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The Stars at Oktober Bend
A powerful, captivating story about Alice, who is reaching out to express herself through her beautiful-broken words, and Manny who is running to escape his past. When they meet they find the tender beginnings of love and healing.
Alice is fifteen, with hair as red as fire and skin as pale as bone, but something inside her is broken. She has acquired brain injury, the result of an assault, and her words come out slow and slurred. But when she writes, heartwords fly from her pen. She writes poems to express the words she can't say and leaves them in unexpected places around the town.
Manny was once a child soldier. He is sixteen and has lost all his family. He appears to be adapting to his new life in this country, where there is comfort and safety, but at night he runs, barefoot, to escape the memory of his past. When he first sees Alice, she is sitting on the rusty roof of her river-house, looking like a carving on an old-fashioned ship sailing through the stars.
Alice is fifteen, with hair as red as fire and skin as pale as bone, but something inside her is broken. She has acquired brain injury, the result of an assault, and her words come out slow and slurred. But when she writes, heartwords fly from her pen. She writes poems to express the words she can't say and leaves them in unexpected places around the town.
Manny was once a child soldier. He is sixteen and has lost all his family. He appears to be adapting to his new life in this country, where there is comfort and safety, but at night he runs, barefoot, to escape the memory of his past. When he first sees Alice, she is sitting on the rusty roof of her river-house, looking like a carving on an old-fashioned ship sailing through the stars.
266 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2016
33 people are currently reading
2116 people want to read
About the author
Glenda Millard
36 books96 followersGlenda Millard was born in the Goldfields region of Central Victoria and has lived in the area all her life. The communities she has lived in and the surrounding landscapes have provided a rich source of inspiration and settings for many of her stories.
It was not until Glenda's four children became teenagers that she began to write in her spare time. She is now a full-time writer.
Apart from writing, some of Glenda's favorite things are Jack Russell Terriers, hot-air ballooning, making and eating bread and pizza in the wood-fired oven that her husband built in the back yard, and reading books which either make her laugh or cry.
Glenda has published six picture books, three junior fiction titles, short stories and two young adult titles. 'The Naming of Tishkin Silk' was shortlisted in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards and for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards.
It was not until Glenda's four children became teenagers that she began to write in her spare time. She is now a full-time writer.
Apart from writing, some of Glenda's favorite things are Jack Russell Terriers, hot-air ballooning, making and eating bread and pizza in the wood-fired oven that her husband built in the back yard, and reading books which either make her laugh or cry.
Glenda has published six picture books, three junior fiction titles, short stories and two young adult titles. 'The Naming of Tishkin Silk' was shortlisted in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards and for the NSW Premier's Literary Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 188 reviews
April 19, 2019
This was a unique story of teenage love, two people who found each other through very different circumstances. It was heart wrenching at times to hear about the horrific issues these two teens have faced in their short lives.
The first half of the book was definitely slower than the end... a faster pace would have kept my attention better. It is clearly noted as the narrators switch in the story. Although it gives insight to each of them, I found this somewhat distracting.
Thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I plan to pass this book along to my local Free Library.
The first half of the book was definitely slower than the end... a faster pace would have kept my attention better. It is clearly noted as the narrators switch in the story. Although it gives insight to each of them, I found this somewhat distracting.
Thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I plan to pass this book along to my local Free Library.
March 11, 2016
This review appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews!
I say this time and time again: sad books just aren’t my thing. It takes me years – sometimes months to work up to reading sad books, because they take me ages to get over.
And that’s what Stars at Oktober Bend did – it ripped out my heart and threw it on the floor.
The book is about Alice, a girl who has trouble with speech due to brain damage. But it’s clear that she’s smart and intelligent, as she writes beautiful words of poetry. Yes, she may be a little slow at times, but it’s much easier for her to put words on paper than to verbally construct a sentence. The way her voice is depicted, with no capital letters, short sentences and bouts of poetry is a beautiful way of capturing what speech is like for Alice.
This is interchanged with Manny’s perspective, a young black orphan who discovers her poetry and doesn’t judge her by her disability. I found Manny’s voice to be young, fresh and absolutely endearing. While it definitely did feel like insta-love, the way they so quickly started getting attached to each other, I didn’t hold it against them – because they needed each other to hold on to.
The diversity in the book was marvellously done, and I liked how they weren’t stereotypical characters. They both broke the bonds of their stigmas – with Alice looking after her elderly grandmother, and Manny as someone who could survive through PTSD and the horrific circumstances of war. But despite being disabled, despite being a boy soldier, the two find a certain solace in each other. Alice has found someone who she can share her “voice” with, and Manny with someone he can protect and trust.
If reading about a brain damaged girl and a young survivor of war sounds heart breaking enough, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Stars at Oktober Bend is filled with horrifically ignorant people who bully both of the characters. Their ignorance, their territorial behaviour and their abusive words and actions just really made my blood boil. Not only that, but the book continually punches you in the gut, over and over again as the true horror of the story slowly unfolds. It reveals Alice’s past for why she’s like that, and shares Manny’s horrific past experiences. But it doesn’t stop there – it continually descends into more horrific circumstances that don’t just surround Alice and Manny, but their families, friends and enemies, and my heart just couldn’t take it anymore.
The book does not have a strong plot, as Alice and Manny get to know each other over the course of the story. A random flood comes out of nowhere towards the end of the story and Alice stays in the house which I found hard to believe – particularly given her condition.
The sibling relationship here is also done beautifully, with Joey showing Alice love and humility, where the rest of the world does not. He’s such a wonderfully caring brother, and truly showed what unconditional sibling love is about.
I kind of feel like having one or two sad themes would have been enough for me, but in more ways than one, Stars at Oktober Bend was a traumatising experience. While it’s incredibly beautiful in the writing, the theme and the characters, I just feel completely depressed and miserable after I read it. While I could totally appreciate what Stars had to offer, I simply don’t enjoy feeling that way after a book.
I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I say this time and time again: sad books just aren’t my thing. It takes me years – sometimes months to work up to reading sad books, because they take me ages to get over.
And that’s what Stars at Oktober Bend did – it ripped out my heart and threw it on the floor.
The book is about Alice, a girl who has trouble with speech due to brain damage. But it’s clear that she’s smart and intelligent, as she writes beautiful words of poetry. Yes, she may be a little slow at times, but it’s much easier for her to put words on paper than to verbally construct a sentence. The way her voice is depicted, with no capital letters, short sentences and bouts of poetry is a beautiful way of capturing what speech is like for Alice.
This is interchanged with Manny’s perspective, a young black orphan who discovers her poetry and doesn’t judge her by her disability. I found Manny’s voice to be young, fresh and absolutely endearing. While it definitely did feel like insta-love, the way they so quickly started getting attached to each other, I didn’t hold it against them – because they needed each other to hold on to.
The diversity in the book was marvellously done, and I liked how they weren’t stereotypical characters. They both broke the bonds of their stigmas – with Alice looking after her elderly grandmother, and Manny as someone who could survive through PTSD and the horrific circumstances of war. But despite being disabled, despite being a boy soldier, the two find a certain solace in each other. Alice has found someone who she can share her “voice” with, and Manny with someone he can protect and trust.
If reading about a brain damaged girl and a young survivor of war sounds heart breaking enough, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Stars at Oktober Bend is filled with horrifically ignorant people who bully both of the characters. Their ignorance, their territorial behaviour and their abusive words and actions just really made my blood boil. Not only that, but the book continually punches you in the gut, over and over again as the true horror of the story slowly unfolds. It reveals Alice’s past for why she’s like that, and shares Manny’s horrific past experiences. But it doesn’t stop there – it continually descends into more horrific circumstances that don’t just surround Alice and Manny, but their families, friends and enemies, and my heart just couldn’t take it anymore.
The book does not have a strong plot, as Alice and Manny get to know each other over the course of the story. A random flood comes out of nowhere towards the end of the story and Alice stays in the house which I found hard to believe – particularly given her condition.
The sibling relationship here is also done beautifully, with Joey showing Alice love and humility, where the rest of the world does not. He’s such a wonderfully caring brother, and truly showed what unconditional sibling love is about.
I kind of feel like having one or two sad themes would have been enough for me, but in more ways than one, Stars at Oktober Bend was a traumatising experience. While it’s incredibly beautiful in the writing, the theme and the characters, I just feel completely depressed and miserable after I read it. While I could totally appreciate what Stars had to offer, I simply don’t enjoy feeling that way after a book.
I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
April 6, 2016
Oh wow this book.
It's not in verse but the writing is so lyrical it feels like it. So beautiful.
_______________
REVIEW
Can we just talk about the writing in this one though?
IT IS SO INSANELY BEAUTIFUL.
Alice is a narrator that takes some getting used to, because her voice is like no other. There are little things that just make it so REAL – the fact that there are no capital letters, the disjointed phrases, the little poems in amongst prose.
Aaaaand I’m not the biggest fan of verse in novels but the poems served to make the prose even better. Like. Gosh guys. My biggest writerly wish is to be able to write with such lyricism.
And what I loved about the book was gradually piecing together what happened that day at Oktober bend.
You have to figure it out yourself because the writing is not exactly straightforward, but that was fine with me – it made me feel like a clever chicken when I figured it out.
If you’re looking for a beautiful, courageous, lyrical story, this one’s for you.
It's not in verse but the writing is so lyrical it feels like it. So beautiful.
_______________
REVIEW
Can we just talk about the writing in this one though?
IT IS SO INSANELY BEAUTIFUL.
Alice is a narrator that takes some getting used to, because her voice is like no other. There are little things that just make it so REAL – the fact that there are no capital letters, the disjointed phrases, the little poems in amongst prose.
Aaaaand I’m not the biggest fan of verse in novels but the poems served to make the prose even better. Like. Gosh guys. My biggest writerly wish is to be able to write with such lyricism.
And what I loved about the book was gradually piecing together what happened that day at Oktober bend.
You have to figure it out yourself because the writing is not exactly straightforward, but that was fine with me – it made me feel like a clever chicken when I figured it out.
If you’re looking for a beautiful, courageous, lyrical story, this one’s for you.
September 21, 2018
"Their eyes were very full because they had seen many things, but their lips could not be opened to speak of what they had seen."
An intriguing concept, but uneventful story. Although I greatly appreciate the unique narrative and voice of the protagonist, Alice, I didn’t find the plot particularly engaging. The idea of the romance is sweet, but the poise made it difficult to fully grasp the progression of their budding feelings. I’m afraid I just wanted more from the plot and characters, and couldn't help feeling a pang of disappointment by the time I finished the novel.
The writing is a double edge sword. On one hand, the writing is gorgeous. The decision Millard made to narrate this story through the perspective of Alice, a fifteen-year-old girl who has suffered severe brain trauma, was a risk. Whether or not this leap of faith paid off, is entirely up to the reader. At times, the writing is enchanting, but the constant jumps between the broken up paragraphs, verse, and traditional poise in Manny's perspective, made it difficult to follow the story as a whole.
It's a sweet story, and I did like the themes throughout. I have a huge soft spot for novels that revolve around emotional plots. The juxtaposition of Alice's injury with Manny's PTSD is so heartbreaking, but nicely executed. As I mentioned earlier, I just wish I could've had more from this book. Overall, it's still a neat story and I'm sure there are many readers who will greatly enjoy it!
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review!
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September 8, 2017
This book was not at all what I expected from reading the blurb, but it was a wonderful story nontheless. It had really nice, unique characters, a well developed setting and a good plot. However, when you are starting the book, the style takes some time to get used to. The parts of the story told from Alice's perspective don't use capital letters or much punctuation and whilst this is an interesting literary technique, it does make reading the book difficult. Once you understand the reasoning behind Alice's writing style and get used to it, it is a very beautiful novel.
I really liked the poetic language and style throughout the book, especially the parts written by Alice in verse. Sometimes her character comes off as almost dream-like, and she has a very interesting perspective to read from. Alice writes about her thoughts, which is easier than trying to communicate with her words that just don't work properly, coming out slow and slurred. Manny has been through horrible things, and runs at night in his attempts to escape. It's also really wonderful to be able to read from Manny's perspective and see how he overcomes his past. When these two very different people meet, this beautiful story takes shape.
This is not really a happy, light-hearted read. It deals with some serious issues, and is quite a sad story. Alice and Manny have both been through some pretty tough stuff which is explored later in the book, but it deals with issues which I think it is important for people to be aware of. The story is extremely insightful and challenging and I think that it is definitely a book that people should read. I would highly recommend that you give it a go, and are not put off by your initial impression. Once you get used to the style, this is a truly extraordinary novel.
I really liked the poetic language and style throughout the book, especially the parts written by Alice in verse. Sometimes her character comes off as almost dream-like, and she has a very interesting perspective to read from. Alice writes about her thoughts, which is easier than trying to communicate with her words that just don't work properly, coming out slow and slurred. Manny has been through horrible things, and runs at night in his attempts to escape. It's also really wonderful to be able to read from Manny's perspective and see how he overcomes his past. When these two very different people meet, this beautiful story takes shape.
This is not really a happy, light-hearted read. It deals with some serious issues, and is quite a sad story. Alice and Manny have both been through some pretty tough stuff which is explored later in the book, but it deals with issues which I think it is important for people to be aware of. The story is extremely insightful and challenging and I think that it is definitely a book that people should read. I would highly recommend that you give it a go, and are not put off by your initial impression. Once you get used to the style, this is a truly extraordinary novel.
"still i am
alice
no less
no more
just different alice still"
May 3, 2018
This book was soul abrasive. Poetic and scarring. Something you know you're honored to have visited but never wish to return to.
For some reason, reading this book made me think of an ocean shore. One that's cold and yet also refreshing when it's scorching outside. That feeling when you're coming out, waves still crashing against your knees...you're almost there, you can almost feel the sand under your feet BUT then a new wave comes and nearly sweeps you off your feet and you realize you're not that close to the shore as you thought.
(and if you're not careful, it might swallow you alive - or break your heart in case of the story in this book)
I loved the writing in Alice's narrative. Though, it's much more short story way to go about the story. And I can see why so many people have a problem with it - it gets old very fast and you just want to know what happens but because of the style it drags and there's a lot of jumping in time even when told in the same person's point of view, that's afterwards repeated by Manny...so distracting and sets you off the track easily.
The mood is there for sure, but the story doesn't flow.
There is a part where Alice writes in her poetry:
but i cannot forget how both the scared and the sinful slipped so easy from his tongue. light and dark together. fire and ice. i loved the way holy howled like a hymn up the back of his throat, how shit hissed and spat like hail on the fires of hell. perfect opposites. the one made the other deeper, richer, more terrible, and true.
later, much later
when manny and i found one another when
we met and touched
skin and breath and soul the only way we could
unpick the stitches
that locked our secrets inside was to use words
the way faulkner did
It kind of sums it up how I felt reading their story.
However, I do agree with the others who found their narratives to read more like pre-teens than late teens. Which would be fine given their traumas etc. BUT then how come their attraction builds like normal teenagers in their age. This aspect of this story hadn't really been worked out. It just felt like a fabricated romanticized way of talking about war and family tragedy. Which is still fine in my eyes - only this is the kind of YA book that's written ONLY for YA audience, not so much ABOUT them. I think this is a perfectly soothing language for those who're actually in that age dealing with something similar.
All that being said, Glenda Millard is a terrific writer and I'm going to look into her children's books for my son. Happy to have discovered her!
Thank you Netgalley for a cope in exchange for my honest review.
For some reason, reading this book made me think of an ocean shore. One that's cold and yet also refreshing when it's scorching outside. That feeling when you're coming out, waves still crashing against your knees...you're almost there, you can almost feel the sand under your feet BUT then a new wave comes and nearly sweeps you off your feet and you realize you're not that close to the shore as you thought.
(and if you're not careful, it might swallow you alive - or break your heart in case of the story in this book)I loved the writing in Alice's narrative. Though, it's much more short story way to go about the story. And I can see why so many people have a problem with it - it gets old very fast and you just want to know what happens but because of the style it drags and there's a lot of jumping in time even when told in the same person's point of view, that's afterwards repeated by Manny...so distracting and sets you off the track easily.
The mood is there for sure, but the story doesn't flow.
There is a part where Alice writes in her poetry:
but i cannot forget how both the scared and the sinful slipped so easy from his tongue. light and dark together. fire and ice. i loved the way holy howled like a hymn up the back of his throat, how shit hissed and spat like hail on the fires of hell. perfect opposites. the one made the other deeper, richer, more terrible, and true.
later, much later
when manny and i found one another when
we met and touched
skin and breath and soul the only way we could
unpick the stitches
that locked our secrets inside was to use words
the way faulkner did
It kind of sums it up how I felt reading their story.
However, I do agree with the others who found their narratives to read more like pre-teens than late teens. Which would be fine given their traumas etc. BUT then how come their attraction builds like normal teenagers in their age. This aspect of this story hadn't really been worked out. It just felt like a fabricated romanticized way of talking about war and family tragedy. Which is still fine in my eyes - only this is the kind of YA book that's written ONLY for YA audience, not so much ABOUT them. I think this is a perfectly soothing language for those who're actually in that age dealing with something similar.
All that being said, Glenda Millard is a terrific writer and I'm going to look into her children's books for my son. Happy to have discovered her!
Thank you Netgalley for a cope in exchange for my honest review.
February 11, 2016
4.5 stars. This review also appears on my blog, Reading with Jenna.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
How do I even begin to find the words to express how much this book meant to me? This was an absolutely beautiful story about overcoming adversity and living with hope and courage. It’s a simple story that is just done so right.
This novel follows 15 year old Alice, who struggles with her speech after a traumatic incident that happened when she was 12. As a result, she doesn’t go to school and spends most of her time writing poetry, fly tying and trying not to do anything that will lead to seizures. She starts leaving her poetry and ‘perfect thoughts’ in public places for people to read, but nobody has ever taken her seriously until Manny James stumbles upon her poem at the railway station. Manny was a child soldier in Sierra Leone. He’s adjusting to his new life and new family in Australia, after losing his family, and Alice and her poetry quickly becomes his salvation.
The first thing you’ll notice when you flip open this book is the writing style. This book has a very unique writing style, with strange syntax and punctuation. Alice ‘s voice is incredibly unique and can take a while to get used to. I had a little bit of a hard time getting my mind to focus during the first couple of pages, but I quickly realised how lyrical and beautiful the writing was. Because of this, I decided to read the entire book aloud and it really helped me to get into the writing style and Alice’s voice very quickly. The weird syntax and lack of capital letters in the writing really reflected Alice’s character and I really appreciated the way the book was written. This novel is written partly in prose and partly in verse. Sometimes it switches without warning and others in a more logical manner. I adored this format and thought it added a lot to the story. It made Alice’s voice truly her own. We also get to read from Manny’s perspective in this book, and his chapters were written much more traditionally, in prose and with proper syntax and punctuation. I thought his voice also reflected who he was as a person and I loved being able to read from his point of view as well.
All of the characters in this book were outstanding but my favourite was definitely Alice. She went through a traumatic experience that nobody should have to go through, and to some people around her, she will always be the 12 year old girl she was before the incident. But even though her life changed when she was 12, and some of her abilities are stunted, she keeps trying to grow and prove that she’s more than what happened to her at 12. Her strength moved me to tears and her bravery just left me speechless.
My favourite aspect of this book were the relationships. The way that the characters cared for and cared about each other was just amazing to witness. The relationship between Alice and Manny transcended just teenage romance. The discovery of somebody who you can share your darkest secrets with, and somebody who will listen and try to understand you is just the most heartwarming thing, and I felt so lucky to be able to read about Alice and Manny finding each other the way that they did. Their connection and attraction did feel a little bit too instant, but I didn’t even care because they’re absolutely made for each other.
While the relationship between Alice and Manny was stellar, it was Alice’s relationship with her brother, Joey, that was my favourite. To see Joey, a young teenager himself, be so protective and supportive towards Alice… I just could not stop crying. To see him take on the role of being the man of the house, and look after Alice and his ailing grandmother, I really felt for him. His love for his family and for Alice was so evident from the first chapter and I wished that I had Joey as my brother.
The plot of this book is simple. The author doesn’t try to do anything complicated and, instead, focuses on and explores the strength of the characters and the bonds between them. I really appreciated the simplicity of it and the way the author was still able to give me a good case of the feels. This was a fantastic new Australian YA novel that I cannot recommend highly enough.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
How do I even begin to find the words to express how much this book meant to me? This was an absolutely beautiful story about overcoming adversity and living with hope and courage. It’s a simple story that is just done so right.
This novel follows 15 year old Alice, who struggles with her speech after a traumatic incident that happened when she was 12. As a result, she doesn’t go to school and spends most of her time writing poetry, fly tying and trying not to do anything that will lead to seizures. She starts leaving her poetry and ‘perfect thoughts’ in public places for people to read, but nobody has ever taken her seriously until Manny James stumbles upon her poem at the railway station. Manny was a child soldier in Sierra Leone. He’s adjusting to his new life and new family in Australia, after losing his family, and Alice and her poetry quickly becomes his salvation.
The first thing you’ll notice when you flip open this book is the writing style. This book has a very unique writing style, with strange syntax and punctuation. Alice ‘s voice is incredibly unique and can take a while to get used to. I had a little bit of a hard time getting my mind to focus during the first couple of pages, but I quickly realised how lyrical and beautiful the writing was. Because of this, I decided to read the entire book aloud and it really helped me to get into the writing style and Alice’s voice very quickly. The weird syntax and lack of capital letters in the writing really reflected Alice’s character and I really appreciated the way the book was written. This novel is written partly in prose and partly in verse. Sometimes it switches without warning and others in a more logical manner. I adored this format and thought it added a lot to the story. It made Alice’s voice truly her own. We also get to read from Manny’s perspective in this book, and his chapters were written much more traditionally, in prose and with proper syntax and punctuation. I thought his voice also reflected who he was as a person and I loved being able to read from his point of view as well.
for some
twelve is a nice number
but i
am alice
fifteen times
over
All of the characters in this book were outstanding but my favourite was definitely Alice. She went through a traumatic experience that nobody should have to go through, and to some people around her, she will always be the 12 year old girl she was before the incident. But even though her life changed when she was 12, and some of her abilities are stunted, she keeps trying to grow and prove that she’s more than what happened to her at 12. Her strength moved me to tears and her bravery just left me speechless.
he had listened to fragments of my stumbling speech and begged me to speak again. his wanting to listen made no difference to my speech. it was no clearer, quicker or more fluent. my words did not sound like birdsong or poetry, but manny watched me and waited while i spoke. asked me when he didn’t understand.
My favourite aspect of this book were the relationships. The way that the characters cared for and cared about each other was just amazing to witness. The relationship between Alice and Manny transcended just teenage romance. The discovery of somebody who you can share your darkest secrets with, and somebody who will listen and try to understand you is just the most heartwarming thing, and I felt so lucky to be able to read about Alice and Manny finding each other the way that they did. Their connection and attraction did feel a little bit too instant, but I didn’t even care because they’re absolutely made for each other.
While the relationship between Alice and Manny was stellar, it was Alice’s relationship with her brother, Joey, that was my favourite. To see Joey, a young teenager himself, be so protective and supportive towards Alice… I just could not stop crying. To see him take on the role of being the man of the house, and look after Alice and his ailing grandmother, I really felt for him. His love for his family and for Alice was so evident from the first chapter and I wished that I had Joey as my brother.
The plot of this book is simple. The author doesn’t try to do anything complicated and, instead, focuses on and explores the strength of the characters and the bonds between them. I really appreciated the simplicity of it and the way the author was still able to give me a good case of the feels. This was a fantastic new Australian YA novel that I cannot recommend highly enough.
February 28, 2016
The style, while intensely beautiful, lyrical and poetic, makes for a baffling read at times. Particularly since those chapters from Alice's point of view are all without capitals. Her thoughts jump and sizzle with half-revealed clues and memories peeping out of repression. So the strange punctuation and grammar is in perfect keeping with the fried hardware of her brain and her forever-twelveness, but it doesn't make it easy to follow. It took me ages to work out 'bear' was not a person. It's a mental relief to get to the scenes from Manny's perspective with their punctilious sentences.
Alice is fifteen but trapped in the mind of a twelve-year old - a very poetic twelve-year old who loves the intricate decorations of the Book of Kells, the bee-wing pages of an old Bible, the making of fly fishing lures for collectors - and Manny James. The doctors have pronounced she'll stay twelve forever.
It takes most of the book to uncover the traumatic event that has resulted in her having a head put back together with 'fishbone stitches', to discover what happened that caused her to have a short-circuiting brain that makes it so difficult for her to speak and to put two and two together about why her grandfather who has been put in prison and why there's a boy on the local football team who hates her.
Manny is a 'boy soldier' from Africa who has been given a new life by Louisa and Bull James. He runs each day; running from the memories that haunt him. One evening he sees Alice climb out a balcony onto the roof of her house - she looks like she's floating amongst the stars.
She has a meltdown one day after dance class; just as the football team is arriving to use the same hall. Manny helps her brother Joey and gradually begins to learn a little about 'Anon', the poet who leaves her enigmatic verses around the town.
His desire to meet her properly is over-matched by her desire to meet him. She sacrifices droplets of blood to the god of flying things in the hope of bringing about an encounter. But life is tangling around her - her gorgeous younger brother Joey who has promised never to forsake her is growing up and getting interested in girls. And Tilda, the girl he's got his eye on, is the one Hamish O'Leary - the boy who hates Alice - has decided he won't allow to be taken from him.
This evocative, transcendent story is about refusing to let past troubles define who you will be. It's a pity that the style means you can't let up your concentration for a moment and relax into a gently flowing read.
Alice is fifteen but trapped in the mind of a twelve-year old - a very poetic twelve-year old who loves the intricate decorations of the Book of Kells, the bee-wing pages of an old Bible, the making of fly fishing lures for collectors - and Manny James. The doctors have pronounced she'll stay twelve forever.
It takes most of the book to uncover the traumatic event that has resulted in her having a head put back together with 'fishbone stitches', to discover what happened that caused her to have a short-circuiting brain that makes it so difficult for her to speak and to put two and two together about why her grandfather who has been put in prison and why there's a boy on the local football team who hates her.
Manny is a 'boy soldier' from Africa who has been given a new life by Louisa and Bull James. He runs each day; running from the memories that haunt him. One evening he sees Alice climb out a balcony onto the roof of her house - she looks like she's floating amongst the stars.
She has a meltdown one day after dance class; just as the football team is arriving to use the same hall. Manny helps her brother Joey and gradually begins to learn a little about 'Anon', the poet who leaves her enigmatic verses around the town.
His desire to meet her properly is over-matched by her desire to meet him. She sacrifices droplets of blood to the god of flying things in the hope of bringing about an encounter. But life is tangling around her - her gorgeous younger brother Joey who has promised never to forsake her is growing up and getting interested in girls. And Tilda, the girl he's got his eye on, is the one Hamish O'Leary - the boy who hates Alice - has decided he won't allow to be taken from him.
This evocative, transcendent story is about refusing to let past troubles define who you will be. It's a pity that the style means you can't let up your concentration for a moment and relax into a gently flowing read.
April 21, 2017
Very briefly, this book follows a young girl named Alice who has suffered from an accident and it follows her as she deals with her life and how it affects her family. She meets a boy named Manny who has suffered an extremely war-dominated and traumatic past.
I did not enjoy this book at all. It's been shortlisted for the Carnegie medal and I do think there is some stuff in here that is worthy of that, I do!
But the writing? Are you serious? I can forgive Alice's rubbish writing as she has a speech impediment but Manny is also badly written. They are supposed to be teenagers yet they read like five year olds.
The plot was lost on me pretty much. The character development was tolerable but not worthy of me saying 'it was good'. I did not enjoy this book at all and I was pretty much skimming it by the time I got to the end. No.
I did not enjoy this book at all. It's been shortlisted for the Carnegie medal and I do think there is some stuff in here that is worthy of that, I do!
But the writing? Are you serious? I can forgive Alice's rubbish writing as she has a speech impediment but Manny is also badly written. They are supposed to be teenagers yet they read like five year olds.
The plot was lost on me pretty much. The character development was tolerable but not worthy of me saying 'it was good'. I did not enjoy this book at all and I was pretty much skimming it by the time I got to the end. No.
January 8, 2020
Unfortunately this was DNF for me @ 21%
I really wanted to love this book when I started reading it, the synopsis interested me but once I started it was very very slow and confusing. By the end of the first 5th of the book Alice had only just came to know about Manny. Maybe the pace really picks up towards the end as I didn't feel like I had gotten anywhere story-wise.
I could not get into the way it was written & the formatting at all to the point I could no longer struggle through this book.
I really wanted to love this book when I started reading it, the synopsis interested me but once I started it was very very slow and confusing. By the end of the first 5th of the book Alice had only just came to know about Manny. Maybe the pace really picks up towards the end as I didn't feel like I had gotten anywhere story-wise.
I could not get into the way it was written & the formatting at all to the point I could no longer struggle through this book.
March 11, 2018
I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Alice is a fifteen year old girl stuck at twelve. Not by any fault of her own, but because of something terrible that happened to her. Her brother, Joey, is always by her side. Never forsaking, as Alice would say. But Alice is also "the girl that Manny loves" and she suddenly wants to have Manny be part of her life. In this beautiful story, Alice must decide who she can trust, what defines her, and what she wants from this life.
I admit that it took me a little bit to get into the style of writing, but I don't think the writing style choice made the story worse. If anything, the style chosen by the author was a huge piece of the story. Since Alice is the primary narrator, it is told using the broken sentences that she able to create after her "accident." Being able to understand how her mind works is a big thing, and to be able to pull off an amazing story in this fashion is no small feat. While the world in the book is small and less detailed, it was focused on the sheltered life of a young girl who didn't see things like others did. Everything about this book was simplistic, but it functioned well. I liked the simple way of writing that this story had because it allowed me to focus on understanding Alice.
Alice is a fifteen year old girl stuck at twelve. Not by any fault of her own, but because of something terrible that happened to her. Her brother, Joey, is always by her side. Never forsaking, as Alice would say. But Alice is also "the girl that Manny loves" and she suddenly wants to have Manny be part of her life. In this beautiful story, Alice must decide who she can trust, what defines her, and what she wants from this life.
I admit that it took me a little bit to get into the style of writing, but I don't think the writing style choice made the story worse. If anything, the style chosen by the author was a huge piece of the story. Since Alice is the primary narrator, it is told using the broken sentences that she able to create after her "accident." Being able to understand how her mind works is a big thing, and to be able to pull off an amazing story in this fashion is no small feat. While the world in the book is small and less detailed, it was focused on the sheltered life of a young girl who didn't see things like others did. Everything about this book was simplistic, but it functioned well. I liked the simple way of writing that this story had because it allowed me to focus on understanding Alice.
February 1, 2016
I loved the character of Alice, and found her voice in her poetry very compelling. Joey her brother was a stunning character, protective and loving, and Manny's back story about Sierra Leone was heart breaking. This is a gut wrenching but ultimately uplifting read.
March 21, 2018
So our main character Alice has some trouble with her speech due to brain damage, however she is very intelligent and writes beautiful poetry. She finds it much easier to write down her words rather than speaking them. Enter Manny, a young orphan who discovers Alice's poetry and doesn't judge her by her disability and they quickly begin to grow close.
This book deals with a lot of sensitive topics, such as bullying and mental illness, as well as including a lot of diversity between the characters. Although I enjoyed the characters and watching their relationship develop, the book itself didn't really have a strong plot line. This book deals with a lot of intense and fairly sad topics, which isn't my favorite kind of book. I do believe books like this are important, however they are typically hard to read. Overall, I did enjoy the book, especially the unique characters and their developing relationship.
Thank you to Candlewick Press for sending me an ARC of this book.
This book deals with a lot of sensitive topics, such as bullying and mental illness, as well as including a lot of diversity between the characters. Although I enjoyed the characters and watching their relationship develop, the book itself didn't really have a strong plot line. This book deals with a lot of intense and fairly sad topics, which isn't my favorite kind of book. I do believe books like this are important, however they are typically hard to read. Overall, I did enjoy the book, especially the unique characters and their developing relationship.
Thank you to Candlewick Press for sending me an ARC of this book.
April 4, 2016
Sometimes a book will just sweep you away with its light and beauty. Stars at Oktober Bend was a dream to read, surprising, ethereal and consuming, yet grounded in the muddy fields and gum trees of country Australia. Where family and love combine in a story of one girl's bravery.
This book was suggested to me by a colleague, written by an Australian set in Australia, and promised to be both heartfelt and moving, everything that would draw me to a book. And yet I was surprised by how much I fell in love with this book. It started off slowly, until the pieces of this tale started falling into place and I found myself swept up in this delightful story.
Alice lives with her brother Joey and her Gram in a little stilted house on Oktober Bend. She is a poet and a dreamer. She cannot clearly remember what happened to make her forever twelve or her electrics go crazy. Writing is easier than trying to make her words work and it is much better to stay far away from the people in town who judge and point and do not care to understand. Stars at Oktober Bend is the story of Alice learning to feel fifteen, of Alice meeting Manny, the boy who reads her poetry, and of Alice remembering what happened that night under the Stars at Oktober Bend.
It took me a while but I finally connected Glenda Millard as the author of the picture book The Duck and the Darklings, which I loved. As with The Duck and the Darkling, Stars at Oktober Bend has the same poetic writing style, where things are never described in the usual way. A jail cell becomes a small room without stars and a grave is a forever bed. It's beautiful and also intriguing to read as you have to constantly guess what it could mean or if there is some other explanation for that description, and then there are the times that you chuckle and think of course, why don't we always call it that! It makes reading this book a journey, it makes the mystery of what happened all the more intriguing and the characters, especially Alice, all the more vibrant and endearing.
Find more reviews on my blog Madison's Library.
This book was suggested to me by a colleague, written by an Australian set in Australia, and promised to be both heartfelt and moving, everything that would draw me to a book. And yet I was surprised by how much I fell in love with this book. It started off slowly, until the pieces of this tale started falling into place and I found myself swept up in this delightful story.
Alice lives with her brother Joey and her Gram in a little stilted house on Oktober Bend. She is a poet and a dreamer. She cannot clearly remember what happened to make her forever twelve or her electrics go crazy. Writing is easier than trying to make her words work and it is much better to stay far away from the people in town who judge and point and do not care to understand. Stars at Oktober Bend is the story of Alice learning to feel fifteen, of Alice meeting Manny, the boy who reads her poetry, and of Alice remembering what happened that night under the Stars at Oktober Bend.
It took me a while but I finally connected Glenda Millard as the author of the picture book The Duck and the Darklings, which I loved. As with The Duck and the Darkling, Stars at Oktober Bend has the same poetic writing style, where things are never described in the usual way. A jail cell becomes a small room without stars and a grave is a forever bed. It's beautiful and also intriguing to read as you have to constantly guess what it could mean or if there is some other explanation for that description, and then there are the times that you chuckle and think of course, why don't we always call it that! It makes reading this book a journey, it makes the mystery of what happened all the more intriguing and the characters, especially Alice, all the more vibrant and endearing.
Find more reviews on my blog Madison's Library.
August 15, 2018
Oh my.... this book is a literary triumph.
It’s so original that it took my breath away!
Once you get used to the narrative style of the main character, and later on in the book when you understand why she speaks this way, you will become so endeared by it that you won’t even notice anymore. It’s like reading pages and pages of poetry.
It’s a lovely story although tragic, and you will find yourself willing for a contented ending.
I’m still thinking about it hours later. Just beautiful 💞
It’s so original that it took my breath away!
Once you get used to the narrative style of the main character, and later on in the book when you understand why she speaks this way, you will become so endeared by it that you won’t even notice anymore. It’s like reading pages and pages of poetry.
It’s a lovely story although tragic, and you will find yourself willing for a contented ending.
I’m still thinking about it hours later. Just beautiful 💞
January 30, 2016
I discovered Glenda Millard's talent for ripping your heart out and stomping on it while somehow highlighting the hope and joy in the world when I read - and was blown away by - A Small Free Kiss In The Dark. The Stars at Oktober Bend is every bit as stunning, filled with beautiful writing and a main character who has just become my new favourite YA heroine. Highly recommended for readers 14+.
August 7, 2018
I’ve been reading a lot of extremely moving books lately and this one has definitely been added to this list. At first I thought this one was going to be written in verse, but it wasn’t, though it was written in a way that flowed so lyrically it was hard to put down. It was very character driven and was hard not to fall in love with each and every one of them (the main ones anyways). I was a very beautifully written, moving story that immersed me from the beginning.
I feel like you get a real look into Alice, and how she feels about everything happening around her. She is very intelligent, and uses her poetry to express the things she has a hard time articulating. She radiates hope, even when having to deal with people not understanding her (speech wise and what’s inside).
If you are looking for a beautifully written and depicted story about tolerance and acceptance, give this one a go. Be prepared it is tough to get used to the writing style immediately, but is more than worth it to stick it out. This. Is a story that needs to be told and the author really did it stunningly.
I feel like you get a real look into Alice, and how she feels about everything happening around her. She is very intelligent, and uses her poetry to express the things she has a hard time articulating. She radiates hope, even when having to deal with people not understanding her (speech wise and what’s inside).
If you are looking for a beautifully written and depicted story about tolerance and acceptance, give this one a go. Be prepared it is tough to get used to the writing style immediately, but is more than worth it to stick it out. This. Is a story that needs to be told and the author really did it stunningly.
May 1, 2016
Alice has been twelve for a long time, ever since it happened. Alice lives with her younger/older brother, Joey, her dog, Bear, and Gram on the floodplain at Bridgewater. Their lives are hard, the town thinks them to be poor and worthless, but Alice and Bear and Joey and Gram and Papa (who's in prison) are family. The family Nightingale.
Alice can't go to school. Her words jumble between her head and her mouth, but they spill out on onto the page in short poems that express what Alice can't say out loud.
People think Alice is 'slow' but she is whip smart. She sees the town and the people. She knows how some of them are. What some of them are. When she sees Manny, with french-knots in his hair, Alice knows he is different. Special. But she also knows that no-one will ever notice her. No-one will ever really see her.
This is a quietly moving book, full of Millard trademark wordsmithery and thoughtful observations. Her descriptions of the world that Alice moves in are, quite literally, poetic.
I've taken a star for the lack of capital letters. The number of times I had to re-read a sentence or paragraph because the cues, and consequently the meaning, were lost was frustrating. Understanding the motivation behind it (yes, I felt like Alice, yes, I understood her frustrations) didn't make it any more enjoyable to read. The beauty of the prose was lost in translation. It was not until about two-thirds of the way through that it started to become less noticeable, but by then I found that there were many things from the start of the story that had been obscured as a result of this design decision.
This is still a recommended read for me. I was genuinely moved by all the people, from Alice and Manny, to Gram and Papa, and Joey and Tilda - and kind Louisa James is that sort of side character that reveals most about the heart of the story. Glenda Millard is the queen of this gentle, deep and thoughtful storytelling. Long may she write.
Alice can't go to school. Her words jumble between her head and her mouth, but they spill out on onto the page in short poems that express what Alice can't say out loud.
school is loud too
many people
joey brings me
books teaches
me things looks
after me.
People think Alice is 'slow' but she is whip smart. She sees the town and the people. She knows how some of them are. What some of them are. When she sees Manny, with french-knots in his hair, Alice knows he is different. Special. But she also knows that no-one will ever notice her. No-one will ever really see her.
This is a quietly moving book, full of Millard trademark wordsmithery and thoughtful observations. Her descriptions of the world that Alice moves in are, quite literally, poetic.
i sank low
on the pebbled riverbed and watched
my words metamorphose into
pure and perfect bubbles
saw them rise and ride
the current
down-streaming,
imagined them floating
to the ocean
to canada and april,
didn't know
or care if i was
un-fifteen-like
i was
alice-like.
I've taken a star for the lack of capital letters. The number of times I had to re-read a sentence or paragraph because the cues, and consequently the meaning, were lost was frustrating. Understanding the motivation behind it (yes, I felt like Alice, yes, I understood her frustrations) didn't make it any more enjoyable to read. The beauty of the prose was lost in translation. It was not until about two-thirds of the way through that it started to become less noticeable, but by then I found that there were many things from the start of the story that had been obscured as a result of this design decision.
This is still a recommended read for me. I was genuinely moved by all the people, from Alice and Manny, to Gram and Papa, and Joey and Tilda - and kind Louisa James is that sort of side character that reveals most about the heart of the story. Glenda Millard is the queen of this gentle, deep and thoughtful storytelling. Long may she write.
March 29, 2017
This is a book to stick with and get used to...and I wonder whether many teen readers will bother.
From the outset, and for a good part of the story, it is quite hard to follow Alice's thoughts. She writes with no capital letters, random punctuation and sentence construction. This makes it quite hard work to follow her thoughts/story - deliberately so - and it's only once we become attuned to her voice that we start to see beyond the surface.
Alice is fifteen. She lives with her brother, Joey, and her ill grandmother. The family are ostracised by many in their town because Alice's grandfather is in prison. When we learn why, we become a lot less judgemental.
The story centres on the developing friendship between Alice and Manny, a young boy from Sierra Leone. These two have endured horrific experiences, and lived through almost unimaginable horrors. These are revealed, though not in great detail and certainly not gratuitously, and I was amazed at their positivity and innocence.
There was a moment where I feared we were going to get an awfully bleak story. Thankfully, the storm that threatens Oktober Bend brought about a very different series of events to those we might have expected. While it wasn't wholly positive there was a definite sense of survival and hope.
A complicated book in some ways, but worth persevering with.
From the outset, and for a good part of the story, it is quite hard to follow Alice's thoughts. She writes with no capital letters, random punctuation and sentence construction. This makes it quite hard work to follow her thoughts/story - deliberately so - and it's only once we become attuned to her voice that we start to see beyond the surface.
Alice is fifteen. She lives with her brother, Joey, and her ill grandmother. The family are ostracised by many in their town because Alice's grandfather is in prison. When we learn why, we become a lot less judgemental.
The story centres on the developing friendship between Alice and Manny, a young boy from Sierra Leone. These two have endured horrific experiences, and lived through almost unimaginable horrors. These are revealed, though not in great detail and certainly not gratuitously, and I was amazed at their positivity and innocence.
There was a moment where I feared we were going to get an awfully bleak story. Thankfully, the storm that threatens Oktober Bend brought about a very different series of events to those we might have expected. While it wasn't wholly positive there was a definite sense of survival and hope.
A complicated book in some ways, but worth persevering with.
March 14, 2017
Alice is broken - due to a brain injury she sustained when she was twelve. Speech is difficult for her, but she finds release in her poetry. Then she meets Manny - Manny is also broken, and has flown his country because of war.
This love story, and much more than a love story is narrated by both Manny and Alice. Alice's story is told without capital letters ( to reflect her brain injury, and how she thinks) and does take some getting used to.
Joey her brother, is fiercely protective. Joey and Alice live with Gram - who is very ill, and needs a lot of care.
Life is not easy.
As the book progresses we are drip- fed information about what happened to Alice, and how it has impacted on those around her.
It is certainly poetic, it is certainly mysterious, and it is certainly worth reading.
This love story, and much more than a love story is narrated by both Manny and Alice. Alice's story is told without capital letters ( to reflect her brain injury, and how she thinks) and does take some getting used to.
Joey her brother, is fiercely protective. Joey and Alice live with Gram - who is very ill, and needs a lot of care.
Life is not easy.
As the book progresses we are drip- fed information about what happened to Alice, and how it has impacted on those around her.
It is certainly poetic, it is certainly mysterious, and it is certainly worth reading.
January 23, 2017
This is quite a difficult book to get into and I very nearly gave up, however, it is worth giving it a bit extra and getting into the style of the writing. When your 'electrics' are messed up, your words are not going to come out smoothly and that is the very point of Alice's story. Try and get to the bit where Manny's story comes into play.
The words that Millard uses to describe things are exquisite - truly wonderful, unusual and captivating. Very highly recommended to able readers - by that I mean people who read a lot and can persevere enough to get past the start. Ages? Year 10-13 (ages 14-18) and bear in mind that it is a southern hemisphere book so July is cold.
The words that Millard uses to describe things are exquisite - truly wonderful, unusual and captivating. Very highly recommended to able readers - by that I mean people who read a lot and can persevere enough to get past the start. Ages? Year 10-13 (ages 14-18) and bear in mind that it is a southern hemisphere book so July is cold.
June 15, 2017
This book alternated between 2 stars and 3 stars for me. I found it very difficult to read/stay engaged in the story at some points. However the parts that did engage me were so full of emotion that I decided it wasn't fair to just give it 2 stars.
February 7, 2016
Powerful, wonderful beautifully written story. Loved it. Cried over it. Loved Alice and Manny, Joey and even Gram in her own funny way.
August 27, 2022
Real Rating: 3.75* of five, rounded up because it gave me so much when I needed it
The Publisher Says: i am the girl manny loves. the girl who writes our story in the book of flying. i am alice.
Alice is fifteen, with hair as red as fire and skin as pale as bone. Something inside Alice is broken: she remembers words, but struggles to speak them. Still, Alice knows that words are for sharing, so she pins them to posters in tucked-away places: railway waiting rooms, fish-and-chips shops, quiet corners. Manny is sixteen, with a scar from shoulder to elbow. Something inside Manny is broken, too: he once was a child soldier, forced to do terrible, violent things. But in a new land with people who care for him, Manny explores the small town on foot. And in his pocket, he carries a poem he scooped up, a poem whose words he knows by heart. The relationship between Alice and Manny will be the beginning of love and healing. And for these two young souls, perhaps, that will be good enough.
Beautiful, lyrical prose, told in two voices, lifts up a poignant story of two traumatized teens who find each other in a small riverside town.
I RECEIVED AN ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK YOU.
My Review: The end of 2015 was a time that I, personally, was healing from some awful emotional and psychic wounds. At that moment, I wasn't really up to reading adult-level books. I thought that, since they're aimed at people of (say) twelve or thirteen, YA books would be about perfect for me. Not too rough, not too simplistic.
You idiot, I want to find my younger, more naïve self and shout at him.
This is a charming story of young love, of the viperous depredations of haters inculcated in a sense of their own superiority and imperviousness to blame, of the astounding prices we exact from those too weak to resist. They're all done up in ribbons of florid language in this book, and the use of typographical tomfoolery...Alice's narration is without capitals, while Manny's is in a blocky sans-serif type and in very English-as-a-second-language words...is pervasive. In fact it sort of defines the ethos and the aesthetic of the story. Which explains the missing stars.
Yes, it will appeal to the target audience. No, it did nothing but detract from the touching story being told. The stars stay gone.
Small-town stardom and the general veneration in US culture for sports stars at all levels is under very effective attack in this story. Manny is a child soldier being gentled into mainstream society by some very good souls. His father figure, Bull, is a former high-school sports phenom. It's natural that Manny would map his own efforts onto Bull's pattern. That he is good at it is the source of his worst, most believable crisis.
Alice is, it's fair to say, a social outcast from a family of them. She's neurodivergent, she's a poet, she's all sorts of things people feel skittish about. She has Bear, a medical-assistance dog, which frankly was something I'd been largely unaware of the existence of for people like Alice. So it was natural and inescapable that their outsiderness calls each to the other. There really is no way to argue that it would ever be otherwise, either in reality or in fiction. Alice's father is in prison, her mother ran the hell away from the troubles, and her brother Joey has designs on a girl above his station. That girl's brother, the sports star, decides he'll make absolutely sure he drives a spike into these designs and uses Manny and Alice as his sledgehammer.
Stuff gets ugly. Stuff happens that inevitably will happen in every life. And all of it in the silly-buggers typography that caused me, too many times to count, to go back and forth and back and forth to figure out if we're still in the same sentence because NO CAPS = NO BREAKS!
Well, anyway, that's the old man speaking. And you'll notice that I finished the book, so the story obviously offered me something I wanted enough to keep laboriously decoding the damn thing.
That it did. Alice and Manny. Joey and Tilda. Bull and Louisa. People doing more than the minimum, for no reason other than it's the right thing to do. People reaching into each other's dark places and standing with the whole person not just the pretty, easy bits.
It's a well-made story that takes us on a realistic enough journey through a culture in the throes of challenge and change. So much for a simple, easy-to-process little story, eh what?
The Publisher Says: i am the girl manny loves. the girl who writes our story in the book of flying. i am alice.
Alice is fifteen, with hair as red as fire and skin as pale as bone. Something inside Alice is broken: she remembers words, but struggles to speak them. Still, Alice knows that words are for sharing, so she pins them to posters in tucked-away places: railway waiting rooms, fish-and-chips shops, quiet corners. Manny is sixteen, with a scar from shoulder to elbow. Something inside Manny is broken, too: he once was a child soldier, forced to do terrible, violent things. But in a new land with people who care for him, Manny explores the small town on foot. And in his pocket, he carries a poem he scooped up, a poem whose words he knows by heart. The relationship between Alice and Manny will be the beginning of love and healing. And for these two young souls, perhaps, that will be good enough.
Beautiful, lyrical prose, told in two voices, lifts up a poignant story of two traumatized teens who find each other in a small riverside town.
I RECEIVED AN ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK YOU.
My Review: The end of 2015 was a time that I, personally, was healing from some awful emotional and psychic wounds. At that moment, I wasn't really up to reading adult-level books. I thought that, since they're aimed at people of (say) twelve or thirteen, YA books would be about perfect for me. Not too rough, not too simplistic.
You idiot, I want to find my younger, more naïve self and shout at him.
This is a charming story of young love, of the viperous depredations of haters inculcated in a sense of their own superiority and imperviousness to blame, of the astounding prices we exact from those too weak to resist. They're all done up in ribbons of florid language in this book, and the use of typographical tomfoolery...Alice's narration is without capitals, while Manny's is in a blocky sans-serif type and in very English-as-a-second-language words...is pervasive. In fact it sort of defines the ethos and the aesthetic of the story. Which explains the missing stars.
Yes, it will appeal to the target audience. No, it did nothing but detract from the touching story being told. The stars stay gone.
Small-town stardom and the general veneration in US culture for sports stars at all levels is under very effective attack in this story. Manny is a child soldier being gentled into mainstream society by some very good souls. His father figure, Bull, is a former high-school sports phenom. It's natural that Manny would map his own efforts onto Bull's pattern. That he is good at it is the source of his worst, most believable crisis.
Alice is, it's fair to say, a social outcast from a family of them. She's neurodivergent, she's a poet, she's all sorts of things people feel skittish about. She has Bear, a medical-assistance dog, which frankly was something I'd been largely unaware of the existence of for people like Alice. So it was natural and inescapable that their outsiderness calls each to the other. There really is no way to argue that it would ever be otherwise, either in reality or in fiction. Alice's father is in prison, her mother ran the hell away from the troubles, and her brother Joey has designs on a girl above his station. That girl's brother, the sports star, decides he'll make absolutely sure he drives a spike into these designs and uses Manny and Alice as his sledgehammer.
Stuff gets ugly. Stuff happens that inevitably will happen in every life. And all of it in the silly-buggers typography that caused me, too many times to count, to go back and forth and back and forth to figure out if we're still in the same sentence because NO CAPS = NO BREAKS!
Well, anyway, that's the old man speaking. And you'll notice that I finished the book, so the story obviously offered me something I wanted enough to keep laboriously decoding the damn thing.
That it did. Alice and Manny. Joey and Tilda. Bull and Louisa. People doing more than the minimum, for no reason other than it's the right thing to do. People reaching into each other's dark places and standing with the whole person not just the pretty, easy bits.
It's a well-made story that takes us on a realistic enough journey through a culture in the throes of challenge and change. So much for a simple, easy-to-process little story, eh what?
July 15, 2019
I want to keep this review as simple, direct, and quick. For me, things the book surely isn't. I found it complex, flowery, and draggy.
Honestly, it took me months to finish this book. I started reading a third of the book then took a long break after that and finished it after a few months later. At the start of the story, it was very slow-paced and I hoped that there would be better progress in the chapters to come. It did build up for a few moments but then I felt that the story lost its momentum after half of it.
The idea of the book containing both prose and poetry excited me so I decided to read it. I did enjoy the small bits of poetry written by Alice. But once there was prose involved in the switching perspectives of Alice and Manny, things just got more confusing and it continued as the story went by.
The book did talk about heart-warming themes such as family, friends, love, etc. I saw that but to be honest, I just didn't feel it. The blurb intrigued me which made me curious. But as for the plot, it wasn't clear to me or maybe I just didn't understand it. The characters were okay, I guess and there was representation which was great. I didn't like or hate any of them so I think that's alright.
In conclusion, The Stars at Oktober Bend just didn't work for me. Maybe my expectations were just too high. I could say that it was good at the beginning and at the end of the story. I liked the poetry but other than that, I feel in-between about this up until now.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a copy. This review is also posted on my BookLikes page.
Honestly, it took me months to finish this book. I started reading a third of the book then took a long break after that and finished it after a few months later. At the start of the story, it was very slow-paced and I hoped that there would be better progress in the chapters to come. It did build up for a few moments but then I felt that the story lost its momentum after half of it.
The idea of the book containing both prose and poetry excited me so I decided to read it. I did enjoy the small bits of poetry written by Alice. But once there was prose involved in the switching perspectives of Alice and Manny, things just got more confusing and it continued as the story went by.
The book did talk about heart-warming themes such as family, friends, love, etc. I saw that but to be honest, I just didn't feel it. The blurb intrigued me which made me curious. But as for the plot, it wasn't clear to me or maybe I just didn't understand it. The characters were okay, I guess and there was representation which was great. I didn't like or hate any of them so I think that's alright.
In conclusion, The Stars at Oktober Bend just didn't work for me. Maybe my expectations were just too high. I could say that it was good at the beginning and at the end of the story. I liked the poetry but other than that, I feel in-between about this up until now.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a copy. This review is also posted on my BookLikes page.
May 11, 2018
If you want a book to rip your heart out and wring out every last drop of emotion, you need to pick up this book NOW.
Alice is different, Alice is special, and you will never forget her. She is fifteen, but may always be twelve because of an acquired brain injury, she struggles to speak, but my word can she write...her only real way of expressing herself is in the snippets and fragments of poetry she carries around with her, and occasionally gives to those she cares about. Living with her elderly Grandmother and her brother on the edge of town, while she rarely mixes with other young people, but still manages to catch the eye of Manny,
A new comer to Oktober Bend, Manny does not know about the tragedy in Alice's past , but his own past has been far from easy, as a child soldier in SIerra Leone, he has witnessed things that no child should see. When these two damaged souls find each other, they being to bring about a mutual healing that will change them both forever.
This book is simply beautiful, from the powerfully observant poetry of Alice, to the beautiful way the story is slowly allowed to unfurl and draw the reader in, and draw me in it did. I was so captivated that I read it in a single sitting, getting a little choked up as I did so. Alice may not be a kick ass warrior or a superhero in tights and cape , but she is a hero in her own way, and strong too. She may be one of my favorite new characters, and I feel both she and her story will stay with me for a long long time.
The use of a first person narrator may not be to everyone's taste but I think it works spectacularly well here, really evoking Alice's daily struggles for the reader.
Alice is different, Alice is special, and you will never forget her. She is fifteen, but may always be twelve because of an acquired brain injury, she struggles to speak, but my word can she write...her only real way of expressing herself is in the snippets and fragments of poetry she carries around with her, and occasionally gives to those she cares about. Living with her elderly Grandmother and her brother on the edge of town, while she rarely mixes with other young people, but still manages to catch the eye of Manny,
A new comer to Oktober Bend, Manny does not know about the tragedy in Alice's past , but his own past has been far from easy, as a child soldier in SIerra Leone, he has witnessed things that no child should see. When these two damaged souls find each other, they being to bring about a mutual healing that will change them both forever.
This book is simply beautiful, from the powerfully observant poetry of Alice, to the beautiful way the story is slowly allowed to unfurl and draw the reader in, and draw me in it did. I was so captivated that I read it in a single sitting, getting a little choked up as I did so. Alice may not be a kick ass warrior or a superhero in tights and cape , but she is a hero in her own way, and strong too. She may be one of my favorite new characters, and I feel both she and her story will stay with me for a long long time.
The use of a first person narrator may not be to everyone's taste but I think it works spectacularly well here, really evoking Alice's daily struggles for the reader.
August 5, 2025
3 ⭐
0 🌶️
Well well well, I sort of enjoy it. It was mid let's say it was mid. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it...
First of all Alice Nightgale
I understand the way how she was and how she evolved during the book, nothing was rushed and extremely real. I only found her POV's quite confusing (but again how her character is build is how it is written very logical) but it was just not for me.
Second of all Manny James
HELLO?! CAN I GIVE HIM A HUG?! I understood his POV much better and his past made me sob actually their both pasts made me sob because they were so broken but they ended up so healed by each other
Third of all the plot
Well that was the good part of the book because the plot was good. The poems, the storyline, their struggles and how they face it, thier longing, their pasts were all so good written but (little spoiler ahead watch out! buuuut Grams didn't need to be killed! (Pag 57 was so sad)
Quotes
page 32: desire. My Desire is, to be, understood, my soul is filled, with songbirds, but when I open myself to, set them free, they shit, on my lips - Anon
page 157 "You're a lot more than what's between your legs. A lot more, girl" - Grams
page 218 "There is always someone who thinks we're not good enough." - Joey Nightgale
0 🌶️
Well well well, I sort of enjoy it. It was mid let's say it was mid. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it...
First of all Alice Nightgale
I understand the way how she was and how she evolved during the book, nothing was rushed and extremely real. I only found her POV's quite confusing (but again how her character is build is how it is written very logical) but it was just not for me.
Second of all Manny James
HELLO?! CAN I GIVE HIM A HUG?! I understood his POV much better and his past made me sob actually their both pasts made me sob because they were so broken but they ended up so healed by each other
Third of all the plot
Well that was the good part of the book because the plot was good. The poems, the storyline, their struggles and how they face it, thier longing, their pasts were all so good written but (little spoiler ahead watch out! buuuut Grams didn't need to be killed! (Pag 57 was so sad)
Quotes
page 32: desire. My Desire is, to be, understood, my soul is filled, with songbirds, but when I open myself to, set them free, they shit, on my lips - Anon
page 157 "You're a lot more than what's between your legs. A lot more, girl" - Grams
page 218 "There is always someone who thinks we're not good enough." - Joey Nightgale
April 2, 2018
From the outside, this book looks just like any other YA. But what I found inside, the story, has left a huge impression on me and it's the best book I've read this year, so far.
The story created by Glenda Millard is truly moving and memorable. It's mainly about tolerance - for people who are sick, poor, have a different skin colour, religion or simply are different. If you give it a chance, you might find the writing a bit odd at first but the reason for it will be revealed later and let me just say it left me completely dumbfounded. The author generally touches upon a lot of serious issues but does it so well, I was often left speechless but I was happy that in the end, the book left me with hope. It was emotionally draining for me but also a fantastic read that I would definitely recommend.
The story created by Glenda Millard is truly moving and memorable. It's mainly about tolerance - for people who are sick, poor, have a different skin colour, religion or simply are different. If you give it a chance, you might find the writing a bit odd at first but the reason for it will be revealed later and let me just say it left me completely dumbfounded. The author generally touches upon a lot of serious issues but does it so well, I was often left speechless but I was happy that in the end, the book left me with hope. It was emotionally draining for me but also a fantastic read that I would definitely recommend.
May 31, 2022
Filled with emotion and enchantment, Glenda Millard narrates a very sensitive story with characters that become very close to your heart.
I bought this book at a second hand book sale for a 100 rupees with no expectations. The summary at the back of the book vaguely intrigued me.
The book was absolutely worth it!
The book revolves around a family dealing with loss in different ways, and how they fill in the holes left by the losses. I loved how the word 'broken' acquired different meanings through the evolution of the story. (That is just one example of the deep metaphors the author uses in this book)
Alice is a beautiful girl, I loved the depth of her thoughts and emotions and I felt she expressed herself beautifully through her poetry. According to the story, it is expressing herself verbally that she struggles with due to her traumatic injuries in the past.
Manny's character to me was symbolic of hope, Joey's of strength and Tilda's of righteousness.
Bear of course was the cherry on top.
This book doesn't offer much of a 'story'... it deals more with human emotion and the power of forgiveness (even if it means forgiving yourself)... and watching each of the characters evolve, drawing a little help from each other was satisfying to say the least.
Lastly, I'd like to comment about the title of the book- It's almost magical how well it fits both literally and metaphorically, completing the visual imagery the book creates.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who's going through a tough time (or not!) because it offers so much strength, courage and heart.
I bought this book at a second hand book sale for a 100 rupees with no expectations. The summary at the back of the book vaguely intrigued me.
The book was absolutely worth it!
The book revolves around a family dealing with loss in different ways, and how they fill in the holes left by the losses. I loved how the word 'broken' acquired different meanings through the evolution of the story. (That is just one example of the deep metaphors the author uses in this book)
Alice is a beautiful girl, I loved the depth of her thoughts and emotions and I felt she expressed herself beautifully through her poetry. According to the story, it is expressing herself verbally that she struggles with due to her traumatic injuries in the past.
Manny's character to me was symbolic of hope, Joey's of strength and Tilda's of righteousness.
Bear of course was the cherry on top.
This book doesn't offer much of a 'story'... it deals more with human emotion and the power of forgiveness (even if it means forgiving yourself)... and watching each of the characters evolve, drawing a little help from each other was satisfying to say the least.
Lastly, I'd like to comment about the title of the book- It's almost magical how well it fits both literally and metaphorically, completing the visual imagery the book creates.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who's going through a tough time (or not!) because it offers so much strength, courage and heart.
February 13, 2018
My review was posted on YA Books Central:
http://www.yabookscentral.com/explore...
http://www.yabookscentral.com/explore...
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