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Looking for Lucy Buick
Lucy is a baby when she joins the Sandoni Rocco (one of three Sandoni brothers) wins a Buick convertible in a poker game; Rhodi (one of five Sandoni sisters) finds Lucy abandoned in the backseat. Eighteen years later, all six of her Sandoni “aunts” having died, Lucy waits for a sign that it’s time to leave the stifling New York household of her domineering “uncles.” After all, signs, as Rhodi taught her, are meant to be followed!
So when a fire engulfs the Sandoni Brothers’ business, Lucy flees town. She heads west, getting off at Gardenia, Iowa, where the offbeat folk welcome her. The past, however, isn’t easy to leave behind. Lucy’s deceased aunts pay her regular visits. Lucy also fears that her uncles will track her down. Should she stay in Gardenia or should she push on? And as her old life catches up with her, Lucy feels lost. She’ll have to remember that wanting to get lost is often the quickest means of finding your way.
From the Hardcover edition.
So when a fire engulfs the Sandoni Brothers’ business, Lucy flees town. She heads west, getting off at Gardenia, Iowa, where the offbeat folk welcome her. The past, however, isn’t easy to leave behind. Lucy’s deceased aunts pay her regular visits. Lucy also fears that her uncles will track her down. Should she stay in Gardenia or should she push on? And as her old life catches up with her, Lucy feels lost. She’ll have to remember that wanting to get lost is often the quickest means of finding your way.
From the Hardcover edition.
- GenresYoung Adult
176 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 8, 2005
About the author
Rita Murphy
13 books11 followersRita Murphy is the author of Night Flying (2000), Black Angels (2001), Harmony (2002), Looking For Lucy Buick (2005), Bird (2008) and Hurricane Henry (2025).
Night Flying, winner of the Delacorte Press Prize at Random House Children's Books, was voted a Best Book for Young Adults by The American Library Association and Smithsonian Magazine.
Rita studied at the University of Vermont and Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She has been a creative writing instructor at The Monteverde Friends School in Costa Rica, Breadloaf Young Writers Conference in Vermont, and guest author in Vermont Public Schools.
Rita lives with her family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Night Flying, winner of the Delacorte Press Prize at Random House Children's Books, was voted a Best Book for Young Adults by The American Library Association and Smithsonian Magazine.
Rita studied at the University of Vermont and Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She has been a creative writing instructor at The Monteverde Friends School in Costa Rica, Breadloaf Young Writers Conference in Vermont, and guest author in Vermont Public Schools.
Rita lives with her family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 3, 2008
Looking for Lucy Buick by Rita Murphy—finished 2/1/08 (2008 NYRA)
When Lucretia Sandoni was a baby, she was left in the back of a car with a note attached saying her name was Lucy. Found and raised by five eccentric widower sisters and three of their adult sons, Lucretia’s life was hardly normal. When she turned18, she decided to flee her evil uncles who hoped to marry her off to a shady business associate. Using an explosion at the family warehouse and her assumed death as a cover, she set off on a train ride across the country, using the name of Lucy Buick, to look for her real family. Even though the story deals with an eclectic group of spirits who haunt and guide the young protagonist, her story is fairly predictable. The writing style varies, at times there is an abundance of description, at other times, not enough. And the metaphor of Lucy being a caterpillar turning into a beautiful butterfly, like the ones she helps her neighbor cultivate, is cliché and never fully developed. Most of the book, the naïve and sheltered Lucy talks about looking for signs to guide her journey but she makes her decisions haphazardly.
Her favorite great aunt, the eccentric Rhodi, materializes as a spirit to point Lucy toward her new family, but not all of the spirit’s actions are clear, like when the dog falls sick after receiving a message from her. Lucy’s quest to find her family is similarly ambiguous. Throughout the book, she talks of finding the Buicks as if her adopted last name was representative of an actual family; some of the character’s thoughts are rather obtuse and she doesn’t admit that she is searching for a symbolic family until the end of the book.
I was frustrated with how dense Lucy’s character was and how, even with Rhodi’s strong hints from the other side, she couldn’t see the oddball family that had grown to care about her. Lucy’s climactic realization that there are people who love her—while lost in a cornfield in the middle of a tornado—seems forced since one of the characters had just told her how important she was before she tempestuously ran off in the middle of a threatening storm. When she does finally recognize her new family for what it is, the book quickly ends.
When Lucretia Sandoni was a baby, she was left in the back of a car with a note attached saying her name was Lucy. Found and raised by five eccentric widower sisters and three of their adult sons, Lucretia’s life was hardly normal. When she turned18, she decided to flee her evil uncles who hoped to marry her off to a shady business associate. Using an explosion at the family warehouse and her assumed death as a cover, she set off on a train ride across the country, using the name of Lucy Buick, to look for her real family. Even though the story deals with an eclectic group of spirits who haunt and guide the young protagonist, her story is fairly predictable. The writing style varies, at times there is an abundance of description, at other times, not enough. And the metaphor of Lucy being a caterpillar turning into a beautiful butterfly, like the ones she helps her neighbor cultivate, is cliché and never fully developed. Most of the book, the naïve and sheltered Lucy talks about looking for signs to guide her journey but she makes her decisions haphazardly.
Her favorite great aunt, the eccentric Rhodi, materializes as a spirit to point Lucy toward her new family, but not all of the spirit’s actions are clear, like when the dog falls sick after receiving a message from her. Lucy’s quest to find her family is similarly ambiguous. Throughout the book, she talks of finding the Buicks as if her adopted last name was representative of an actual family; some of the character’s thoughts are rather obtuse and she doesn’t admit that she is searching for a symbolic family until the end of the book.
I was frustrated with how dense Lucy’s character was and how, even with Rhodi’s strong hints from the other side, she couldn’t see the oddball family that had grown to care about her. Lucy’s climactic realization that there are people who love her—while lost in a cornfield in the middle of a tornado—seems forced since one of the characters had just told her how important she was before she tempestuously ran off in the middle of a threatening storm. When she does finally recognize her new family for what it is, the book quickly ends.
March 15, 2014
The second of Rita Murphy's three books about foundling children, and probably the most conventional foundling story; Lucretia Sandoni was found in the backseat of a Buick convertible as a note saying her name was Lucy. So when circumstances align to allow her to fake her death, she takes off to the Midwest in search of 'the Buicks'. Does she seriously think the Buicks are a real family? It's really not clear. The ending implies that she does, though naturally they turn out not to exist.
Like many of Rita Murphy's books, the problem with Looking for Lucy Buick is that it seems to stop halfway through its own story. The various plot threads are resolved - if they are resolved at all - at lightning speed in the last couple of chapters. There's no confrontation with the Sandoni brothers, no clarification as to whether the 'ghosts' Lucy sees are real; it's a shaky resolution to what was otherwise quite a nice little book.
Like many of Rita Murphy's books, the problem with Looking for Lucy Buick is that it seems to stop halfway through its own story. The various plot threads are resolved - if they are resolved at all - at lightning speed in the last couple of chapters. There's no confrontation with the Sandoni brothers, no clarification as to whether the 'ghosts' Lucy sees are real; it's a shaky resolution to what was otherwise quite a nice little book.
December 29, 2014
Looking for Lucy Buick is a meaningful tale about finding oneself. Just like the monarch butterflies depicted in the front cover, Lucretia Sandoni (Lucy Buick) sets out to live a new life somewhere far from the town of Hamlin - a life away from constrictions and from his selfish uncles.
"...signs could be like that sometimes, leading you places you never expected to go."
With the help of her deceased Aunt Rhodi, Lucy follows the signs along the way to find the Buicks, her real family. And throughout her journey, Lucy undergoes metamorphosis. She is is no longer the old Lucretia Sandoni, she is now Lucy Buick - free-spirited and vibrant.
"...signs could be like that sometimes, leading you places you never expected to go."
With the help of her deceased Aunt Rhodi, Lucy follows the signs along the way to find the Buicks, her real family. And throughout her journey, Lucy undergoes metamorphosis. She is is no longer the old Lucretia Sandoni, she is now Lucy Buick - free-spirited and vibrant.
December 3, 2007
Lucretia Sandoni renamed herself Lucy Buick in honor of the car she was abandoned in and found by her Aunt Rhodi. When she was 18, after her aunts passed away, Lucy followed the signs that led her to a train heading west. On the train she meets a young man from Gardenia, Iowa and because his company name is Cracker Jack, her favorite candy, she decides to get off the train there and search for her birth family. What she finds is another kind of family built on love.
June 24, 2008
Well I was expecting more at the end, either the Sandoni's will find her, She will find her true family or at least get married but either happen, was entreteining.
December 11, 2009
Another story about a girl who goes in search of her past (and, thus, herself). Oddly suspenseful, but mainly run-of-the-mill.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews