Riding Out the Storm -- Sis Deans
From Riding Out the Storm:
...it's all about money—havin' it, makin' it, losing it. If it weren't for That Thievin' Insurance Company, as Ma likes to call it, my parents wouldn't have lost our house on Douglas Street, wouldn't have gone broke paying Derek's doctor bills, wouldn't have had to make him a Ward of the State justa get him help.
And, as Zach goes on to explain, if it weren't for That Thievin' Insurance Company, he and his grandfather wouldn't be taking a Greyhound bus from Maine to New Jersey, headed straight into a snowstorm. He wouldn't be missing his eighth-grade basketball tournament, and he certainly wouldn't have gone the last seven months without seeing his older brother.
Then again, if he'd never had to get on the bus, he'd never have met the girl with the purple hair, either. In terms of plot, it's very simple: Riding Out the Storm is about a boy, the girl he meets, and the friendship—and yes, romance—that develops between them as their bus rolls along.
Even though the majority of the book takes place outside of Maine, it begins there (here!), and there are some great details that prove Sis Deans has Maine Cred. (Like the brief list of local tv channels—the specific numbers, not the call signs—and Derek's love for Amato's. People are freaking passionate about that chain here.) The details about the feel of the bus, the interactions between passengers as the ride progresses, and especially the descriptions of other passengers prove that she's got Greyhound Cred as well.
Emotionally, Zach's voice rings true: his insides are much more confused and torn-up than his outer demeanor conveys, which creates a nice counterpoint to Purplehead's more overt displays of opinion and emotion. His voice isn't entirely consistent, though. He's usually quite informal, with comfortably incorrect grammar and lots of 'musta's and 'ain't's and 'yuh's:
For Gramp, that's a big compliment, and he don't give it out often. (59)
But he occasionally lapses into slightly more formal usage:
My basketball team calls him Our Fan, for he's always there, most of the time even before we are. (60)
Didn't bother them, though, for Ma always threw in some new thing no one had heart before about her and Dad's summers at the lake. (118)
Now, granted, the word 'for' used like that always makes me feel stabby, so those quotes were bound to jump out at me—but in comparison to most of Zach's other narration, moments like that felt off.
It's a mostly quiet read, character-driven rather than plot-driven, so probably not the best pick for someone looking for fast-paced, ultra-swoony and/or action-packed. But for someone looking for Short and Literary, it'd be a good bet.
____________________________________________
Author page.
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
Book source: ILLed through my library.
____________________________________________
Read for the 7th Annual 48-Hour Book Challenge.