HERE LIES THE LIBRARIAN
by Richard Peck
Dial, 2006
Richard Peck astounds me. His writing is so tight and easy to read. And his characters are so quirky and loveable that I forgive the downright unbelievable things they see and do. This new novel doesn’t best my favorite of Peck’s books, A YEAR DOWN YONDER, but there were parts of it that I adored. For example, the first two chapters.
Two chapters—a mere twenty-one pages—of utterly perfect fiction. They are incredibly well done, the sort of work I can only aspire to, I fear. Characters are introduced completely and unforgettably in a single sentence. Unrealistic circumstances, like bodies hanging from trees, become believable and create, in the space of several paragraphs, a place like none other in the world. A place, I might add, that I couldn’t bear to leave once I had entered. (Dinner? Didn’t we just have dinner last night? Fix yourself a bagel, kids. I’ll make up for it tomorrow, I promise. Oh, my poor, poor children!)
As if all that weren’t enough, there was a clever surprise in these first two chapters that just blew me away. Never saw it coming.
I will read this book again very soon and try to enjoy it less … so that I can study it more.
Best,
Loree