A review by kblincoln
Rules for Stealing Stars by Corey Ann Haydu
5.0
Four sisters are in a family vacation home in New Hampshire: two older twins busy with art projects and secret boyfriends and the two younger floundering and aching to be part of their elder siblings' closeness.
Dad is lost in a world where he can only see good things and where his scholarly pursuit of fairy tales gives him permission to not act upon what's really going on: the careful tiptoing around Mom, who sometimes has tea in her mugs and sometimes not, and who at any moment will fly off into a litany of recriminations and tears no matter how quiet or good the girls are.
Their lives revolve around managing Mom. Until the day the twins discover a secret about their closet-- and everything changes.
There's magic in this book, but its the kind of magic that almost blatantly at times creates a concrete reality out of the emotional inner landscape of each sister's coping mechanism for living with an abuser.
We live through this story in the POV of the youngest: Priscilla "Silly" and it is her yearning to be a part of the closeness of the twins, and to feel grown up and have the power to act (and the bravery to act) that is the crux of this story.
The Mom's issues are referred to by hints and oblique references and the action entirely revolves around the girls' interactions with each other and the closets. It's a sibling story, and a coming-of-age story, and its very beautiful. It's sensitive and complicated treatment of emotional ties between the Mom and the daughters means its appropriate for YA audiences as well as adults.
Dad is lost in a world where he can only see good things and where his scholarly pursuit of fairy tales gives him permission to not act upon what's really going on: the careful tiptoing around Mom, who sometimes has tea in her mugs and sometimes not, and who at any moment will fly off into a litany of recriminations and tears no matter how quiet or good the girls are.
Their lives revolve around managing Mom. Until the day the twins discover a secret about their closet-- and everything changes.
There's magic in this book, but its the kind of magic that almost blatantly at times creates a concrete reality out of the emotional inner landscape of each sister's coping mechanism for living with an abuser.
We live through this story in the POV of the youngest: Priscilla "Silly" and it is her yearning to be a part of the closeness of the twins, and to feel grown up and have the power to act (and the bravery to act) that is the crux of this story.
The Mom's issues are referred to by hints and oblique references and the action entirely revolves around the girls' interactions with each other and the closets. It's a sibling story, and a coming-of-age story, and its very beautiful. It's sensitive and complicated treatment of emotional ties between the Mom and the daughters means its appropriate for YA audiences as well as adults.