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A review by mrskatiefitz
Better to Wish by Ann M. Martin
5.0
In the year 2022, Abby Nichols turns 100 years old. As she looks back on her life, she recalls her entire girlhood, from age 8 to age 22, remembering the many ups and downs she endured under the rule of her controlling father. She remembers her little brother, Fred, born with unexplained mental and physical problems, her mother who lay in bed haunted by the memory of two babies who didn't survive, and who never had the courage to stand up to her husband, and the secret friendships Abby maintained with people her father hated - mainly Catholics and Democrats. Through it all, Abby keeps things in perspective, and when she is old enough to make up her own mind, she does so, for better or for worse.
Better to Wish is the first book in a planned set of four stories that will explore the childhoods of four different women from four generations of the same family. In a lot of ways, this book is everything I fear about historical fiction. There is a lot of unhappiness, a lot of death, and a lot of unfairness, which, at times, can make the story seem grim. Abby's father is an oppressive presence in the story, and his cruelty only seems to grow as the years pass by. Abby's mother is an obvious victim of her husband's controlling nature, and Fred, too, ultimately suffers punishment for being "different." Because this book is by Ann M. Martin, however, I didn't run screaming from it when I realized it would make me sad. Somehow, through her gentle, straightforward style, Martin makes it comfortable to explore these darker aspects of growing up. She foreshadows bad things before they happen, so the reader is never blindsided, and Abby is such a strong main character, the reader always winds up feeling that she has everything under control.
I find it wonderful that no matter what Ann M. Martin writes, there is always something in it to remind me of the Baby-sitters Club. She creates characters who seem like real children, and whose interactions with one another ring true. Though this book takes place between 1930 and 1942, the dialogue sounds fresh and feels contemporary. Martin brings the entire time period to life by making the characters very accessible to her audience. Abby's relationship with her sisters Rose and Adele reminds me a lot of similar relationships in others of Ann M. Martin's books - Kristy and Karen in the Baby-sitters Club, Pearl and Lexie in Ten Rules for Living with My Sister, and even the relationships among the Rosso kids in Ten Kids, No Pets. It makes me so happy to be able to enjoy new books by my favorite childhood author, even as an adult.
Historical fiction readers who enjoy the American Girl books will be drawn to this new series, but I think even realistic fiction readers who normally avoid historical fiction will find it hard to pass up a series that explores so many interesting connections between generations.
Better to Wish is the first book in a planned set of four stories that will explore the childhoods of four different women from four generations of the same family. In a lot of ways, this book is everything I fear about historical fiction. There is a lot of unhappiness, a lot of death, and a lot of unfairness, which, at times, can make the story seem grim. Abby's father is an oppressive presence in the story, and his cruelty only seems to grow as the years pass by. Abby's mother is an obvious victim of her husband's controlling nature, and Fred, too, ultimately suffers punishment for being "different." Because this book is by Ann M. Martin, however, I didn't run screaming from it when I realized it would make me sad. Somehow, through her gentle, straightforward style, Martin makes it comfortable to explore these darker aspects of growing up. She foreshadows bad things before they happen, so the reader is never blindsided, and Abby is such a strong main character, the reader always winds up feeling that she has everything under control.
I find it wonderful that no matter what Ann M. Martin writes, there is always something in it to remind me of the Baby-sitters Club. She creates characters who seem like real children, and whose interactions with one another ring true. Though this book takes place between 1930 and 1942, the dialogue sounds fresh and feels contemporary. Martin brings the entire time period to life by making the characters very accessible to her audience. Abby's relationship with her sisters Rose and Adele reminds me a lot of similar relationships in others of Ann M. Martin's books - Kristy and Karen in the Baby-sitters Club, Pearl and Lexie in Ten Rules for Living with My Sister, and even the relationships among the Rosso kids in Ten Kids, No Pets. It makes me so happy to be able to enjoy new books by my favorite childhood author, even as an adult.
Historical fiction readers who enjoy the American Girl books will be drawn to this new series, but I think even realistic fiction readers who normally avoid historical fiction will find it hard to pass up a series that explores so many interesting connections between generations.