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A review by jordantheune
The Angels of Morgan Hill by Donna VanLiere
3.0
When I read "The Good Dream," I thought it was an incredibly touching story. Naturally I decided that I wanted to see more of what Donna VanLiere was writing, so I chose "The Angels of Morgan Hill," since it was a sort of prequel to the book I loved so much. Though I enjoyed seeing familiar characters from "The Good Dream" and delving more into who they were, "Angels" did not deliver in the way I had hoped.
"The Angels of Morgan Hill," like "The Good Dream," is a story about finding happiness after tragic circumstances. In this novel, a young black boy loses his family and is taken in my a widowed white woman, Fran, and her children. As to be expected in a small-town state of mind like Morgan Hill, the rest of the white community is in complete opposition with the boy, Milo, living with a white family. Poor Milo broke my heart. It was so difficult to see the way that he was treated because of the color of his skin. So many people in Morgan Hill didn't think it would be possible for a black child to fit in with a white family, but Fran--burdened by a deathbed promise--was determined to do what she could for Milo.
Occasionally this book reminded me of "To Kill a Mockingbird." It very much held the vibe of, "Hey, we're good white people, and of course we aren't actually racist............... but a BLACK person involved with white people? Oh, the scandal! It's wrong, just wrong, and God says so too!" That's the kind of thing that disgusted me with TKAM, and it gave me similar feelings here too. Though, I do think that VanLiere was trying to show her readers that that was NOT the way to treat people.
Though I did like the characters, I didn't feel like I ever really got to know them the way I anticipated I would. They didn't appear fully fleshed out, and I didn't think the relationships between key characters (ex. Milo with anyone; Fran with Milo's mom) were believable. There wasn't enough depth or story buildup for me to feel attached to anyone or any relationship.
All things being said, however, I liked "Angels" well enough. It was a laid-back read, easy read, and I enjoyed being able to read something that revolved around a heavy topic like race relations. While this by no means is on the level of "The Good Dream," it was a decent book, and I certainly didn't hate it.
"The Angels of Morgan Hill," like "The Good Dream," is a story about finding happiness after tragic circumstances. In this novel, a young black boy loses his family and is taken in my a widowed white woman, Fran, and her children. As to be expected in a small-town state of mind like Morgan Hill, the rest of the white community is in complete opposition with the boy, Milo, living with a white family. Poor Milo broke my heart. It was so difficult to see the way that he was treated because of the color of his skin. So many people in Morgan Hill didn't think it would be possible for a black child to fit in with a white family, but Fran--burdened by a deathbed promise--was determined to do what she could for Milo.
Occasionally this book reminded me of "To Kill a Mockingbird." It very much held the vibe of, "Hey, we're good white people, and of course we aren't actually racist............... but a BLACK person involved with white people? Oh, the scandal! It's wrong, just wrong, and God says so too!" That's the kind of thing that disgusted me with TKAM, and it gave me similar feelings here too. Though, I do think that VanLiere was trying to show her readers that that was NOT the way to treat people.
Though I did like the characters, I didn't feel like I ever really got to know them the way I anticipated I would. They didn't appear fully fleshed out, and I didn't think the relationships between key characters (ex. Milo with anyone; Fran with Milo's mom) were believable. There wasn't enough depth or story buildup for me to feel attached to anyone or any relationship.
All things being said, however, I liked "Angels" well enough. It was a laid-back read, easy read, and I enjoyed being able to read something that revolved around a heavy topic like race relations. While this by no means is on the level of "The Good Dream," it was a decent book, and I certainly didn't hate it.