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 But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn.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

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.

Same ensemble of characters in fictional form

This novel wanders around to find its ground.. the characters are fictional but familiar indeed.. Walls wondered allowed if she could find a story that wasn’t based on her real family … so she just extended her family , tweaked the characters a little and gave them Emus.

I didn’t mind the story the girls were blessed with courage and the love of family that were there for them when the parents were absent .
I almost always prefer the author to read their own material… and I didn’t mind Janet Walks reading.. but if you hear a performance of an actor who puts on a performance .. like Meryl Streep.. I can listen to her many times over..

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.

A novel with a Non-Fiction feel

This book had me from the start. It has a very “real” feel to it as though this is a true account. You can picture the landscapes/scenery , clothing, and everything in between. Jeannette Walls does a fantastic job at description without over doing it. The book is heart warming,heart breaking, and sweet. It’s overall engaging.