Oh My Stars

So, here's Oh My Stars, the story of a young girl named Violet growing up during the Great Depression. She was never a pretty girl to start with, and when she loses her arm in a factory accident (this is not a spoiler, it happens on pretty much the first page of the book), she can no longer bear the torment of schoolmates and family alike who malign her missing arm, her horsey face, her somewhat freakish height. Determined that life is no longer worth living considering that nobody loves her, not even her no-good father, she gets on a bus and sets off for California where she has decided to pitch herself off the Golden Gate Bridge. Before that can happen, the bus wrecks in a nowhere sort of town in North Dakota, and the path of Violet's show more life changes forever. Before she knows it she's managing a the hottest new band that's breaking down barriers to racial integration all over the states and finding love in a place she never would have expected.

If I were going to sit here and type you up an "objective" review of Oh My Stars you would probably wonder why I even passed the 50 page mark without jettisoning it in favor of more quality reading. It would be no great challenge to snarkily tear it page from page telling you all about how Landvik relies on a healthy dose of stereotype, depends on you to suspend a great deal of your disbelief, and exaggerates her characters to caricature-like proportions at times. I could point out that the things that happen to Violet are always either so very bad or so very good that it seems totally improbable. I could ponder the lack of a realism in that a band composed of both white and black members could play clubs in the Deep(ish) South in the 30s and somehow play such good music that nobody got killed. You could then comment that "gosh, this book sounds rotten. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole," and we could close the door on the whole matter.

There's just one thing, though. I really liked it. Despite its many flaws, if I had to pick my best book of the year so far, it's likely this one would take the cake ahead of several books that in writing and style are technically much better. But, Oh My Stars, it just has a certain je ne sais quoi that I quickly embraced. Maybe it's Landvik's conversational writing style that flows without interruption and makes the book hard to put down. Maybe it's the foreshadow-y way she uses Violet's first person voice looking back on events interchangeably with a third person that gives the bigger picture as events unfold. Maybe it's the characters who, when not wandering about in caricature-ville, are original, compelling and lovable. I loved Kjel's optimism and his willingness to love even the most unlovable. It was refreshing to read about a guy who was good but not perfect. I loved Austin whose expansive vocabulary is the exact opposite of what people would expect from a black man in the 30s. I even loved Austin's prickly brother Dallas, who could be funny as often as he could be cruel. Watching Violet blossom from the closed up, hopeless, angry person she started out as into the strong, funny girl who can negotiate contracts with club owners is also a pleasure. The unlikely foursome's idyllic summer together seemed as enchanting to me as if I was there myself, and I was swallowed up by the lives of three passionate musicians on the road making a name for themselves. I was so taken by Oh My Stars that I laughed and I cried, and I was sad that it was over even if my objective mind could recognize flaws popping up all over the place. show less

This may be my favorite Landvik work. Reminds me of "Tall Pines Polka." Charming and thoughtful. Full of the drama of life. However, I kept forgetting that it's set mostly in the Depression (Becuase there aren't a lot of touchstones to remind the reader), and that was a bit confusing.

Another Landvik gem. I love her quirky characters and her northern settings. The people ring true because they are like the people that we know...

Here is a story of a woman who has had all the hardship life has to offer before she is 16 - her mother ran off, her father abused her and neglected her, she was dreadfully poor and only had a tree to love. Then life started to improve - she got a factory job in a thread factory, made friends and began to see life differently -but on her 16th birthday her life changed...she lost an arm in a accident, her ears filled with the buzzing of bees and there didn't seem to be a reason to continue on...

So, Violet boards a bus to San Francisco to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Then life starts to throw show more her a rope...there is a bus crash and she is rescued by two unusual musicians - Kjel (prounced Shell) the most amazing looking blond North Dakota has to offer and Austin the blackest of all black men with the largest vocabulary of smooth and high talk. That crash and rescue change the course of Violet's life.

Austin and Kjel are musicians and they invite Violet to join them on a whim. They begin an amazing band called the "Pearltones." They start a tour with Austin's brother Dallas through the small towns changing their lives and the lives of those who hear them play through a very memorable summer.

In typical Landvik fashion nothing seems to go like they planned. But, life continues. Also in Landvik fashion, this book covers Violet's life from childhood through her old age with many stops and starts and curves and twists in between. It is filled with music and beauty and characters that I wish I could meet!

The title is from Kjel - each morning he greets the world with "oh my stars!" a prayer and a song to the beauty of the heavens and world that was created around him!

I loved this! show less

I have been catching up on all my Lorna Landvik titles this summer. This was a a great surprise and breath of fresh air for me. All of those books with northwoods Minnesota settings get to be a bit much. This book, written as a backward look by an old woman having a conversation about her life, was a wonderful story. It was set mostly during the Depression and WWII years in middle America. It is a story of horrible loss, of family relationships, lifetime friendships, and the American Dream realized.
Some readers may feel that the situations and characters are not always believable, but almost all good entertainment requires some suspension of disbelief. This is a story that will grip you and keep you reading.

As with all of Ms. Landvik's books (in my opinion, of course), this one had it all. I found myself giggling and gasping and at one point quietly crying. I've said in reviews before that I do not like to be intentionally pulled around by an author through the gamut of emotions and there are certain authors whose work I will not read anymore because I feel that the only thing they are doing is working to get the cry from a reader rather than tell a good story. I wasn't getting that at all here. This was a good story about a real character in Violet Mathers. I give the novel four plus stars and recommend it to others.

Violet deals with abandonment and emotional abuse and a terrible accident all before she is an adult but goes on to live a show more life rich with love and friendship and happiness. show less

Lorna Landvik is one of my all-time favorite authors. Most of Landvik's books take place in Minnesota, but this one travels around the country more with the focus ending up in North Dakota. Violet is an excellent seamstress and is working at a thread factory when she loses her arm in an industrial accident. Life at home with her father isn't all that great and Violet decides to travel by bus to San Francisco to throw herself off the bridge. On the way, there is a bus accident and Violet meets Kjell and Austin and her life will never be the same.

Violet is used to being the butt of jokes, being made fun of, or ignored. Meeting Kjell and Austin changes her life in many ways and the book is about Violet's journey of self-discovery. Landvik show more tells Violet's story with humor, compassion, and love. An excellent read! show less

What a lovely surprise. I thought Lorna Landvik wrote thin romances, but this story is far from thin. The great depression, the beginnings of rock and roll music, a look at race relations in the twentieth century, sewing skills, all get mixed into this story about family and love and growth. It's absolutely charming.