Review of My Only Sunshine

[Erika Storbeck]

[Following is a volunteer review of "My Only Sunshine" by Lou Dischler.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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My Only Sunshine sounds happy and even romantic. Until you try to associate it with Cuban bombs and a crocodile? Doesn’t make sense. Right? So the cover caught our attention and we just have to read the book to solve this mystery. The story centers around a boy named Charlie. He grows up in a small town with his younger brother, Jute. In the custody of their grandparents, they live a real basic life of poverty and lack intellectual stimulation. Being only nine and four years old, both boys are still very innocent and naïve. Jute follows everybody blindly, and Charlie is easily intimidated into believing wrong things, for instance; smoking makes your lungs stronger. He even refers to himself as “Tough Lung Charlie”. Throughout the story, we share with Charlie his childhood experiences. We see him being exposed to the bad influence of his Uncle Dan and Aunt Lona, as well as his imperfect grandparents. We live through the tense moments of fear during a threatening Cuban bombing. Charlie has his first real experience with liquor and ends up in reform school. Lou Dischler creates a unique character from sugar and salt, with the happiness and sadness of a dysfunctional family in a lacking system. Will Charlie make it without his missing mother who, deep-down, will always be his only sunshine?

On page 22 Charlie is in conversation with his grandfather about the wheel of their car which came off while they were traveling. Pawpaw asked him if he was scared, and Charlie replied; “A little. But then I remembered how most everything in the house is missing something or other, and it don’t seem to make much difference.” Charlie’s maturity at the tender age of nine is so adorable and innocent when he makes that remark that I felt like hugging him. Those words seem to be true for the rest of his life.

My Only Sunshine is truly unique in its combination of characters, events, and circumstances. I did, however, struggle with the bad influence of Uncle Dan and Aunt Lona. Their life of crime, lies, sex, pornography, and greed seeps through the cracks into the lives of Charlie and Jute. It was upsetting to know Lona asks a nine-year-old boy to light her cigarettes and make him believe he is doing a good thing. Uncle Dan makes him believe smoking makes your lungs stronger, and even worse, give him a Tijuana Bible containing pornography (instead of its intended religious content) to take with him to reform school. Who, in his right mind, does things like that? The incident in the mayor's office is totally ripped out of proportion by sending Charlie to Monroe. The blatant ignorance of the town folks is appalling.

I rate My Only Sunshine 2 out of 4 stars. The editing is professional. The spelling, grammar, and sequencing of events are good. The profanity, constant lies, disrespect for religion, and brutal misguidance of small children made it difficult for me to finish reading this book. Everything was just a little too unrealistic, too intense, and too much for me to handle. The only thing persuading me to finish reading this book was to find out if Charlie finds his only sunshine. I am sorry, but this book won’t be on my shopping list for birthday presents.

Doing a review on any book is a matter of honesty. To me, this was a difficult book to finish reading, but I can see some very open-minded people enjoying it. I do not recommend it to children or young people as they may be negatively influenced. Old-fashioned readers who stand firm on certain principles, and people who generally feel very protective of small children should think twice before reading My Only Sunshine.

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My Only Sunshine
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[Kira Bonita Reece]

Cuban bombing and bad parental influence...seems like a recipe for disaster. I don't think this is the book for me but you did a good review