. I really could have used more grounding.

I think Girl in Reverse is an important story, and I really wish I could have gotten into it a little more. So, like Dyerville, this will be shelved for a reattempt at a later date.

**ORIGINALLY POSTED AT http://www.shaelit.com/2014/06/dnf-review-the-dyerville-tales-girl-in-reverse/ show less

Historical fiction is not usually my cup of tea, but this novel caught my eye for some reason. It's the story of Iris, 15 and forced to move in with a doctor and his mother, because her father doesn't want her around. In a way, this is a novel about abandonment, but mostly it's a novel about growing up and falling in love. It's a beautiful story, at times hauntingly sad, while also very amusing. Stuber uses letters for communcation between Iris and her friend Leroy, as well as between Iris show more and her soon-to-be stepmother and her father. The letters, though written in script fonts, are easy to read and add much to the novel. Highly recommended. show less