Attracted to the author's name, the title, the woodcutting sillouette on the cover, the rough ivory dustjacket, even the introductory on the front flap, so ordinary in it's common occurance: "Jennifer Braverman was once named Juniper Tree Burning, and she hates that name." So, every girl hates her name at some point in life, but who on earth would be named Juniper without a mysteriously strange lineage of parents?
(Yes, I even violated the Rule: don't read a chapter book labeled "A Novel" beneath the title).
The captivating thing about the book is the way its author Goldberry Long weaves Juniper's story back and forth through a ramrod straight timeline, her life lived out like the waves of the sea, pounding, washing up the beach incessantly, churning in whirlpools, lost in stretches of seeming stillness. Written in first person, one enters the mind of Juniper, while reliving all things with her through memories recalled to work out a central wonder: what was it her brother had wanted from her, and what is she looking for in other people, and her reactionary ways against hippie parentage.
2 comments:
METAPHOR ALERT!! METAPHOR ALERT!!
"...Long weaves Juniper's story back and forth through a ramrod straight timeline, her life lived out like the waves of the sea, pounding, washing up the beach incessantly, churning in whirlpools, lost in stretches of seeming stillness."
Yeah, did I get that memo about metaphorisms before I went diving into the sea of description??
I heap dust and ashes on my pen's head.
~K.
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