"In most ways, Mibs, we Beaumonts are just like other people...We get born, and sometime later we die. And in between, we're happy and sad, we feel love and we feel fear, we eat and we sleep and we hurt like everyone else."
—Momma, Savvy, PP. 97-98
"But as I grew up, I began to understand that a savvy is just a know-how of a different sort."
—Savvy, P. 122
Magnificent.
Honestly, I really am at something of a loss for what else to say about this book. I feel as if a review of this book should live up to the standards of the narrative itself, but how is that possible?
It has been quite a while since I have read a novel as emotionally charged and filled with strong, warm characters as Savvy. In particular, the beautifully nuanced and astonishingly real personalities of Samson Beaumont and Will Jr. absolutely leapt off the page and grabbed a hold of my heart, deeply investing me in the story right from the very beginning. Being able to go on this incredible literary journey that seemed to last a much shorter time than three hundred forty-two pages was a fascinating and pulse-pounding ride that will burn brightly in my best memories for years and years to come.
"I suppose you can never tell right off who might have a piece of Prince Charming deep down inside."
—Savvy, P. 198
"You never can tell when a bad thing might make a good thing happen. I realized that good and bad were always there and always mixed up together in a tangle."
—Savvy, P. 302
Ingrid Law is a splendid writer, whose skill with words, characters and emotions really seem to be excelled by few, if any. When an author has the ability to spin a tense, climactic story while lining the text with grace notes of warm, sapient wisdom, then that is an author to really watch. That is the mark of an extraordinary writer, and Ingrid Law most definitely has those skills.
It might be only as the years slip into the future that the full impact of this amazing book on my life will make itself manifest. I know that it has changed me in profound ways, and that just doesn't happen for me with more than a few handfuls of the most special books out there. I feel truly honored and amazed to have experienced Savvy.
2008 is a year of exceptional books; too many to all list here, in fact. Only a few of the best include Smiles to Go by Jerry Spinelli, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, Guardian by Julius Lester, Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park, Outside Beauty by Cynthia Kadohata, Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I'm surprising myself by saying this, but in this great year of literature, I think that my choice for the 2009 Newbery Medal would have to be, Savvy.
This is a tremendous piece of literature, movingly created by an author whose future offerings already have my full attention and respect. I very rarely give five stars to any book, but I give it freely for this one. Excellent performance, Ingrid Law. Bravo.
"I began to realize how hard it was to separate all the voices to hear the single, strong one that came just from me."
—Mibs Beaumont, Savvy, P. 238