Eleven-year-old Clara is struggling to find the truth about her missing father and grandfather and her dead twin sister, but her mother refuses to talk. When Clara begins interviewing Georg Kominsky--her elderly neighbor--she finds that he is equally reticent about his own concealed history. Precocious and imaginative, Clara invents versions of Mr. Kominsky’s past, just as she invents lives for the people missing from her own shadowy history. Her journey of discovery is at the heart of this beautiful story about unlikely friendship and communion, about discovering what matters most in life, and about the search to find the missing pieces of ourselves.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Strange book
I am not sure how to rate this book. It was very bizzare. I did like the references to the Utica area. This made it a little more interesting for me. This book comes from a perspective of a young teenage girl and at times is a little hard to follow. Although it was weird, it was a good read.
Rating: - Beautifully written--provoked me to both laughter and tears
This book captivated me almost immediately and I devoured it in one sitting. I found the author's development of Clara's quirky personality to be realistic and amusing, as she reminded me greatly of myself at that age--a voracious reader, imaginative storyteller, perceptive thinker, and lover-of-language.
I loved how Clara's imagination ran away with her to the point of her being unable to recall what was truth and what she had fabricated or embellished. While my childhood imaginations ... Read More
Rating: - One of my favorite books this year
SHADOW BABY by Alison McGhee
December 31, 2007
Rating **** (4 Stars)
A wonderful story from the viewpoint of an eleven-year-old girl, SHADOW BABY tells the tale of a friendship between Clara winter (small W intentional) and the elderly Georg Kominsky (without an "E"). The two become friends after Clara chooses to use him as her subject in an essay she has to write for school. But after the assignment is over, she continues to see him, with regular meetings starting with ... Read More
Rating: - Disappointing
I am stubborn, and read on, always hoping a book will get better. Often, they do. This one just plodded on.
I like quirky books, quirky characters...I did not like this book.
The characters, especially the main character, was just annoying.
This was the first and most likely last time I will purchase a Today show book club book. I will take is as a warning to keep away!
Rating: - move over Holden Caulfield!
Written in the voice of 11 year old Clara winter (with a small "w"), this is the story of one girl's struggle to uncover the secrets of her family. Who is her father? Where is her grandfather? Did she really have a sister? If so, what happened to her? Clara's mother refuses to discuss anything that really matters to Clara, so the young girl is forced to look elsewhere, and in so doing befriends an old man who has some secrets of his own. No spoilers here. McGhee's a master story-teller, and the secrets ... Read More
- Beautifully written--provoked me to both laughter and tears
- Disappointing
