Hello Bookworms!,
Today I have a new review for you. Today’s
book is part contemporary fiction, part historical fiction. Take a look at
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline.
Summary
2011
Molly is a foster child. The home she is in
now is at least a little more stable that the last several. Except for the fact
that her foster mother is a total jerk. She refuses to accept that Molly is
vegetarian, or that she is gothic, or really anything else about her. Ralph,
Molly’s foster father, tries to keep the peace but that really only amounts to
him shrugging, grimacing, and saying totally useless phrases that usually make
the situation worse rather than better. Molly has been passed around enough that
she is resentful and angry and she couldn’t care less is Dina, her father
mother, likes her.
1929
Niamh (pronounced Neev) is an orphan. Her
parents died tragically after having been in America only a short time from
County Galway, Ireland. The only thing Niamh has left to remind her of home is
the Claddagh cross necklace her grandmother gave her before they left. Niamh
has been sent to the Children’s Aid Society of New York and now she will be put
aboard what has been called the “orphan train”. The idea is to send Niamh to a
town where there are people waiting to take in orphans. The problem is, what
kind of people are they? Niamh’s new found friend Dutchy says that they just
want a kid to basically be a servant or slave. Niamh tries to hold hope that the
family that takes her will be nicer than that.
Review
I became interested in this book shortly
after having learned about orphan trains and their intentions in a class at
University. Before that, I really had not heard of orphan trains so I was excited
to see a fiction author’s take on this little heard of piece of American
history.
Molly:
Okay… I wanted to like Molly. I really did.
But I feel like her story has been done to death: The foster child who has been
passed from one horrible home to another until she is bitter and angry and
takes it out on everyone. I am sad to say that Molly’s story is not uncommon in
the real world, but its also not the only story. Where are the stories where
the conflict is not with horrible foster parents but with something else in
their lives and the foster parents are like their real parents and they can
turn to them?
However, I held out hope that sooner or later
her story would change. That Molly would grow. It took quite a while for Molly
to make any changes and those were minimal. I found myself sorry to have to
come back to the contemporary sections of the book.
Niamh:
I got really interested in Niamh’s story
and I think maybe a whole book about Niamh would have been a really good story.
A whole story just about Niamh’s travels to New York, onto the orphan train,
and to various parts of the country on her journey to find stability would have
been wonderful.
The story in General:
As I said, the historical fiction parts of
the book were good. I enjoyed it and was really happy that most of the book was
made up of the historical fiction. I felt that a huge opportunity was wasted
though. I wanted to hear about what it was to be brought in as an orphan, of
waiting, and then of being put onto the train. I wanted to hear more about the
process.
The ending bothered me a bit. It was sort
of a last minute transformation that wasn’t complete. Not to mention that
several things that were put forth as a solution were actually illegal. And I
don’t mean little crimes that can be overlooked for the greater good. I’m
talking about serious, federal fraud in the foster system.
Finally, a note to parents and school personnel.
I want to offer up a brief warning about some of the content of the book. To
me, I could easily have seen a parent buying this book for their child or a
school buying a copy for their library because it looks like a book young
people would want to read and it seems like it will be filled with historical
facts about this period of American history. The thing is, there is a scene
where there is graphic detail about Molly and her boyfriend making out and a
bit more (which I found unnecessary to the conversation and the overall plot of
the book. Molly’s character had already been established as was Jack’s so I
didn’t see where it furthered the story). There are also graphic details about
an attempted rape of a 10 year old girl. I understand why the author wanted to
tell that part of the story, but I think the details were too graphic for a
young audience. So please adults, be careful.
While there were good aspects of Orphan
Train, I do not recommend the book.
Until Next Time,
Lizzie <3
