The Silver Star

A Novel

By: Jeannette Walls

Narrated by: Jeannette Walls

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

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 But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn.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

Interesting Story

From reading Walls' other books, you can see some of her past experiences influencing this story.
I enjoyed the novel quite a bit.

could have been better

didn't love the narration
I think it could have been done better, that being said it got me through my road trip!

Amazing

Jeanette Walls is one of my all time favorite authors. I loved The Glass Castle and she did not disappoint with this. It had me.on the edge of me seat. Great book

Just Fantastic

If you're looking for an "easy read" that is heartwarming and entertaining, then you'll enjoy this one. The story is funny and sweet and sad and seems to be almost made for audio because of how descriptive it is. It was a joy.

Great story

I loved the story. The main character was very endearing. Having grown up in that period of time I was able to relate with the characters. However, I disliked the reader.

Don’t mess with the little guy, girl, etc

The author has spun a tail we can all relate to on some level, everyone has encountered a bully at some point in life. It’s nice to see that even those with seemingly little power, can make a positive change in a community.

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.

Enjoyed story but disliked narration

Love Jeannette 's writings, but will never listen to her narrate again. There's something about her voice and inflection that was wrong. Too bad, but I will "read" her next book.

Good Almost All the Way Through

That ending. Must have had a deadline? The story just stops. Doesn't hold a candle.to.her last books. Disappointing.

Another good read from Jeannette

Great book. The only thing I didn't like was the southern accent on girls who grew up in CA.