Zanna's Gift: A Life in Christmases

First sentence: There are many ways to lose a child, and none of them is merciful. But like all unbearable things it can be borne, and in the weeks before Christmas 1938, the Pullmans were learning how.

Premise/plot: Zanna's Gift is a LOVELY Christmas novel. Zanna, the youngest of the Pullman family, has a special way to memorialize her older brother, Ernest, after his unexpected death at fifteen.

The best way to read Zanna's Gift is without knowing a thing about it. I promise you. I'm doing you a favor by NOT summarizing the plot and sharing what Zanna's GIFT was and how it was a gift that kept giving and giving.

My thoughts: LOVE. I loved this one absolutely and completely from start to finish. It was one of those perfectly perfect show more EXPERIENCES. It feels like more than just a book, a story, a fictional work. THESE CHARACTERS ARE REAL. How it hasn't been adapted into a movie if it was truly published originally in 2004 is beyond me. It would make an excellent movie.

I would recommend this one to people who aren't necessarily readers. Of course I recommend it to readers who read anything and everything. But for those who are reluctant to pick up books, please consider reading this wonderful amazing book.

If you LOVE Christmas, this is an absolute must. I could easily see it becoming a book that you feel you HAVE to read each and every year.

ETA: I've read this one three times? four times? I love this book so much. show less

Zanna's Gift: A Life in Christmases is a book I see myself coming back to year after year in December. It is the story of a family's love, how to cope with the pitfalls, and how to embrace the peaks of life.

It made me laugh; it certainly made me cry. And both could happen within the same page, sometimes even the same paragraph, and not make me want to take medication for bi-polar disorder. Never once did the story feel strained, as my experience tends toward with stories of the meaning of life and love. Instead, it was a beautiful depiction of the highlights of life.

I loved how Orson Scott Card was able to maintain a sense of awe and mystery regarding the questions posed in life throughout the novella, but still allow the growth of the show more main character to feel natural and subtle through the years.

I did wish that more had been shared with me, but again, Card's choices allowed me to feel as though the story was not built to teach, but rather to inspire. Perhaps sharing more would have made me want to ignore the beauty completely. show less

Zanna’s Gift is a very short, quick, but fulfilling read that follows “a life in Christmases” lived by Suzanna Pullman. The sudden and unexpected death of her brother, the only one who could decipher her four-year-old drawing abilities, leaves Zanna with more than just an empty place in her life: It leaves her with the drawing she made him for Christmas, before she realized he wouldn’t be coming back to celebrate with their family. Richards quickly shows the many faces of loss, and the drawing silently becomes Christmas tradition for the Pullmans. The reader follows Zanna from one Christmas season to the other, watching the metamorphosis of the character as well as the structure of the family. A bittersweet little tale, it left show more me both thankful for the wonderful family members I have left as well as mournful for those we’ve lost. I cried my way through the last couple pages like my life depended on it.

Zanna’s Gift was enjoyable for my tastes, although I would normally want more depth to the characters and story. It was an incredibly quick read, and I finished it in less than two hours. Still, I wouldn’t let any of that deter someone from thinking it was a worthwhile and enjoyable Christmas read. The story itself is sweet, and gives you appreciation for the good things you have in life. It’s religious without being overly religious (which I appreciate), and pulls at heartstrings you might not have even known you had.

My main complaint would simply be the pace of the book. As short as it is, and with a promise of “a life in Christmases” you would guess right off the bat that there must not be much prose given to each Christmas, and you would be right. Zanna’s first Christmas without her brother is given a great deal of attention, as it should, but from that point, Christmas almost seems to take a backburner until the end of the book, when she is an old woman sharing the holiday with her great-niece. The reader is told of things that happened during the spaces between these events, but I felt it left me wanting more. I sincerely liked the character of Zanna, and wanted to know as much about her as possible. I felt that Richards fell a little short of that mark and left something to be desired in the story.

I can overlook this and still be satisfied with the story, because it does prove it’s worth in other ways. The family dynamic is beautiful, and the story flows incredibly well. It sheds light on some wonderful aspects of Christmas, despite the tragedy from which the story grows, and teaches faith in more ways than just that of religion. I find myself wishing that I had read an abridged copy, and that there was really more to discover about Zanna’s life. It seems like she could be such a three-dimensional character if only she were given some room to grow.

Read Zanna’s Gift and keep an open mind to the power of love and family. Hopefully it puts you in the mood for Christmas cheer, however bittersweet you might find it. show less

I decided to read this gentle book during the Christmas season. I am so glad that I did!

The book opens "There are many ways to lose a child, and none of them is merciful. But like all unbearable things it can be borne, and in the weeks before Christmas 1938, the Pullmans were learning how."

Zanna's Gift is a book about love and loss, grief and learning, sadness and hope. It is essentially about being a family member in a family that is both ordinary and extraordinary. The love and caring expressed in this book are a balm to the soul.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys fiction with a Christian background.

Zanna's Gift written by Orson Scott Card, was originally marketed under the name Scott Richards, a pseudonym used (as far as I can tell) for this one work, and then dropped "because the marketing strategy didn't work". I suspect that it was actually dropped because without Card's name attached to it, the book wouldn't sell. This is idle speculation on my part, because I don't have the actual sales figures, but on its own Zanna's Gift simply doesn't seem be able to stand up under the weight of its own cloying piles of sentimentality.

The book tells a heartwarming tale of a family's struggles through adversity. Ernest, the oldest son, is a paragon of a boy, responsible, handsome, smart, industrious, and most importantly (for the story) show more kind to his four year old sister Suzanna (or 'Zanna for short) and the only person who can decipher her intricate doodles. Just before Christmas one year he simply dies, leaving his parents, two brothers, and most of all his sister devastated by the loss. The gift identified in the title is a picture drawn by Zanna to be a Christmas present for Ernie that she started before his untimely death. She decides to give him the gift anyway, explaining that she will keep the picture and memorize it so when she joins him in the future, she can describe it to him.

From beyond the grave Ernie miraculously reveals that Zanna had a twin sister who died at Zanna's birth, Ernie's younger brother takes up where Ernie left off, working the same job, saving money to go to college and so on. Every year at Christmas the family pulls out Ernie's picture and sets it on the mantle. The children grow up, get married, have their own children, face adversity, overcome it with unyielding faith in God and tear-stained smiles, and the saccharine goodness heaps the reader with every turn of the page.

Zanna, of course, remains the focal character. She grows up, gets married and has her own children. The one "bad" character in the book, her mischievous nephew gets her children in trouble, which results in a life lesson for her and her children. She studies art, and eventually paints a picture of her defiant niece throwing a rock while standing on a fence post, even though she has been hobbled by her disease. After hiding the painting for years for fear of making her niece feel bad, she finally gives it to her only to find that she is overjoyed, as even though her body has been ravaged by disease, her plucky spirit has not been broken. Once again, the family triumphs over adversity, blinking back the tears to reaffirm their faith in God and one another.

Zanna's career as a painter also gives Card a soapbox to make some of his usual statements about what he considers to be the deplorable nature of modern art, which I suppose he considers a bonus, but I found a bit out of place (not to mention tiresome). Oddly, despite the fact that her art as a child was so unusual that it helped create a special bond between herself and her older brother because, even though it was supposed to be representational, it was so imaginative and almost abstract in a way that required Ernie to decipher it, Card makes sure the reader knows that Zanna as a grown up artist simply doesn't do that sort of silly abstract art. She's a painter who paints real looking pictures of things, which is how it ought to be and don't you forget it.

It is the constant piling on of awful happenings: young death, nasty personalities, polio, and so on that make the book feel like it is simply trying too hard. Even the nastier personalities are pretty muted in this book (the mischievous nephew is about as bad as any character gets). Most of the family members are idealized versions of actual humans, always able to find the good side to their sadness. And since the characters aren't really actual characters, but rather props to allow the author to pass on life lessons to the reader, once they are no longer needed, they drop right out of the story, many never to be mentioned again.

It is the spunky way that the various family members fight through their disappointment and come through almost never uttering an unkind word to one another or despairing of their situation that makes the story so sweet that it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. If the sentiment had been dialed back to about 90% of the level in the story, I think the book would have been much improved. As it is, the giant lump of sugar just proved too much to swallow comfortably.

This review has also been posted to my blog Dreaming About Other Worlds. show less

Oscar Scott Card, under a pseudonym, Scott Richards, made a small novelette called Zanna's Gift, a Christmas story told from the view of the late 1930s and spans through present day.

It's the story of the Pullman family who have a family of three teenage boys and one four year old girl. The girl, Zanna, loves to draw and it seems her big brother Ernie is the only one who can decipher her scribblings.

The story starts off in a shocking way, when the boy, who is built up by the author to have so much promise and life, dies in his sleep! Wasn't expecting that!

The little girl had just drawn a picture for Ernie for Christmas, and when she finds out he has died, she's devastated. No one will know what her picture means! Even her parents can't show more tell what she drew.

The years roll on, little Zanna deals with her grief, and eventually it is revealed she is a twin of another girl who died at birth.

The author keeps up these shocks, one after another, until you're just torn apart by the grief. Gets pretty heavy.

Scott Richards though then loses his way a bit. The development of secondary characters, such as Zanna's nephew, doesn't really go along with the rest of the theme of grief and redemption. He's just sort of "bad" and somehow that plays out.

The whole book shows Zanna growing up, having kids of her own, her own dealings with her brothers and her painting that she drew at four. It's faded now, and framed, but becomes part of a family tradition for Christmas, and out-lives her.

The story picks up again with her niece Betty, who suffers from debilitating polio. My goodness, how much grief and despair can this family take??

The story is somewhat unrealistic, but the themes of grief, despair and conquering it will nurturing love is throughout the book.

Makes a great little story for anyone suffering from these things and gives some hope, and does fit into the full meaning of Christmas.

Not bad, Scott!

For Oscar Scott Card's science fiction books:

Xenocide T3
The Ender Quartet Box Set: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind

And one of my fav alternate history stories:

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus show less

Oscar Scott Card, under a pseudonym, Scott Richards, made a small novelette called Zanna's Gift, a Christmas story told from the view of the late 1930s and spans through present day.

It's the story of the Pullman family who have a family of three teenage boys and one four year old girl. The girl, Zanna, loves to draw and it seems her big brother Ernie is the only one who can decipher her scribblings.

The story starts off in a shocking way, when the boy, who is built up by the author to have so much promise and life, dies in his sleep! Wasn't expecting that!

The little girl had just drawn a picture for Ernie for Christmas, and when she finds out he has died, she's devastated. No one will know what her picture means! Even her parents can't show more tell what she drew.

The years roll on, little Zanna deals with her grief, and eventually it is revealed she is a twin of another girl who died at birth.

The author keeps up these shocks, one after another, until you're just torn apart by the grief. Gets pretty heavy.

Scott Richards though then loses his way a bit. The development of secondary characters, such as Zanna's nephew, doesn't really go along with the rest of the theme of grief and redemption. He's just sort of "bad" and somehow that plays out.

The whole book shows Zanna growing up, having kids of her own, her own dealings with her brothers and her painting that she drew at four. It's faded now, and framed, but becomes part of a family tradition for Christmas, and out-lives her.

The story picks up again with her niece Betty, who suffers from debilitating polio. My goodness, how much grief and despair can this family take??

The story is somewhat unrealistic, but the themes of grief, despair and conquering it will nurturing love is throughout the book.

Makes a great little story for anyone suffering from these things and gives some hope, and does fit into the full meaning of Christmas.

Not bad, Scott!

For Oscar Scott Card's science fiction books:

Xenocide T3
The Ender Quartet Box Set: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind

And one of my fav alternate history stories:

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus show less