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Tillerman Cycle #7
Seventeen Against the Dealer
Do you have to lose everything to see what truly matters? Find out in the seventh and final installment of Cynthia Voigt’s Tillerman cycle.Dicey Tillerman has big dreams. She’s started a boatbuilding business, and she’s determined to prove she can succeed on her own. That’s why she resists the offer of help from Cisco, the mysterious stranger who turns up one day at her shop.But running a business doesn’t leave much time for the people Dicey treasures—her grandmother, her younger siblings, and her boyfriend, Jeff. Then it turns out that Dicey has placed her trust with the wrong person. Suddenly she stands to lose everything....Has Dicey discovered too late what really matters to her?Cynthia Voigt deftly navigates nuances of identity and resilience in this triumphant conclusion to her acclaimed Tillerman cycle.
242 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1989
41 people are currently reading
1446 people want to read
About the author
Cynthia Voigt
86 books1,023 followersCynthia Voigt is an American author of books for young adults dealing with various topics such as adventure, mystery, racism and child abuse.
Awards:
Angus and Sadie: the Sequoyah Book Award (given by readers in Oklahoma), 2008
The Katahdin Award, for lifetime achievement, 2003
The Anne V. Zarrow Award, for lifetime achievement, 2003
The Margaret Edwards Award, for a body of work, 1995
Jackaroo: Rattenfanger-Literatur Preis (ratcatcher prize, awarded by the town of Hamlin in Germany), 1990
Izzy, Willy-Nilly: the Young Reader Award (California), 1990
The Runner: Deutscher Jungenliteraturpreis (German young people's literature prize), 1988
Zilverengriffel (Silver Pen, a Dutch prize), 1988
Come a Stranger: the Judy Lopez Medal (given by readers in California), 1987
A Solitary Blue: a Newbery Honor Book, 1984
The Callender Papers: The Edgar (given by the Mystery Writers of America), 1984
Dicey's Song: the Newbery Medal, 1983
Awards:
Angus and Sadie: the Sequoyah Book Award (given by readers in Oklahoma), 2008
The Katahdin Award, for lifetime achievement, 2003
The Anne V. Zarrow Award, for lifetime achievement, 2003
The Margaret Edwards Award, for a body of work, 1995
Jackaroo: Rattenfanger-Literatur Preis (ratcatcher prize, awarded by the town of Hamlin in Germany), 1990
Izzy, Willy-Nilly: the Young Reader Award (California), 1990
The Runner: Deutscher Jungenliteraturpreis (German young people's literature prize), 1988
Zilverengriffel (Silver Pen, a Dutch prize), 1988
Come a Stranger: the Judy Lopez Medal (given by readers in California), 1987
A Solitary Blue: a Newbery Honor Book, 1984
The Callender Papers: The Edgar (given by the Mystery Writers of America), 1984
Dicey's Song: the Newbery Medal, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
July 11, 2009
I'm pretty sure my mom handed me a copy of Dicey's Song during one of our summer reading list deals. Surely you're familiar with the concept. I read so many of the books on the list and she, in turn, gave me some sort of reward. You see this was back in the pre-Chronicles of Narnia phase in my life. The early days when I would rather be rolling down hills or jumping on beds than reading during the summer. Frankly, it's hard for me to look back now and remember such a time even existed. I'm pretty sure it was a list from the local library and that most of the books on it were award winners of some sort. As Dicey's Song was the Newbery winner for 1983, it was definitely on the list. Looking back I'm actually glad I didn't pick it up that summer. Instead I held out long enough to have fallen in love with reading a year or two later as well as discover that it was actually the second book in a series of seven. The Tillerman Cycle follows the four Tillerman kids on their journey in search of home. The entire series is spectacular and covers quite a span of years, at times following close family friends and, in one instance, a relative before returning to the original four in the concluding volume--SEVENTEEN AGAINST THE DEALER. This final book hasn't gotten the attention it deserves, IMO. I'm still unable to pick my favorite of the series. Dicey's Song is an absolute classic and A Solitary Blue is breathtaking (and won the Newbery Honor a year later). But SEVENTEEN AGAINST THE DEALER grips my heart every time I re-read it and is an all too rare example of an author managing to end a long-ish series flawlessly.
Dicey is now 21 years old. Having raised her three siblings in almost every sense of the word, she is now ready for that independence she's been longing for for so long. James is dealing with colleges and scholarships. Maybeth is taking care of Gram and keeping the house together. Sammy is playing enough tennis for four teenage boys. And Jeff is away at school. The perfect time for Dicey to stretch her wings and open that boat business she's always wanted to. After sinking every penny she ever earned into setting up shop and accumulating the necessary tools, Dicey spends all day every day working to pay her rent, with precious few moments leftover to craft that perfect boat she has in her head. In fact, Dicey spends the majority of her time in her own head now. She's always been introverted but she takes it to a new level here, unable to really bring anything else into focus. In the meantime, several important things go by the wayside. Her siblings need her but fear to intrude. Jeff tries to maintain their relationship, give her space at the same time, and not lose himself in the force of Dicey's indomitable will. After her shop is broken into, Dicey reluctantly admits she needs help and takes in a drifter by the name of Cisco Kidd who may be just what he says he is. Or he may turn out to be much, much more than that.
Voigt's writing wraps itself around me just the way music wraps around Dicey. I never want to leave. By book seven, I love this family and these characters so much they feel as though they're mine. There's just something about the Tillermans that's impossible not to admire. And Dicey herself has long been one of my most beloved characters in all of literature. When I was 12 I wanted to be her so much it hurt. Truth be told, I still want to be her. She tackles her problems with nothing but her own two hands and an inability to fail. She is the definition of tenacity. To a fault sometimes. But she knows what's important and she takes care of her own. That's why it's so beautiful to find this last story was hers alone. And to find that after everything she's been through, she's so far from perfect. She still has things to learn about life and loved ones and not taking any of it for granted. This story is so real in its depiction of the painful entrance to adulthood, the monotonous grind of daily labor, and the process of learning how to love someone the way they need to (and ought to) be loved. It takes my breath away every time. SEVENTEEN AGAINST THE DEALER stands on its own, but don't cheat yourself and start with the last. Read all seven books for the full experience. If you're short on time you could probably get by with just the three (Dicey's Song, A Solitary Blue, and this one). But only if you're short...
Dicey is now 21 years old. Having raised her three siblings in almost every sense of the word, she is now ready for that independence she's been longing for for so long. James is dealing with colleges and scholarships. Maybeth is taking care of Gram and keeping the house together. Sammy is playing enough tennis for four teenage boys. And Jeff is away at school. The perfect time for Dicey to stretch her wings and open that boat business she's always wanted to. After sinking every penny she ever earned into setting up shop and accumulating the necessary tools, Dicey spends all day every day working to pay her rent, with precious few moments leftover to craft that perfect boat she has in her head. In fact, Dicey spends the majority of her time in her own head now. She's always been introverted but she takes it to a new level here, unable to really bring anything else into focus. In the meantime, several important things go by the wayside. Her siblings need her but fear to intrude. Jeff tries to maintain their relationship, give her space at the same time, and not lose himself in the force of Dicey's indomitable will. After her shop is broken into, Dicey reluctantly admits she needs help and takes in a drifter by the name of Cisco Kidd who may be just what he says he is. Or he may turn out to be much, much more than that.
Voigt's writing wraps itself around me just the way music wraps around Dicey. I never want to leave. By book seven, I love this family and these characters so much they feel as though they're mine. There's just something about the Tillermans that's impossible not to admire. And Dicey herself has long been one of my most beloved characters in all of literature. When I was 12 I wanted to be her so much it hurt. Truth be told, I still want to be her. She tackles her problems with nothing but her own two hands and an inability to fail. She is the definition of tenacity. To a fault sometimes. But she knows what's important and she takes care of her own. That's why it's so beautiful to find this last story was hers alone. And to find that after everything she's been through, she's so far from perfect. She still has things to learn about life and loved ones and not taking any of it for granted. This story is so real in its depiction of the painful entrance to adulthood, the monotonous grind of daily labor, and the process of learning how to love someone the way they need to (and ought to) be loved. It takes my breath away every time. SEVENTEEN AGAINST THE DEALER stands on its own, but don't cheat yourself and start with the last. Read all seven books for the full experience. If you're short on time you could probably get by with just the three (Dicey's Song, A Solitary Blue, and this one). But only if you're short...
February 25, 2017
Another solid 4.5. Although I think I would give the overall series 5 stars. I can't decide which of the books I like the best. I love them all as they each give glimpses into the life of the Tillermans. I know these are books I read as a child, but reading as an adult, I love them even more. I think these books shaped bits of the person I became. I feel such a love for this family and they have become real to me. These books show an individual family overcoming adverse circumstances thrust on them by life. The family learns to work together to get through and as individuals to be who they were created to be. I was so sad to finish this one as I'll miss my 'book friends' dearly.
The ending of this one was just okay to me. It was fine as an individual book, but I didn't love it as the finale to the series. I wished it ended with the immediate Tillerman group together instead of James at school. I was glad there was the New Years Day scene earlier in the book that brought many familiar faces into play. I guess I just wanted more- more Mina, more Maybeth, hearing more of what happens to everyone. But a book is just a snapshot in the lives of the characters and not as exhaustive as I would like. I did want to know what Maybeth's future was, that seemed the most cloudy to me.
Even though I love Dicey I was frustrated by her much of this book. I was thankful she seemed to learn from her mistakes. I felt so bad for Jeff especially with all the wounds he already had from his negligent mom. I kept thinking how Dicey was reinforcing all those core identity issues he already struggled with!
My biggest thought was that Cisco had to be their dad! From the moment I met him I couldn't get that theory out of my mind, I felt like it kept being confirmed. I awaited the big reveal that never came! I started searching the internet and didn't find many other supporters of my hypothesis until I started looking at goodreads reviews. Whew. I was thankful I wasn't alone.
More for my own peace of mind than anything else, I'm listing my reasons.
-his 'character' completely fits- bragging, proud, sexist, intelligent, a 'likable jerk', a gambler, knowledge of boats and sea life, similar past with jobs and travel
-he visited Bullet in "The Runner" in a similar way.
-his name! CISco and FranCIS. Dicey knew Cisco wasn't his real name
- he was the right age, build, sparkling eyes as others described Francis.
-he was interested in what Dicey had to say, wanted to know how many siblings she had and what they were doing, was impressed James was at Yale, was sad when he heard Momma died, asked about Gram.
-he reminded me of James how he spouted facts and reminded me of Sammy how he was tough and stubborn.
-he asked Dicey where she got her name like he already knew the answer, and Dicey even almost tells her from her father who left them!
-he never interacts with Gram or the brothers who would've realized who he was.
He just HAS to be their dad. And how sad that he mistreated Dicey once again. He really is the adversary of the whole series. But Dicey uses what happens to reconcile with Jeff. The family once again pulls together. Unfortunately Francis/Cisco misses out on getting to know his amazing children. I wish there were more books in the Tillerman Cycle, sad to say goodbye.
Update: let me share that I managed to email Ms. Voigt. She wrote me back a kind response, not confirming my theory as fact, but solidifying in my mind that I was correct! She's the best! I was in awe!
The ending of this one was just okay to me. It was fine as an individual book, but I didn't love it as the finale to the series. I wished it ended with the immediate Tillerman group together instead of James at school. I was glad there was the New Years Day scene earlier in the book that brought many familiar faces into play. I guess I just wanted more- more Mina, more Maybeth, hearing more of what happens to everyone. But a book is just a snapshot in the lives of the characters and not as exhaustive as I would like. I did want to know what Maybeth's future was, that seemed the most cloudy to me.
Even though I love Dicey I was frustrated by her much of this book. I was thankful she seemed to learn from her mistakes. I felt so bad for Jeff especially with all the wounds he already had from his negligent mom. I kept thinking how Dicey was reinforcing all those core identity issues he already struggled with!
My biggest thought was that Cisco had to be their dad! From the moment I met him I couldn't get that theory out of my mind, I felt like it kept being confirmed. I awaited the big reveal that never came! I started searching the internet and didn't find many other supporters of my hypothesis until I started looking at goodreads reviews. Whew. I was thankful I wasn't alone.
More for my own peace of mind than anything else, I'm listing my reasons.
-his 'character' completely fits- bragging, proud, sexist, intelligent, a 'likable jerk', a gambler, knowledge of boats and sea life, similar past with jobs and travel
-he visited Bullet in "The Runner" in a similar way.
-his name! CISco and FranCIS. Dicey knew Cisco wasn't his real name
- he was the right age, build, sparkling eyes as others described Francis.
-he was interested in what Dicey had to say, wanted to know how many siblings she had and what they were doing, was impressed James was at Yale, was sad when he heard Momma died, asked about Gram.
-he reminded me of James how he spouted facts and reminded me of Sammy how he was tough and stubborn.
-he asked Dicey where she got her name like he already knew the answer, and Dicey even almost tells her from her father who left them!
-he never interacts with Gram or the brothers who would've realized who he was.
He just HAS to be their dad. And how sad that he mistreated Dicey once again. He really is the adversary of the whole series. But Dicey uses what happens to reconcile with Jeff. The family once again pulls together. Unfortunately Francis/Cisco misses out on getting to know his amazing children. I wish there were more books in the Tillerman Cycle, sad to say goodbye.
Update: let me share that I managed to email Ms. Voigt. She wrote me back a kind response, not confirming my theory as fact, but solidifying in my mind that I was correct! She's the best! I was in awe!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 20, 2018
In some ways this book was frustrating because Dicey kept making so many mistakes and getting such tough breaks, but at the same time, these books have been realistic all the way through and this one was no exception. I wanted more time with some of the characters, specifically Maybeth and Mina, but overall, I was glad the focus was on Dicey and I felt like there was enough information about the various characters to make the ending satisfying. I really enjoyed this series. The first book took me a while to read, but by the last few, I was reading them in about a week each.
June 5, 2010
I wish I could read about every year of Dicey Tillerman's life. The first two books in the Tillerman cycle, Homecoming and Dicey's Song, are both moving, timeless books about Dicey, an extremely difficult, yet amazingly strong and resilient young woman. The next several books in the cycle focus on secondary character's, and although I enjoyed most of these, especially Jeff's story, A Solitary Blue, I read them mostly to keep tabs on Dicey, even if it was only through the eyes of her friend's and family. I was very excited to reach the last book of the cycle, Seventeen Against the Dealer, because like the first two books, it is told through Dicey's eyes. While it was nowhere near as strongly plotted as the first two books, it still was very satisfying to get another glimpse into the life and the mind of this singular character. If you haven't read this series, I highly recommend it!
October 16, 2022
As in The Runner, Seventeen against the Dealer has a more distinctly young adult feel to it than the other books in The Tillerman Cycle.
Cynthia Voigt catches new angles with each of these seven compelling books, and in this one she shows how the independent Dicey, wanting to create her own niche in the world and be a success in her own way, is actually more innocent then she thinks herself, and if she ventures out into the adult world there will be people who will be willing to take advantage of her, people who will form their own opinions about her and try to cut her down.
I nearly gave this four stars, because the insight into Dicey's relationship with Jeff is stunningly real and heartbreaking. I almost found myself in tears at several points while reading this book. In fact, what makes this book as good as it is would be the heartfelt story of Dicey and Jeff.
As always, the story builds very well and the tone of the entire narrative is resonant and memorable. I might have liked the other books better (though I think that I would place this ahead of Sons From Afar), but I loved to once again read about the Tillermans, and I know that when the name "Cynthia Voigt" is printed on the cover, I am in for an excellent story.
Ultimately, this might be the best series of books I have ever read. In fact, I am certain it is.
Cynthia Voigt catches new angles with each of these seven compelling books, and in this one she shows how the independent Dicey, wanting to create her own niche in the world and be a success in her own way, is actually more innocent then she thinks herself, and if she ventures out into the adult world there will be people who will be willing to take advantage of her, people who will form their own opinions about her and try to cut her down.
I nearly gave this four stars, because the insight into Dicey's relationship with Jeff is stunningly real and heartbreaking. I almost found myself in tears at several points while reading this book. In fact, what makes this book as good as it is would be the heartfelt story of Dicey and Jeff.
As always, the story builds very well and the tone of the entire narrative is resonant and memorable. I might have liked the other books better (though I think that I would place this ahead of Sons From Afar), but I loved to once again read about the Tillermans, and I know that when the name "Cynthia Voigt" is printed on the cover, I am in for an excellent story.
Ultimately, this might be the best series of books I have ever read. In fact, I am certain it is.
March 24, 2023
What a sweet and poignant end to a beautiful coming-of-age story for Dicey and the entire Tillerman family! My only complaint is that I wish Voigt had written more because I would love to see more of the Tillermans.
In this volume, we are back to where it all began with Dicey. At this point, Dicey has dropped out of college to realize her dream of being a boatmaker. She has a small shop, and a vague plan, and the strongest will of anyone, but will that be enough for her to succeed? Unfortunately, Dicey has to realize that dogged determination and a strong work ethic are not the only things she needs to achieve her goals; relying solely on herself and refusing the help of her boyfriend Jeff and loving family paint her into a corner of loneliness and regret. But this is where Voigt is best, putting young characters in challenging situations so they can reckon with the world and come out better on the other side.
Also, Gram had a poignant moment that will stick with me for a while...and also get jotted down in my therapy notebook.
"When I think about geology, it feels like time is so long - which makes my own time so short - I don't intend to waste a minute of it. The hard thing is knowing what constitutes waste."
Gram really gets it. That one sentence sums up about 85% of my mental chatter about doing what I "should" be doing or my preoccupation with always doing the "right thing." But who says what's right and wrong?
Voigt did a great job with this series and I would recommend it to anyone really who wants to time travel back to a time with fewer electronics and screens and reflect on the complexities of growing up.
In this volume, we are back to where it all began with Dicey. At this point, Dicey has dropped out of college to realize her dream of being a boatmaker. She has a small shop, and a vague plan, and the strongest will of anyone, but will that be enough for her to succeed? Unfortunately, Dicey has to realize that dogged determination and a strong work ethic are not the only things she needs to achieve her goals; relying solely on herself and refusing the help of her boyfriend Jeff and loving family paint her into a corner of loneliness and regret. But this is where Voigt is best, putting young characters in challenging situations so they can reckon with the world and come out better on the other side.
Also, Gram had a poignant moment that will stick with me for a while...and also get jotted down in my therapy notebook.
"When I think about geology, it feels like time is so long - which makes my own time so short - I don't intend to waste a minute of it. The hard thing is knowing what constitutes waste."
Gram really gets it. That one sentence sums up about 85% of my mental chatter about doing what I "should" be doing or my preoccupation with always doing the "right thing." But who says what's right and wrong?
Voigt did a great job with this series and I would recommend it to anyone really who wants to time travel back to a time with fewer electronics and screens and reflect on the complexities of growing up.
December 27, 2019
This book should only get one star but I'll stick with my original two star rating due to my first reading back in the mid-1990s, feeling my money would've been better spent on something else like, say, a pile of larch wood. Disappointed at such a lackluster conclusion to a favorite series, I placed this paperback copy on my bookshelf-never touching it again.
Until now, over twenty years later, in 2019.
Having just finished my own personal summaries of "Homecoming," "Dicey's Song," and "Come a Stranger"which are my three favorite books in the Tillerman series, the ones I enjoy coming back to revisit over and over, I decided to give this one another shot for I'd forgotten almost the entire story.
And "Seventeen Against the Dealer" has not aged well.
Twenty-one-year-old Dicey has dropped out of college to pursue her own boat building business but this dream keeps getting waylaid by other projects and lots of bad luck. First, her shop is broken into, then a mysterious stranger comes along offering to help. Gram gets sick and the family is worried about her. Dicey can feel the rest of her family and even Jeff Greene (her Edward Cullen boyfriend-rich, college educated, beautiful, quiet, brooding and fiercely loyal to tomboy Dicey for reasons nobody can understand) all slipping away from her. Jeff wants to get married but Dicey is much too busy planning her future career to care about settling down and having a family. And when it comes to her business sense, Dicey's a doormat, letting everyone take advantage of her. What happened to you Dicey? Where is the strong, determined, thirteen year old girl who stuck to her values, never taking any bull from anyone?
Not until Dicey can finally pull her head out of her butt and realize doing things her own way isn't working do we get some kind of satisfactory conclusion to this very depressing story. If Dicey had had her own smartphone, a lot of these weak plot complications and conflicts would never have happened. She and Jeff could've texted each other and she could've Googled the homeless guy's name and maybe found out more about his shady background.
Instead, Dicey purchases a portable cassette player and makes a few phone calls on a rotary landline.
Sure it was nice to see younger siblings: Sammy, Maybeth and James again, even Dicey's best friend Mina (From "Come a Stranger") makes a few appearances in the dated story but the F-bomb is dropped on page 134, (I'd forgotten about that) by the homeless man who ends up taking advantage of Dicey (like we didn't see THAT coming) and while there is no kissing or sex or any other swearing or violence the overall tone of the book is more for older readers than younger tween children.
Is it any wonder this book did not win any awards. Read it only AFTER you've read some of this author's other, better written books in the series. Cynthia Voigt has a great talent of drawing a reader completely into her world building, the Tillerman family and their friends are the kind of believable literary characters you wish you could meet IRL and hang out with on holidays.
Just not here.
I'm gonna go reread and summarize her "Kingdom" books next.
Until now, over twenty years later, in 2019.
Having just finished my own personal summaries of "Homecoming," "Dicey's Song," and "Come a Stranger"which are my three favorite books in the Tillerman series, the ones I enjoy coming back to revisit over and over, I decided to give this one another shot for I'd forgotten almost the entire story.
And "Seventeen Against the Dealer" has not aged well.
Twenty-one-year-old Dicey has dropped out of college to pursue her own boat building business but this dream keeps getting waylaid by other projects and lots of bad luck. First, her shop is broken into, then a mysterious stranger comes along offering to help. Gram gets sick and the family is worried about her. Dicey can feel the rest of her family and even Jeff Greene (her Edward Cullen boyfriend-rich, college educated, beautiful, quiet, brooding and fiercely loyal to tomboy Dicey for reasons nobody can understand) all slipping away from her. Jeff wants to get married but Dicey is much too busy planning her future career to care about settling down and having a family. And when it comes to her business sense, Dicey's a doormat, letting everyone take advantage of her. What happened to you Dicey? Where is the strong, determined, thirteen year old girl who stuck to her values, never taking any bull from anyone?
Not until Dicey can finally pull her head out of her butt and realize doing things her own way isn't working do we get some kind of satisfactory conclusion to this very depressing story. If Dicey had had her own smartphone, a lot of these weak plot complications and conflicts would never have happened. She and Jeff could've texted each other and she could've Googled the homeless guy's name and maybe found out more about his shady background.
Instead, Dicey purchases a portable cassette player and makes a few phone calls on a rotary landline.
Sure it was nice to see younger siblings: Sammy, Maybeth and James again, even Dicey's best friend Mina (From "Come a Stranger") makes a few appearances in the dated story but the F-bomb is dropped on page 134, (I'd forgotten about that) by the homeless man who ends up taking advantage of Dicey (like we didn't see THAT coming) and while there is no kissing or sex or any other swearing or violence the overall tone of the book is more for older readers than younger tween children.
Is it any wonder this book did not win any awards. Read it only AFTER you've read some of this author's other, better written books in the series. Cynthia Voigt has a great talent of drawing a reader completely into her world building, the Tillerman family and their friends are the kind of believable literary characters you wish you could meet IRL and hang out with on holidays.
Just not here.
I'm gonna go reread and summarize her "Kingdom" books next.
June 12, 2011
I was glad to see the focus return to Dicey for this, the final book of the Tillerman family cycle, but I was rather disappointed in the final product. Much like Sons from Afar, this felt like more of a character exploration than an actual book. I spent most of the book dreading the results of each mistake Dicey made, and there wasn't much of a pay-off at the end. Considering this was the final book of a seven book series, I think was hoping for more of a wrap-up to it all.
True, in real life, things don't wrap up neatly most of the time, so I suppose this was rather realistic, but after spending all that time with the Tillermans, I would have liked a more complete ending.
In the end, I thought Dicey's Song and A Solitary Blue were the best books of the bunch, and that it kind of petered off from there. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and was glad to have discovered this series.
True, in real life, things don't wrap up neatly most of the time, so I suppose this was rather realistic, but after spending all that time with the Tillermans, I would have liked a more complete ending.
In the end, I thought Dicey's Song and A Solitary Blue were the best books of the bunch, and that it kind of petered off from there. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and was glad to have discovered this series.
May 17, 2020
Better than the last few books in the series, but still nowhere near as good as the first three books. There was so much space wasted on unnecessary landscape descriptions, and the themes or "lessons" throughout seemed thin and stretched just to make a buck—I mean book out of them. The ending did not at all have the satisfying weight of finishing a seven-book series. What I liked most were the side character dynamics with Sammy, Maybeth, and Gram, though Sammy and Maybeth's subplots were introduced and then in Sammy's case unfinished and in Maybeth's case completely dropped.
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December 12, 2024I got busy and tired and took a long time to finish this one. It really kept me on my toes too. I had a thought about how the story was going to go just based on the title and the book cover, but I was definitely wrong. I was happy with how it all ended up though. I would recommend this whole series.
April 7, 2024
Besides the first two books and a solitary blue, this one was overall my favorite. Giving back story to one of the more important characters who is throughout the whole book series. It tied the series up in a pretty bow along with some laughs that will always stay in my head.
March 10, 2020
I really, really dislike this book. Homecoming and Dicey’s Song are some of my favorite books and I’ve read them both more times than I can count. This book just plain sucks. Dicey is older now and starts her boat building business, and her amazing boyfriend Jeff is away at college. I fell in love with Jeff in A Solitary Blue and for the life of me I can’t comprehend what he sees in Dicey. I adore her as a character, but as a girlfriend? Or a fiancée? She treats Jeff like absolute shit in this book. I think that’s probably what I hated the most about it. That and the stupid, stupid decisions she makes. She hires some drifter to help her with her boat building business. Seriously? The Dicey I knew would’ve had Sammy scraping at her side. There’s long, detailed descriptions of precisely how much money she has and her budget for the boat shop. This is like bad fan fiction. It doesn’t feel like canon to me. I’m a completist so I had to have this book to complete the Tillerman saga on my shelf but I wish I’d saved the $17 and just gotten it from the library or something. I’m pretending this book never happened.
September 5, 2018
At twenty-one, Dicey Tillerman thought she’d learned all she need to learn. She’d always wanted to build boats so she quit college, rented an empty space where she could store her tools, and everything else she needed to build boats but after a break-in and all her tools were stolen, trusting her workmate to deposit a check who instead cashed in the check and ran off with the cash, nearly losing her grandma because she didn’t recognize how sick her grandma was and needed the help of the doctor, she finally came to the realization that she hadn’t learned enough so she stopped renting the space and went about the business of learning with the support of her grandma, her brother Sammy and James, her sister Maybeth and her longtime boyfriend, Jeff.
Every book I’ve read in this series I’ve enjoyed. All of the stories are well-written, well edited and makes you care about all of the characters.
Every book I’ve read in this series I’ve enjoyed. All of the stories are well-written, well edited and makes you care about all of the characters.
December 26, 2009
This is a book in the Tillerman series but it mostly stands on its own. Dicey is an extremely independently minded hard worker. She'd dreamed of building boats her whole childhood, ever since she helped to restore one. She quits collage to work to get seed money for a boat building business. She's so single minded that she starts to lose people in her life one at a time through sheer neglect.
I really admire Dicey's determination and drive and I like that this book shows the flip side of the will to succeed. Drive has a cost and sometimes it's too high to pay.
I really admire Dicey's determination and drive and I like that this book shows the flip side of the will to succeed. Drive has a cost and sometimes it's too high to pay.
December 29, 2013
3.5 stars. In some ways, this was a nice wrap-up to the Tillerman cycle. I was frustrated with some of Dicey's choices, but the warm family interactions that I've come to expect from Voight's storytelling were present through the book. A huge frustration was the appearance of the Cisco character, who I assumed from the beginning was Dicey's father. I still think he must have been, despite the fact that he stole from her and disappeared. I really wanted more from this storyline.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2014
A detailed conclusion to the Tillerman books that is very true to the characters' established personalities. Dicey's conflict with Jeff was so well done, and so plausible for the kind of person she is. There's little growth here for Sammy, Maybeth, or James, but this is Dicey's book - the one where we get to see what she's like as an adult. This is a satisfying series that leaves you wanting more, but not NEEDING more.
November 4, 2019
Dicey was really frustrating in this last book, but I think what we all forget is that after Dicey got her siblings to safety she got to be a good and later a young adult who makes mistakes. She messed up but in the end she was surrounded by her loved ones. I found the ending to be satisfying.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2017
Boring and depressing. A sad ending to a nice series.
September 18, 2025
It’s hard to say goodbye to this vibrant cast of characters. This one wasn’t as polished and strong in the writing as the other books, but it still had its moments.
Maybeth never got her own book as the other characters did, but we see her shine in this book nonetheless, and I really appreciated the insights observing her shared. Maybeth shows that we each have our strengths, though sometimes we or society don’t appreciate them enough because we’re expected to have different strengths. She also shows that just because something doesn’t come easily to you, or you’re not good at it, doesn’t mean you don’t like it or enjoy it or want to do it. She is also an illustration of neuro-diversity before it was called that: part of the problem is that no-one has taken the time to figure out how her brain works and help her learn in a way that works for her! Once Dicey takes five minutes to change the study strategy that to one that works for Maybeth, her test score goes up 20 percentage points. It’s a reminder of how we dismiss people as not trying hard enough, when they may be trying far harder than everyone else, they’re just wired differently.
I think it’s actually a very important observation that everyone deserves a chance to try the activity they want to do, and that it doesn’t matter if they fail or don’t get to do it for very long as long as there is the opportunity to try. (Too often poverty or other limiting factors keep people from having a chance.) It’s also an important reminder to those of us who have failed due to circumstances outside our control that we are not failures for things not working out, because at least we tried.
Lastly, to comment on the plot: Dicey does a lot of growing up through the school of hard knocks in this book. She learns the importance of work-life balance, that a relationship takes nurturing and can’t be taken for granted, that hard work alone doesn’t guarantee success because there are always negative factors outside your control, and that kind and generous people can get taken advantage of (as a therapist told me years ago: there are people who are takers and people who are givers, and you have to figure out whom it is safe for you to give to because they are people who will give back in return instead of just taking, and that may be a very small number of people). I don’t know if she fully internalized the lesson, but she was also shown that no one can go it alone and she needs to ask for help for herself or her grandmother, etc.
I do think the plot was a bit off in that to someone who has read the whole series, the identity of “Cisco Kidd” was super obvious: the Tillerman’s seriously no-good father who abandoned them when Sammy was a baby . The author never explicitly confirmed his identity in the book, but it seemed quite obvious and therefore it was odd that it never crossed Dicey’s mind whom she was talking to for so many days. It also stretched credulity that Dicey had never heard of someone fraudulently cashing a cheque, that she would trust someone she knows lies with her hard-earned and extremely needed money, or that she would let this seeming drifter hang around for so long using her electricity and water bill and wood supply that she paid for. I understand that Dicey chooses to be kind because she had once been homeless with her siblings, and needed the kindness of strangers to survive, but she was a child with other children, who took other’s generosity only in passing and not for more than a week at a time, and this is a very grown man who is clearly able-bodied and capable of working, not to mention he displays he has money to travel, to drink beer and buy pizzas. As a woman in particular dealing with a man I find it hard to believe Dicey would put up with him invading her space for so long, as us women are usually quite rightly instinctively tuned to find that a threatening and uncomfortable situation.
Maybeth never got her own book as the other characters did, but we see her shine in this book nonetheless, and I really appreciated the insights observing her shared. Maybeth shows that we each have our strengths, though sometimes we or society don’t appreciate them enough because we’re expected to have different strengths. She also shows that just because something doesn’t come easily to you, or you’re not good at it, doesn’t mean you don’t like it or enjoy it or want to do it. She is also an illustration of neuro-diversity before it was called that: part of the problem is that no-one has taken the time to figure out how her brain works and help her learn in a way that works for her! Once Dicey takes five minutes to change the study strategy that to one that works for Maybeth, her test score goes up 20 percentage points. It’s a reminder of how we dismiss people as not trying hard enough, when they may be trying far harder than everyone else, they’re just wired differently.
I think it’s actually a very important observation that everyone deserves a chance to try the activity they want to do, and that it doesn’t matter if they fail or don’t get to do it for very long as long as there is the opportunity to try. (Too often poverty or other limiting factors keep people from having a chance.) It’s also an important reminder to those of us who have failed due to circumstances outside our control that we are not failures for things not working out, because at least we tried.
Lastly, to comment on the plot: Dicey does a lot of growing up through the school of hard knocks in this book. She learns the importance of work-life balance, that a relationship takes nurturing and can’t be taken for granted, that hard work alone doesn’t guarantee success because there are always negative factors outside your control, and that kind and generous people can get taken advantage of (as a therapist told me years ago: there are people who are takers and people who are givers, and you have to figure out whom it is safe for you to give to because they are people who will give back in return instead of just taking, and that may be a very small number of people). I don’t know if she fully internalized the lesson, but she was also shown that no one can go it alone and she needs to ask for help for herself or her grandmother, etc.
I do think the plot was a bit off in that to someone who has read the whole series, the identity of “Cisco Kidd” was super obvious: the Tillerman’s seriously no-good father who abandoned them when Sammy was a baby . The author never explicitly confirmed his identity in the book, but it seemed quite obvious and therefore it was odd that it never crossed Dicey’s mind whom she was talking to for so many days. It also stretched credulity that Dicey had never heard of someone fraudulently cashing a cheque, that she would trust someone she knows lies with her hard-earned and extremely needed money, or that she would let this seeming drifter hang around for so long using her electricity and water bill and wood supply that she paid for. I understand that Dicey chooses to be kind because she had once been homeless with her siblings, and needed the kindness of strangers to survive, but she was a child with other children, who took other’s generosity only in passing and not for more than a week at a time, and this is a very grown man who is clearly able-bodied and capable of working, not to mention he displays he has money to travel, to drink beer and buy pizzas. As a woman in particular dealing with a man I find it hard to believe Dicey would put up with him invading her space for so long, as us women are usually quite rightly instinctively tuned to find that a threatening and uncomfortable situation.
June 28, 2025
Of all the books of the series, this is the only one I just didn’t like. Everyone in it was behaving stupidly for the most part. And then we have the character Cisco who I swore was the kids’ father and that would’ve been the obvious plot (how stupid to let a strange man in and then let him work for you what moron doesn’t question that? And then the obvious last straw, giving him a check that he is able to actually cash when you know he’s a gambler )but that never came about. The man was Inhabit and in character exactly like their father. In addition, Dicey (we never are told in any of this books what her name means and that’s the final frustration) makes ridiculous ridiculously stupid after ridiculously stupid decision. She’s a kid basically, stubborn and ignorant. Yeah I guess we find out she’s 21 at the end but I don’t know that I respect a single dumb thing she’s done. No insurance on a business someone breaks in and steals all her tools and we never find out who did it? she doesn’t go to the police there’s no research? Then some idiot bags on a job he gave her when it was said in the beginning that he would help her career take off that it was such a good thing he wanted her to make a boat. What a weird twist.
Then we think Gram is gonna die, and there’s some more stupid non-decisions there about letting her get that sick
I had to skim through this book. Nothing of real context to be gathered from it.
Then we think Gram is gonna die, and there’s some more stupid non-decisions there about letting her get that sick
I had to skim through this book. Nothing of real context to be gathered from it.
October 8, 2020
I've finished my reread of The Tillerman Cycle (adding in 3 new novels along the way) and it's been such a wonderful journey. Seventeen Against the Dealer provides closure to Dicey's story, and this book, more than the others, really wrestles with her flaws. For most of the book, I really didn't like Dicey and kept wanting to shake her for the bad decisions she was making and her self-centredness. Thankfully by the end of the novel there is some redemption for Dicey, and her relationships. While I was often frustrated by Dicey, it feels very right that her redemption happens because of her realizations and her own internal working, it's not driven externally. Dicey's character is consistent throughout the series, although this is the only book in the series that really deals with romantic love, and I liked how the complexities of the relationships between the characters grew and matured throughout the series.
This series was an absolute joy to revisit and I'm sad there are only seven books. I am disappointed that Maybeth didn't get her own story; I'd like to know what happens to her. I'm left feeling like a tangential member of the Tillerman clan, and I know they will be OK, and that's a very satisfying feeling to be left with at the end of a series.
This series was an absolute joy to revisit and I'm sad there are only seven books. I am disappointed that Maybeth didn't get her own story; I'd like to know what happens to her. I'm left feeling like a tangential member of the Tillerman clan, and I know they will be OK, and that's a very satisfying feeling to be left with at the end of a series.
December 8, 2025
Dicey finds that even hard work can't necessarily win her the future she dreams.
4.5 stars - I am super impressed by Cynthia Voigt. I read "Dicey's Song" last year when I was catching up with some of the Newbery award books. Dicey is tough because she has to be - she has to take care of her brothers and sister since their mother abandoned them. I cared so much about her that I went back and read "Homecoming" and then "A Solitary Blue" so that I could enjoy this last book in the series.
Dicey's world is the real world of bills and struggles and bad moments that pop up right when you think you're making progress. It's a hard world and I felt bad for Dicey when it looks like her life's dream (or maybe even both of them) won't happen. But Dicey learns from her mistakes and the series has a solid satisfying ending that perfectly matches all of the books - there's no glitter or fairy tale endings, but there's family coming together to take care of each other. Bravo to the Tillerman Cycle!
4.5 stars - I am super impressed by Cynthia Voigt. I read "Dicey's Song" last year when I was catching up with some of the Newbery award books. Dicey is tough because she has to be - she has to take care of her brothers and sister since their mother abandoned them. I cared so much about her that I went back and read "Homecoming" and then "A Solitary Blue" so that I could enjoy this last book in the series.
Dicey's world is the real world of bills and struggles and bad moments that pop up right when you think you're making progress. It's a hard world and I felt bad for Dicey when it looks like her life's dream (or maybe even both of them) won't happen. But Dicey learns from her mistakes and the series has a solid satisfying ending that perfectly matches all of the books - there's no glitter or fairy tale endings, but there's family coming together to take care of each other. Bravo to the Tillerman Cycle!
May 24, 2019
This was the last book in the Tillerman series and I was glad to see that this was the latest chronologically because I wanted to know what had happened to the Tillerman family. That being said, there want much conclusion to the ending. I would say this was probably one of my least favorites of the whole series. It still had positive messages about family, love, hard work, determination, and learning from mistakes, but I wasn't as invested or connected to this book's plot. I was really expecting Cisco to be Dicey's father, but then he just disappeared and that was the end. I knew Jeff and Dicey would end up together, but even that I thought was somewhat slapdash and hurriedly tackled on at the end almost as an afterthought. Yes, the idea that you never stop growing, learning, or making mistakes regardless of age is a good one, but as a whole I didn't necessarily love this book. Overall, I thought it was ok, but I definitely would recommend the others in the series over this one.
September 19, 2025
I read Homecoming and Dicey's Song dozens of times as a child. I have revisited them many times as an adult. These characters and their story have stayed with me all my life, but I never started reading the rest of the series until about a decade ago. I loved Solitary Blue and I have liked some of the others, but not in the same way as those first three. I have put this one off for years, because I wasn't sure I needed to see Dicey grown up. And I was right. I only cared about this at all, because I already had an attachment to the characters, but Dicey's storyline here felt like nonsense. Like she wasn't even thinking at all, and not at all like the scrappy tough girl who moved her family without any adult help. Her storyline with Jeff also didn't make any sense and no real connections were shown between characters. I am going to pretend this was fan fiction. It just doesn't fit in the series to me.
September 6, 2021
The final novel of the Tillerman Cycle return the story from Dicey's perspective. Now twenty-one, Dicey is eager to begin her boat-building business on her own. However, a series of mistakes and setbacks cause Dicey frusration as well as lessons learned. After a family emergency occurs, Dicey's priorities are reevaulated as she regains insight into what is most important in her life.
It was enjoyable rturning the narration of the Tillerman family back to Dicey's perspective as the first novel (Homecoming) was told from her perspective. I would have liked to seen more about James, Maybeth, and Sammy, allof whom are older and have brief appearances in the storyline. Otherwise, I feel that Dicey is a relatable character and her challenges navigating life are ones most twenty-somethings will relate to.
It was enjoyable rturning the narration of the Tillerman family back to Dicey's perspective as the first novel (Homecoming) was told from her perspective. I would have liked to seen more about James, Maybeth, and Sammy, allof whom are older and have brief appearances in the storyline. Otherwise, I feel that Dicey is a relatable character and her challenges navigating life are ones most twenty-somethings will relate to.
June 4, 2017
The final book in the Tillerman Cycle returns to Dicey, the oldest of the siblings, who has quit college to start her own boat building business. She has it all planned out and she has some luck, but this is a Cynthia Voigt novel. This isn't a final book sailing to a neat conclusion and happy ending. Instead Dicey struggles through problems, has issues with her family, suffers the unkindness of others, and has to face up to when she's wrong and deal with the consequences. But she has her family.
It's a strong, mature story that does point towards potential futures and endings, but focusses on that point of moving from adolescence to adulthood and how that doesn't actually mean you know what you're doing.
It's a strong, mature story that does point towards potential futures and endings, but focusses on that point of moving from adolescence to adulthood and how that doesn't actually mean you know what you're doing.
February 24, 2018
Dicey Tillerman is 21, and ready to start her own business... or so she thinks. The plan: make enough money on boat storage and repair to cover expenses, and then build dinghies to sell, and eventually larger sailboats. Unfortunately, things begin to go wrong almost immediately...
There’s a lot of stress in this book. In some ways, it’s even more stressful than Homecoming, because Dicey’s work separates her from her family, and they’re all better off when they are working things out together. Voigt does a great job with the characters, of course — Cisco, in particular, is a perfectly balanced mix, charming and offensive by turns. Though the earlier books will always be my favorites, I have a deeper appreciation for this one now than I did as a teen.
There’s a lot of stress in this book. In some ways, it’s even more stressful than Homecoming, because Dicey’s work separates her from her family, and they’re all better off when they are working things out together. Voigt does a great job with the characters, of course — Cisco, in particular, is a perfectly balanced mix, charming and offensive by turns. Though the earlier books will always be my favorites, I have a deeper appreciation for this one now than I did as a teen.
August 9, 2023
I reread this because I was going through my childhood bedroom and found my old copy with a $3.95 price sticker. I didn't remember much except that you should always write "for deposit only" on checks. It was pretty boring - Dicey counts her money a lot, works on boats, and ignores her boyfriend, Gram gets sick, and an annoying and shifty guy talks Dicey's ear off but for some reason she likes him. I was also irritated by how often the characters said that Maybeth shouldn't have to go to school, rather than wishing she'd have more support for finding ways of learning that worked for her. It would've felt sexist if we hadn't had Dicey doing something nontraditional for a woman.
November 16, 2022
Favorite quote:
“I thought I was dying,” Gram said. “I did, truly. Not a heartening perception. Well, I was coughing blood. Not much, but . . . I didn’t know what horrible disease it was; each one I thought of was more horrible than the one before—but I thought how much I’d miss you, all of you, miss our time together, miss finding out how the songs end, how the stories come out. But mostly, the truth is, I thought how much I’d miss me.”
Gram stopped speaking and closed her eyes. “It’s not very nice, but it’s true, I’m who I’ll miss most.”
“I thought I was dying,” Gram said. “I did, truly. Not a heartening perception. Well, I was coughing blood. Not much, but . . . I didn’t know what horrible disease it was; each one I thought of was more horrible than the one before—but I thought how much I’d miss you, all of you, miss our time together, miss finding out how the songs end, how the stories come out. But mostly, the truth is, I thought how much I’d miss me.”
Gram stopped speaking and closed her eyes. “It’s not very nice, but it’s true, I’m who I’ll miss most.”
April 12, 2024
One of those books that you partly don't want to end, but when it ends, it's just right. I only vaguely remember this book from the first read, and was glad that the series ended as strongly as it started. Voigt has this fantastic ability to create a characters that feel very real - they are far from perfect, but nobody is. Sometimes bad things happen, and everything doesn't always end up well, but that's life- it's how you deal with it that matters. I was really glad to re-read these books as an adult.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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