Other Bells for Us to Ring - Hardcover

Cormier, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385302452 ISBN 13: 9780385302456

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1990

Synopsis

A young girl tests her curiosity about faith when her father is missing in action and her best friend disappears during World War II. Darcy Webster, a Unitarian, attempts to resolve her crisis with a visit to an old nun whose prayers were said to bring miracles.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

tests her curiosity about faith when her father is missing in action and her best friend disappears during World War II. Darcy Webster, a Unitarian, attempts to resolve her crisis with a visit to an old nun whose prayers were said to bring miracles.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Reviews

Grade 7 Up-- Darcy is having a tough time. Her father is missing in action, her mother retreats into migraines and silence, and her best friend Kathleen Mary disappears overnight. Also, Darcy, a Unitarian, has a crisis of faith that she attempts to resolve with a secret visit to an elderly, miracle-wielding Catholic nun. While Cormier effectively evokes the streets and tenements of Darcy's World War II Frenchtown, the characters he places there never come to life. Flat and two-dimensional, they fail to engage readers' sensibilities. The most "alive" vignettes in this low-key title are the most sensational--the suicide leap of a disturbed young woman and the violent outbursts of Kathleen Mary's alcoholic father stand out with shocking clarity. The least affecting moments are those that are supposed to be the most touching; Darcy's visit with the elderly, dying nun and the return of her father are so understated they elicit little or no sympathetic response. As Darcy's voice does not mesh with her characterization as an 11-year-old innocent, it is never bright enough to light the dark environs in which Cormier places her. The news of Kathleen Mary's death and the "miracle of the bells" that accompanies it have no spiritual resonance--there is little in the characterization or plot to make this Christmas miracle real for readers. Kathleen Mary's climactic miracle message to Darcy is unfortunately unbelievable, and, symptomatic of this book, without emotional impact. --Janice M. Del Negro, Chicago Public Library
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Eleven-year-old Darcy Webster, caught between girlhood and adolescence during World War II, makes her first friend ever when she meets Kathleen Mary O'Hara, and their relationship blossoms until Kathleen Mary mysteriously disappears. At the same time, Darcy's father is reported missing in action. All this, plus Kathleen Mary's "baptizing" Darcy, brings her to a painful spiritual crisis. Although Other Bells for Us to Ring is beautifully written--Cormier captures the sounds, smells and mood of wartime America with deft strokes--it raises many more issues about God, miracles, growing up and alcoholism than it resolves. The novel deteriorates into a set of pseudo-spiritual platitudes and unsupported statements about how much Darcy has grown. Cormier doesn't succeed in demonstrating her growth, which--given the skill he has evinced in such notable works as The Chocolate War and I Am the Cheese )--is unfortunate. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385302452
• ISBN 13: 9780385302456
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 136