Amaryllis

December 15, 2003
Set in the '60s, Crist-Evans's (Moon Over Tennessee: A Boy's Civil War Journal
) painful tale uses metaphors, flashbacks and two forms of narration to describe an American family embattled at home and later caught up in the war in Vietnam. An impressionistic rather than chronological structure signals to readers early on that this book is largely about the emotional impact of experiences that are not easily or immediately understood; however, a literary-minded audience will likely respond to the author's use of imagery. Jimmy, the main character, misses his older brother, Frank, who has shocked everyone by enlisting in the army just after graduating high school—and just after winning their alcoholic, often abusive father's approval for the first time (Frank had risked his own life to rescue a surfer from a shark near the site of the shipwrecked Amaryllis;
downed in a hurricane, the Amaryllis
looms with varying symbolic values throughout). Meanwhile Frank writes lengthy letters to Jimmy, contrasting the lushness of the tropical jungles with the incomprehensible horrors of war, and alarming Jimmy with descriptions of his growing addiction to heroin. And then the letters stop altogether. Jimmy, like Frank before him, cannot talk to either of his parents, particularly not his father, but the silence from Vietnam finally ignites the family tensions. Teens may relate most readily to the father/son conflicts, but the passages about Vietnam may be what they remember longest. Ages 14-up.

April 1, 2005
Gr 9 Up -In Craig Crist-Evans' historical fiction story (Candlewick, 2003), it's the middle of the 1960's and 15-year-old Jimmy is at home in Florida with his alcoholic father and his ineffectual mother while his 18-year-old brother, Frank, is stationed in Vietnam. The "Amaryllis" is a grounded ship off Singer Island that created perfect waves when the brothers surfed together. However, its symbolism is not well developed in the story. The prologue nicely sets up the relationships among these characters before the main story unfolds in a few flashbacks, Jimmy's commentary, and Frank's letters to Jimmy. No one is happy in this tale, but each character maintains some dignity in his unhappiness, keeping listeners interested and concerned even though the plot's climax is inevitable. Daniel Passer's narration sounds much like Jimmy's thoughts, which suits the story; even when Jimmy finds a girlfriend, he seems to be more interested in thinking about and talking to her than in developing a relationship that realizes something beyond him. Frank's letters are brutally honest as he tells Jimmy about his primal fears and retreats into heroin. As the story progresses and Jimmy matures, he comes to see beyond his fathers alcoholism and abusive nature. In its simplicity, this is an accurate portrait of an age and a condition. -"Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA"

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