2 out of 4 stars
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Lucy is a timid 11-year-old when her cousin Macy comes to live with her family in their log cabin. Immediately Macy gets Lucy into trouble and the story unfolds from there. One misadventure leads to another and there’s rarely a dull moment for the two young Appalachian girls. These misadventures typically result in some kind of bodily injury incurred from the likes of fights, falling from trees and attempting to baptize a cat. Yes, you read that right.
The story is set near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, sometime in the distant past. A specific time period is never named but judging by the description of dress and wagon use, and the fact that the book is based on the author’s grandmother, we can judge it to be near the early 1900’s or so. Also, it is mentioned that the formation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was being talked about. A bill wasn’t signed for its establishment until 1926, so we have a rough estimate of timing.
I was interested in reading this book because I live in East Tennessee, not far from Gatlinburg and other areas that are mentioned in the book. While I did not grow up here, I have lived here since high school and my husband is from East Tennessee. A book about early Appalachia had a personal draw for me.
I am sorry to say that I found the story lacking in proper editing, as well as plot and character development.
I would not recommend this book if grammatical errors bother you. To be perfectly honest, it does not appear that the text was proofread or edited at all before publication. There are numerous punctuation errors, as well as repetition.
Here is an example from the text:
“Lucy screamed as a locust landed on her shirt. Its prickly legs held on to her shirt while its bulging red eyes stared at Lucy. Her mother swatted it off her shirt!”
If this paragraph doesn’t bother you, you may enjoy the book. Read on, by all means.
Then there is the issue with overuse of Appalachian dialect which makes it difficult to read and hard to relate to. I understand some dialect is necessary to get a sense of how the locals speak but when overdone, reading it is excruciating.
For example:
“Them whip’o’will’s go ta hollerin’ and they heered the screech owls. I reckon they git’s real skeered when them night birds starts a hollerin’.”
The point is, tone it down. Pick a few words to emphasize and leave the rest to standard, coherent English.
Onward to the plot! If you like a book with a point, this is not the book for you. First, the story is lacking growth. It is one calamity after another, devoid of a climactic event or turning point. In other words, the same basic things happen over and over with the same basic outcome.
Finally, the characters lack growth. While they engage in numerous activities that could have gotten them killed, as well as being downright nasty to the other characters in some circumstances, there is no recognition of a lesson learned. They just keep doing the same thing expecting different results, which is as we know, the definition of crazy. We all love those great stories about people who get into scrapes at the drop of a hat but something has to tame the chaos, such as a dynamic character or a light bulb moment.
Main characters can be mean, ornery, silly, sullen, etc., but they have to be likable on some level. This helps the reader to relate to and care about the main character. If the reader ceases to care about the character (if they ever did in the first place), they lose incentive to continue reading.
While I was reading this book, I quickly became frustrated with Lucy getting bit, swatted, and scratched by numerous animals and bugs as well as complaining more than was necessary. Then we have Macy, who has nothing better to do than get Lucy into trouble by nearly drowning her, dropping a tree top on her, starting unnecessary fights, stealing from an old lady...you name it. To top it off, Macy repeatedly vows to get even with various other characters, even when she is the one that instigated the problem. One could be kind and say she is merely mischievous...but her character does not read as much mischievous as it does vindictive and conniving. There just isn't much to endear either of the main characters to the reader, and that is unfortunate.
On the upside, (yes, there is one) there is not a lack of action and the characters show some loyalty to each other and family, which is commendable. It is possible a child might enjoy reading it, though I don't consider the girls, especially Macy, to be great role models. It should come with a “Don't Try This At Home” warning.
To conclude, the book was not well written. The story could have been redeemed through proofreading and proper editing and through developing the characters to show some growth and/or dimension.
I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I give it this rating because it is possible that some may enjoy the story.
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Mischief on the Mountain
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