Several Kinds of Silence - Hardcover

Singer, Marilyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060256273 ISBN 13: 9780060256272

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1988

Synopsis

Faced with her beloved grandmother's illness and her own attraction to a boy her parents would disapprove of, Franny tries to shut off her feelings completely.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7-10 Singer vividly portrays a family in crisis. Angered by what he perceives to be his failure to support his family adequately, Mr. Yeager suppresses his discomfort by venomously attacking the Japanese for dislocating the economy and his own family for whatever small faults he can uncover or imagine. Each member of the family has developed an indvidual survival response. Mrs. Yeager desperately tries to run the perfect household. Rebellious Lainie exhibits behavior designed to provoke her father. Quiet 16-year-old Franny submerges her distress with silent, controlled behavior, and finally gains a measure of escape in her work with a kind florist. Pressure mounts on Franny as her beloved grandmother becomes ill, her new Japanese boyfriend demands to meet her family, and her sister hints at exposing her cross-cultural romance. Singer's characterization is masterful, with clear psychological motivation carefully layered and subtly revealed. Excellent foreshadowing makes the plot twists seem quite natural. This book can be appreciated as an entertaining love story, or upon further study as an excellent thematic examination. Singer has written movingly about silence, or the failure to communicate, and all the noise that people use to hide it. Cindy Darling Codell, Belmont Junior High School, Winchester, Ky.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0060256273
• ISBN 13: 9780060256272
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 275