Losing Eddie

by Deborah Joy Corey

Deborah Joy Corey captures the voice of rural poverty and the voice of a single, struggling family in southeastern Canada. The voice belongs to an innocent nine-year-old girl, who, throughout this startling novel, remains a nameless, silent outsider in a family whose troubles don't leave much energy for paying attention to someone who isn't in desperate need. "Deborah Joy Corey makes a stunning debut with her first novel." -Maclean's

Genres: Fiction

238 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[An Te Chu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me bawl like a baby on BC Ferries

[Dixie Keyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes readers into the mind and life of nine-year-old Laura, whose family lives in Canada. Despite universal health care and other social benefits Canadians have, this family and their neighbors live in poverty. Laura tells the story, and her lens balances innocence with reality. She describes the purple circles around her mother's eyes after losing Eddie, their oldest sibling. She describes the horrible dirtiness of her friend's household as well as the beauty of purple lupines in a field beyond the home. Like I did at that age, and probably most of us, we didn't know that things were as bad as they really were, and we were able to find optimism and resilience because of this unknowing. Laura will take you to the heart, to places inside of all of us we need to visit from time to time. The author's style makes this whole book work, and there are beautiful lines threaded throughout the novel.

[Ginny Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a very detailed description of a nine year old girl and talking about the greif of her and her family losing her older brother Eddie. Disturbing stuff, but it would shock the readers into actually believing that the stuff happpening in this book is actually very real in the real world. We just don't expect it to happen, or we just don't notice it till it's to late. Very good book. recommended to all.

[Jody Gorham · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Losing Eddie" is a beautifully written story of how one family struggles with grief and loss and is told through the eyes of a young girl, Laura. It's set in poverty stricken, rural New Brunswick during the '60's when one room school houses still existed. This book reminds me Who Has Seen the Wind? by W.O. Mitchell, using the landscape and physical surroundings to portray Laura and her family's feelings of loss, guilt, sorrow, and loneliness, but also love, kinship, healing, and hope.

[Majuch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although i found it a disturbing novel, the, stark reality kept me reading and yearning for the impossible - a positive outcome. There were the odd glimmers of hope scattered through the novel, glimmers that served to emphasize the vast differences between my personal experience of childhood and that of the protagonist. it wasn't a book that I "enjoyed" but it was compelling reading.

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is never talked about but it's one of my all time favorites. I've read it about 6-7 times and I never read books twice. Great Canadian book and a must-read for everyone!

[Joy Carreño · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the easy feel of this book. It is told from the point of view of a child. There was some confusion in the timeline. It jumps seasons. In one chapter it is winter, in the next it is the beginning of summer. Later the mother is hospitalized a couple of times. This also gets confusing because there are few literary transitions to indicate when she is released the second time. In one chapter she has to go back to the hospital and two chapters later she is home without a mention of what happened.