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The Silver Star  By  cover art

The Silver Star

By: Jeannette Walls
Narrated by: Jeannette Walls
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Publisher's summary

From one of the best-selling memoirists of all time, a stunning and heartbreaking novel about an intrepid girl who challenges the injustice of the adult world - a triumph of imagination and storytelling.

It is 1970. "Bean" Holladay is 12 and her sister, Liz, is 15 when their artistic mother, Charlotte, a woman who flees every place she’s ever lived at the first sign of trouble," takes off to find herself." She leaves her girls enough money for food to last a month or two. But when Bean gets home from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz board a bus from California to Virginia, where their widowed Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying antebellum mansion that’s been in the family for generations.

An impetuous optimist, Bean discovers who her father was and learns many stories about why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Money is tight, so Liz and Bean start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town, a big man who bullies workers, tenants, and his wife. Bean adores her whip-smart older sister, inventor of word games, reader of Edgar Allan Poe, non-conformist. But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz in the car with Maddox.

The author of The Glass Castle, hyper-alert to abuse of adult power, has written a gorgeous, riveting, heartbreaking novel about triumph over adversity and about people who find a way to love the world despite its flaws and injustices.

©2013 Jeannette Walls (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

What listeners say about The Silver Star

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A Bronze Star

Silver Star was a comfy read with a similar feel to Walls' Glass Castle, with a little less luster. Again there is the ditzy egocentric mother and the self-reliant young children, and Walls own southern-sweet voice giving life to young Bean and her sister Liz. Walls' brand of story telling is engaging and colorful, which makes for a pleasant read, and you can't help but find these girls and their quirky uncle endearing. But this is some tough territory in spite of its cuteness and "aww" moments. You are reading about child neglect and abuse wrapped up in a cute pretty package, so be prepared for a possible subconscious squirm ( I'm pretty sure Nancy G would back me up on this one--so back off Floyd). There are a lot of borrowed elements from Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird: Bean and Scout, an ominous man in town, a sexual assault, a courtroom scene, even birds--emus not mockingbirds, but that is where the similarities end. (Meg Wolitzer, author of The Interrestings, also noted these similarities in her NPR review.)

There were times Wall's chipper voice seemed incongruent with the events, for example: the girls, alone on a cross country bus, after fleeing the child welfare agents, finally escape a pervert that has been stalking them the entire trip. The passengers, who have silently observed this drama, sit back, applaud, then laugh at the site of the pervert stamping his feet and wringing his hands in the dust of the departing bus...I could hear the smile in Wall's voice, but couldn't connect to any humor, and if I had the courage (I'm going to get slaughtered here), I'd probably give this a 2 1/2 * rating overall. Even though Silver Star isn't as moving as Glass Castle, or as forgiving in its portrayal of a narcissistic, absentee mother, fans of Walls will probably appreciate the story and find it an entertaining, worthwhile listen. This was just an ok read for me, and likely due to my own frame of reference.



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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I wanted to love this book. I treasured Glass Castles and have recommended it to a dozen people. I was very excited that she came out with a fictional story.

All the characters, landscape, and situations were set up for this to be a great book. I kept waiting for it to get started. With each new situation, or each new person met, I thought "oh,ok, this is going to be the meat of the story," yet it never happened. Then I thought, "that's ok, this is just a 'slice-of-life' story," but for a successful story like that, you need to know the character enough to care what they had for breakfast, and the depth just wasn't there in this book.

There were so many really great characters in this story that Walls gave glimpses of. The older sister, the uncle, the cousin, and her black girlfriend were all promising, and interesting, and I wanted to know more about them, but Walls just scratches the surface and leaves you wanting more. Unfortunately, I was left wanting on all of the characters and possible story lines, which makes this story feel like an empty shell.

I still gave it three stars because it is promising and because I did love the characters even from a distance. The complexity of the older sister and the way she dealt with heartache made me want to read an entire novel just about her. Because the book is overall so shallow it ends up being a story with dark tendencies told with a light touch, which isn't a completely terrible thing.





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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointed :(

I really had high hopes for this novel since Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle is one of my all-time favorite books. But I was disappointed with this one. The story was quite elementary—I really feel the target audience may have been young teens, but it was not marketed that way.

If you haven’t read or listened to The Glass Castle yet, that is the book I am happy to recommend—

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Okay story but a little disappointing!

Any additional comments?

I did like this book but I loved Jeanette Walls' other books. This book was her first book of fiction and I felt the story was a little lacking. I can't really say why. It just left me wanting more. I had really high expectations for this book and it left me a little disappointed.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Jeannette Walls Wheelhouse Tale

I think that this would make Jeannette Walls first fictional novel as her first book was a personal memoir and her second book was a fictional true story about her grandmother. Both her previous books were well written page turners despite the shocking neglect and emotional abuse she suffered in the pages of her life. I was very anxious to get this book and eager to start right away.

The Silver Star is set in 1970. Fifteen year old, Liz and twelve years old, Bean plowing through their less than idealistic life, seemingly on their own. Walls characters and situations in this tale are not a leap away from Walls own childhood – abandonment, mental illness, siblings raising siblings, selfish parenting. It’s a coming of age tale set during the Vietnam war in a town at the ebb of racial segregation.

So, it’s surprising that I felt it was lacking. It dunked it’s toes into so many meaty topics but, just the toes, never deeper than the knees, before quickly jumping out and moving to a different topic. Was it rushed or just undeveloped? I just know that this book didn’t pack a wallop, for me that her previous books have. Oh sure, Jeannette Walls is a wonderful writer and once again her vagabond characters make for an interesting adventure. I know I will be reading her for years. Though, I don’t know how many self-centered neglectful mothers I am going to be able to take from her.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

this book is for "young adult" readers

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

voice is very annoying

Would you ever listen to anything by Jeannette Walls again?

no

What didn’t you like about Jeannette Walls’s performance?

this is geared towards maybe a 13 year old demographic

Any additional comments?

very disappointed, enjoyed her first book

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Don't know what everyone's problem is

So unlike most people, I read this book with no expectations, and only read the Glass Castle once I'd finished, and I don't know. I think I liked this better. True it started to drag a bit at some parts, but that didn't overly distract from the interesting plot. I adored this book and will most likely read it again when I'm looking for something comforting and familiar.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting

Read this book since it was our book club choice. Enjoyed it. Not deep.
But the motherhood vs the kids.."..strange and not believable.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining

I had to give this book 5 stars in every category. It was entertaining and will read. I truly enjoyed the story kept me at the edge of my seat the entire time.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Silver Star

Jeannette Walls is a fabulous story teller. I have read and listened to all of her books. In this book, she writes in first person as the character Jean, called Bean and puts you right there with her in the story. You can almost feel the wind in her hair, the sun on her face and smell of the hay.

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