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Asta in the Wings: A Novel
Asta in the Wings is the poignant and often darkly funny story of Asta Hewitt, a resourceful seven-year-old growing up in rural Maine. Isolated from the outside world by their delusional mother, Asta and her bookish older brother, Orion, are content constructing their own fanciful, make-believe world. When circumstances push them into the strange outside world—with all of its discontents—Asta must find a way to assimilate while remaining true to herself and her fractured family.
314 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2009
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575 people want to read
About the author
Jan Elizabeth Watson
5 books37 followersJan Elizabeth Watson lives in Maine. ASTA IN THE WINGS is her first novel. Her widely anticipated second novel, WHAT HAS BECOME OF YOU, will be published in May, 2014. For more about the author, visit: http://janelizabethwatsonwriter.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews
August 21, 2018
this book is like a combination of Room and Lullabies for Little Criminals. the perspective is that of asta, seven-year-old girl whose single mother has never allowed her outside of the house. her older brother has been outside, but not since asta was three or so. their mother tells them there is a plague afoot, among other dangers, and these precautions are for their own protection. they are homeschooled and left alone while she goes off to work, leaving them with canned food and rules about how much they are to eat.
they can see each rib and each knob of their spines, so i'll let you think about that for a little bit.
and yet, they are perfectly, purely happy. they exist in their own personal world with their family and their imaginations and their education. and while it is clear to the reader, if not the children, that mommy is a little batshit, there seems to be a lot of joy in their lives.
of course, when a situation forces them from their idyllic space into the real world, they become aware of the realities and the lies. and it gets a little ambiguous from there on out. once the children are exposed to the outside world, their struggle begins. they are separated, losing all the home and family they have ever known all at once. they are exposed to food, color tv, other people, and it is all confusion and wonderment. but it is never about despair. fear - yes, hopelessness, no.
because the perspective is that of a clearly much older asta looking back on her experiences, there is an adult understanding that the seven-year-old girl did not have at the time, but the narrative retains a wide-eyed freshness that makes it clear that a part of asta has never grown up. but there is no bitterness, there is no blame. nor is there gratitude for having been "rescued". the tone is candid, a little wistful, but pretty clear-eyed.
this is not a horror story; this is not dogtooth. much of what these children experienced is shown to have been beneficial, in a way. despite what most people would view as deprivations, there is also a certain amount of protection. and a stripping away of distractions that makes both asta and orion more intelligent, more inquisitive, more resourceful than their spoiled, restless peers. there is a beauty to the way their mother cultivated them, even though there was so much of it that was misguided and detrimental.
but it makes for a completely fascinating book.
left to their own devices, this probably would have devolved into grey gardens-style collapse, but as it stands, it tells a remarkable story of resilience and moral complexity.
so good.
come to my blog!
they can see each rib and each knob of their spines, so i'll let you think about that for a little bit.
and yet, they are perfectly, purely happy. they exist in their own personal world with their family and their imaginations and their education. and while it is clear to the reader, if not the children, that mommy is a little batshit, there seems to be a lot of joy in their lives.
of course, when a situation forces them from their idyllic space into the real world, they become aware of the realities and the lies. and it gets a little ambiguous from there on out. once the children are exposed to the outside world, their struggle begins. they are separated, losing all the home and family they have ever known all at once. they are exposed to food, color tv, other people, and it is all confusion and wonderment. but it is never about despair. fear - yes, hopelessness, no.
because the perspective is that of a clearly much older asta looking back on her experiences, there is an adult understanding that the seven-year-old girl did not have at the time, but the narrative retains a wide-eyed freshness that makes it clear that a part of asta has never grown up. but there is no bitterness, there is no blame. nor is there gratitude for having been "rescued". the tone is candid, a little wistful, but pretty clear-eyed.
this is not a horror story; this is not dogtooth. much of what these children experienced is shown to have been beneficial, in a way. despite what most people would view as deprivations, there is also a certain amount of protection. and a stripping away of distractions that makes both asta and orion more intelligent, more inquisitive, more resourceful than their spoiled, restless peers. there is a beauty to the way their mother cultivated them, even though there was so much of it that was misguided and detrimental.
but it makes for a completely fascinating book.
left to their own devices, this probably would have devolved into grey gardens-style collapse, but as it stands, it tells a remarkable story of resilience and moral complexity.
so good.
come to my blog!
September 5, 2019
Ho sempre trovato la follia interessante.
Affascinante.
Il modo in cui la nostra mente è in grado di generare voci, visioni, paure, terrori sconosciuti, anche quando l’intero mondo esterno testimonia la loro infondatezza. Nel bellissimo libro della Watson, la follia non è un qualcosa di eclatante, non rimbomba in ogni pagina;” La prigione di neve”, la follia è un qualcosa di riflesso. Noi sappiamo che è lì, possiamo percepirne la presenza, è chiara, nitida, ma trasparente. Ci sono due bambini. Asta e Orion. Sette anni lei, nove lui. Piccoli particolari dosati qua e là ci aiutano a dipingere un quadro dalle tinte fosche: sono chiusi in casa, anzi: barricati. Carta catramata ricopre le finestre, catenacci si rincorrono sulla porta di ingresso, il cibo scarseggia.
La voce di Asta si muove lungo stanze illuminate da una luce fioca, ed è la sua assoluta spontaneità a fare luce su quello che potremmo chiamare “un quieto orrore”. Quello che colpisce, e in qualche modo atterrisce, il lettore, è la dolcezza, l’assoluta dedizione con la quale questa bambina parla di sua madre. Nemmeno per un momento la sfiora il dubbio di una menzogna, e come potrebbe accadere?
Quello che ci tiene avvinti alla storia è lei: Asta. Il suo amore incondizionato per la madre. La sua passione per un libro di cinema zeppo di fotografie di star del muto. L’affetto per Orion, l’attenzione ai dettagli.
Asta è una piccola, lucida, palpitante osservatrice, il suo respiro lieve esce dalla pagina per giungere a noi, e l’eco dei suoi passi svelti continua a risuonare dopo l’ultima pagina.
Affascinante.
Il modo in cui la nostra mente è in grado di generare voci, visioni, paure, terrori sconosciuti, anche quando l’intero mondo esterno testimonia la loro infondatezza. Nel bellissimo libro della Watson, la follia non è un qualcosa di eclatante, non rimbomba in ogni pagina;” La prigione di neve”, la follia è un qualcosa di riflesso. Noi sappiamo che è lì, possiamo percepirne la presenza, è chiara, nitida, ma trasparente. Ci sono due bambini. Asta e Orion. Sette anni lei, nove lui. Piccoli particolari dosati qua e là ci aiutano a dipingere un quadro dalle tinte fosche: sono chiusi in casa, anzi: barricati. Carta catramata ricopre le finestre, catenacci si rincorrono sulla porta di ingresso, il cibo scarseggia.
La voce di Asta si muove lungo stanze illuminate da una luce fioca, ed è la sua assoluta spontaneità a fare luce su quello che potremmo chiamare “un quieto orrore”. Quello che colpisce, e in qualche modo atterrisce, il lettore, è la dolcezza, l’assoluta dedizione con la quale questa bambina parla di sua madre. Nemmeno per un momento la sfiora il dubbio di una menzogna, e come potrebbe accadere?
Quello che ci tiene avvinti alla storia è lei: Asta. Il suo amore incondizionato per la madre. La sua passione per un libro di cinema zeppo di fotografie di star del muto. L’affetto per Orion, l’attenzione ai dettagli.
Asta è una piccola, lucida, palpitante osservatrice, il suo respiro lieve esce dalla pagina per giungere a noi, e l’eco dei suoi passi svelti continua a risuonare dopo l’ultima pagina.
January 29, 2009
“With this, her excellent debut novel, Watson makes quick work of a setup that could prove challenging for even seasoned authors. Seven-year-old Asta grows up in rural Maine in the late 1970s, where she and her sickly nine-year-old brother, Orion, are kept locked in their house by their crazy mother, who fills their heads with tales of the plague-ravaged wasteland waiting outside their door. Equipped with little beyond what their mother provides, the children are wildly creative, surprisingly intelligent and share a deep bond with each other. But when their mother disappears and the two venture outside, they face the real world and real people for the first time. As Asta processes what’s going on and is separated from her brother, she’s reluctant to recognize what was wrong with her previous life. Asta’s narration is full of the wonderment and matter-of-factness of youth, and her eye-opening trip into reality is flawlessly executed by Watson.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"In this extraordinary debut novel, seven-year-old Asta and her malnourished nine-year-old brother, Orion, who live in a small town in Maine, have long been isolated from the outside world. Told by their mother that a plague has devastated the world, they have not set foot outside the house in years, although the two have formed a deep bond based on their richly imaginative play. Then their mother fails to come home from work, and the siblings set out to look for her. Watson vividly renders their first contact with others, including a surly store clerk, a pack of mean-spirited schoolchildren, and a kindly bus driver, from Asta’s awestruck perspective as she slowly comes to grips with the fact that everything her mother told her was a lie. She is unwilling to acknowledge, at first, that there was anything amiss in her family life, although she is quick to perceive that people do not treat her with nearly the same careful attentiveness as her brother does. Sensitive and intelligent, Asta struggles to reconcile her familial loyalty with her new reality. A cleverly constructed, beautifully written first novel from a gifted new writer."
—Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist, Starred Review
"Like Alice after tumbling down the rabbit hole, Asta takes us on a journey through a confounding world filled with remarkable characters. A compassionate tale mixed with hope and sorrow, Asta in the Wings evokes both the tenderness and the danger of one child's struggle to find a place for herself in a world she is only beginning to understand. It's a gem of a book."
— Aryn Kyle, author of The God of Animals
"In Asta in the Wings Jan Elizabeth Watson has created one of the most appealing fictional heroines I've encountered in a long time. Asta is brave, resourceful, intelligent, and loyal. She also happens to be seven years old, which means she's at the mercy of the unreliable adults who rule her world. The result is a vivid and suspenseful narrative where, over and over again, Asta shows us the world from her own very particular angle. A highly original debut."
—Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"In this extraordinary debut novel, seven-year-old Asta and her malnourished nine-year-old brother, Orion, who live in a small town in Maine, have long been isolated from the outside world. Told by their mother that a plague has devastated the world, they have not set foot outside the house in years, although the two have formed a deep bond based on their richly imaginative play. Then their mother fails to come home from work, and the siblings set out to look for her. Watson vividly renders their first contact with others, including a surly store clerk, a pack of mean-spirited schoolchildren, and a kindly bus driver, from Asta’s awestruck perspective as she slowly comes to grips with the fact that everything her mother told her was a lie. She is unwilling to acknowledge, at first, that there was anything amiss in her family life, although she is quick to perceive that people do not treat her with nearly the same careful attentiveness as her brother does. Sensitive and intelligent, Asta struggles to reconcile her familial loyalty with her new reality. A cleverly constructed, beautifully written first novel from a gifted new writer."
—Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist, Starred Review
"Like Alice after tumbling down the rabbit hole, Asta takes us on a journey through a confounding world filled with remarkable characters. A compassionate tale mixed with hope and sorrow, Asta in the Wings evokes both the tenderness and the danger of one child's struggle to find a place for herself in a world she is only beginning to understand. It's a gem of a book."
— Aryn Kyle, author of The God of Animals
"In Asta in the Wings Jan Elizabeth Watson has created one of the most appealing fictional heroines I've encountered in a long time. Asta is brave, resourceful, intelligent, and loyal. She also happens to be seven years old, which means she's at the mercy of the unreliable adults who rule her world. The result is a vivid and suspenseful narrative where, over and over again, Asta shows us the world from her own very particular angle. A highly original debut."
—Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street
Want to read
February 14, 2009This sounds incredibly creepy-cool. Here is a long excerpt from the Powell's.com review (which is mostly so I'll remember why I want to read this when I come upon it later):
Asta and Orion, it seems, are allegedly sick children in need of protection from the world of germs. They're homeschooled, as Asta will later explain, "on account of the plague," and are convinced that the streets outside are lined with piles of plague-ridden corpses. This preoccupation with illness comes directly from Loretta, who indoctrinates her children to believe that "regular exposure" to bathwater is unhealthy and that food "weigh[s:] the body down, making it less resistant to infection." The threat of germs is so pervasive that the windows are covered over with tar paper, and Loretta cuts Asta's hair into a scraggly pixie style because "hair is the worst hive of germ activity."
Yet, while it's clear to the reader that Loretta is delusional, Asta and Orion don't seem to be fully healthy children. Loretta finds a lump near Asta's hip, and though its presence is dubious, Asta fixates on it throughout the novel. And when Orion wakes up with blue, swollen legs, unable to walk, it's alarming, but partly questionable, too. Thus, Watson sets up a dynamic wherein a reader â?? this reader, at least â?? can't tell at first what the story is about: Sick children with an eccentric mother? An eccentric mother making her children sick? I won't spoil the read for you, but suffice it to say that this compelling ambiguity touched off a hypochondria-induced fascination that I couldn't help but indulge. I gladly took Watson's bait and followed her into the Hewitt family's particular and isolated world.
Much to her credit, Watson doesn't allow the reader to make an easy, black-and-white judgment that society is "good" and isolation is "bad." This nuance is accomplished partly by the use of Asta as narrator. Though we know that she is an adult at the time of the telling, the story is beautifully devoid of grown-up editorializing. It is neither accusatory nor confessional. She doesn't blame her mother for anything; she doesn't position herself as a victim. What she does is give an expressive, authentic rendering of childhood through a child's eyes, at a time when her mother and brother are, literally, her entire world.
Asta and Orion, it seems, are allegedly sick children in need of protection from the world of germs. They're homeschooled, as Asta will later explain, "on account of the plague," and are convinced that the streets outside are lined with piles of plague-ridden corpses. This preoccupation with illness comes directly from Loretta, who indoctrinates her children to believe that "regular exposure" to bathwater is unhealthy and that food "weigh[s:] the body down, making it less resistant to infection." The threat of germs is so pervasive that the windows are covered over with tar paper, and Loretta cuts Asta's hair into a scraggly pixie style because "hair is the worst hive of germ activity."
Yet, while it's clear to the reader that Loretta is delusional, Asta and Orion don't seem to be fully healthy children. Loretta finds a lump near Asta's hip, and though its presence is dubious, Asta fixates on it throughout the novel. And when Orion wakes up with blue, swollen legs, unable to walk, it's alarming, but partly questionable, too. Thus, Watson sets up a dynamic wherein a reader â?? this reader, at least â?? can't tell at first what the story is about: Sick children with an eccentric mother? An eccentric mother making her children sick? I won't spoil the read for you, but suffice it to say that this compelling ambiguity touched off a hypochondria-induced fascination that I couldn't help but indulge. I gladly took Watson's bait and followed her into the Hewitt family's particular and isolated world.
Much to her credit, Watson doesn't allow the reader to make an easy, black-and-white judgment that society is "good" and isolation is "bad." This nuance is accomplished partly by the use of Asta as narrator. Though we know that she is an adult at the time of the telling, the story is beautifully devoid of grown-up editorializing. It is neither accusatory nor confessional. She doesn't blame her mother for anything; she doesn't position herself as a victim. What she does is give an expressive, authentic rendering of childhood through a child's eyes, at a time when her mother and brother are, literally, her entire world.
February 23, 2017
Even though this was a book full of trauma and danger- the unreliability and lack of understanding of adults in the world of the vulnerable child it managed to be light-filled. I didn't enjoy all of it, because parts were quite harrowing but it was beautifully balanced and crafted and sensitively written.
My first impression of Asta was that her voice was overly adult, but I adjusted to that and saw that it was true for her, she was never really a "normal" child and there were strong reasons for that. I did not really understand the nature of the mother's madness/mental-illness. I thought it must be quite obvious to her that she was lying to her children and I didn't understand her motivation. I struggled between dismissing her as a narcissist but the narrative did not quite allow that. She was as well-meaning I think as Aunt Bernadine and in some ways deeper and more authentic. In some ways Bernadine's sanity and ordinariness was the exact negative of Loretta's madness and exceptional view of life. Both were flawed in equal and opposite ways but for Asta her mother was a need, deeper than food and life itself.
On Asta's behalf I kept feeling envious of Orion, it seemed to me he consistently got the sweeter end of the deal and yet he was more selfish than Asta when he ought to have supported her better- she was so young and vulnerable and terribly alone through most of the book- she was pretty plucky and decisive nevertheless.
All in all a wonderfully complex book with some characters who seem completely real!
My first impression of Asta was that her voice was overly adult, but I adjusted to that and saw that it was true for her, she was never really a "normal" child and there were strong reasons for that. I did not really understand the nature of the mother's madness/mental-illness. I thought it must be quite obvious to her that she was lying to her children and I didn't understand her motivation. I struggled between dismissing her as a narcissist but the narrative did not quite allow that. She was as well-meaning I think as Aunt Bernadine and in some ways deeper and more authentic. In some ways Bernadine's sanity and ordinariness was the exact negative of Loretta's madness and exceptional view of life. Both were flawed in equal and opposite ways but for Asta her mother was a need, deeper than food and life itself.
On Asta's behalf I kept feeling envious of Orion, it seemed to me he consistently got the sweeter end of the deal and yet he was more selfish than Asta when he ought to have supported her better- she was so young and vulnerable and terribly alone through most of the book- she was pretty plucky and decisive nevertheless.
All in all a wonderfully complex book with some characters who seem completely real!
September 4, 2009
This is a remarkable book, without an ounce of sentimentality, something a story such as this usually has. It could have been heartbreaking, but was only on a few occasions. I loved Asta’s unique voice and outlook. She’s a character I will remember.
The book was very well written and there are some beautiful lines. It was funny, poignant, and unusual.
Before I read it I’d thought that it was told by a seven year old girl, but it seemed to be told by her at an older age looking back. However, it truly captured the point of view of a child of that age.
It’s a story about how children are at the mercy of adults but it’s a story of adaptation and resilience.
What I found refreshing is that there are no clichés, nothing banal or predictable. Every time I assumed I knew what was about it happen, there was a shift in plot that was better than I’d anticipated.
What I thought would be a sad book, was a hopeful book instead.
My only quibbles were: that the ending wasn’t perfectly satisfactory, that at times Asta and Orion seemed a bit too amazing to be true, and that a bit of the indoctrination the children had received seemed too easily overcome. However, this is a character driven book and the characters were memorable and override any minor flaws in plot or even characterization.
The book was very well written and there are some beautiful lines. It was funny, poignant, and unusual.
Before I read it I’d thought that it was told by a seven year old girl, but it seemed to be told by her at an older age looking back. However, it truly captured the point of view of a child of that age.
It’s a story about how children are at the mercy of adults but it’s a story of adaptation and resilience.
What I found refreshing is that there are no clichés, nothing banal or predictable. Every time I assumed I knew what was about it happen, there was a shift in plot that was better than I’d anticipated.
What I thought would be a sad book, was a hopeful book instead.
My only quibbles were: that the ending wasn’t perfectly satisfactory, that at times Asta and Orion seemed a bit too amazing to be true, and that a bit of the indoctrination the children had received seemed too easily overcome. However, this is a character driven book and the characters were memorable and override any minor flaws in plot or even characterization.
September 10, 2010
This fascinating novel is a unique twist on the dysfunctional trope. The opening line--"On the last day, the day before everything changed, my mother told me her theory about the movies"--sets us up for some disaster, but what follows is not at all what we expect. Our narrator, Asta, a bright 7-year-old girl, conveys the deep love & admiration she has for her mother & her sickly 9-year-old brother (the father is dead, apparently by suicide). Gradually we learn that every day when their mother leaves for work, she locks the 2 kids in the house, with tar paper over the windows so they can't even see outside, & Asta can neveer remember being outside the house (her brother has some vague early memories of an earlier time). Their mother tells them she's protecting them from a deadly plague in the outside world. When circumstances conspire to thrust the two out into the world, we see the world open up through Asta's eyes & charming voice. It's a simple but unique story, told in a simple, unique, & thoroughly engaging voice.
February 17, 2009
Well-done all around; there's a distinctive voice present in this novel, and the book is never not true to its characters. There's a fine balance between recounting events from afar and placing its narrator in the moment that 'Asta In the Wings' achieves.
//
Heard Jan Elizabeth Watson read this evening (it was a Tin House-related night at Word in Greenpoint; see also: Keith Lee Morris's "The Dart League King"). Really liked the chapter that she read: mysterious and ominous in places and -- most importantly -- reflecting accurately what it's like to be a kid. Looking forward to reading the rest...
//
Heard Jan Elizabeth Watson read this evening (it was a Tin House-related night at Word in Greenpoint; see also: Keith Lee Morris's "The Dart League King"). Really liked the chapter that she read: mysterious and ominous in places and -- most importantly -- reflecting accurately what it's like to be a kid. Looking forward to reading the rest...
January 2, 2014
A unique book, which although dark and depressing, left it's mark on me. It was sort of like 'The Beans of Egypt Maine' focusing on a young brother and sister and their innocent love for a mother with mental illness. They struggled with poverty and isolation. It's the kind of book you think about for many days after you finish it. It's a sad story showing both adults who struggle and those who save the struggling. It made me sad to think of these children and their life. I can only think the author had personally experienced some of these scenes in the book, as they are written with great clarity. This book will stay with you for a long time. Wow.
September 5, 2015
This book was not what I was expecting after reading the previous reviews. Other reviews mentioned how Asta and her family use their imagination to escape their own isolation. In fact, the mother has serious mental problems and is abusive towards her children to the point of starvation and locking them in a blacked out house. Asta and her brother do use their imaginations to try to deal with their situation, but their creative play manifests itself in bizarre representations of their mother's distorted teachings. The end was very anticlimatic and somewhat disappointing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2011
I love this dark novel about a little girl and how she comes to understand her world. I love how, even though the circumstances of her life with her mother and brother seem absurd to us, she reflects on it the way we all reflect on our childhoods - as "just the way things were." This lack of judgement opens us up to this lovely, character-driven piece.
Also, not to brag, but I'm totes a character in the end of the book - that girl with the paper hat and the name tag that reads Katie? Yeah, that's me. F'reals.
Also, not to brag, but I'm totes a character in the end of the book - that girl with the paper hat and the name tag that reads Katie? Yeah, that's me. F'reals.
October 12, 2013
I just finished Asta in the Wings and I am still sniffling a little bit. The end made me cry and cry. I can't believe this is the author's first novel. Asta's voice is so believable. The character of Loretta is so unique and perfect. Watson writes the story of this family with such compassion. This is definitely a writer to remember, and this is an unforgettable novel.
Read this again and just as wonderful as the first time. This is such a special book. I just love it so much!
Read this again and just as wonderful as the first time. This is such a special book. I just love it so much!
February 24, 2011
Admission: I didn't read the entire book. I really did try a few times to start this book, but could never make it past the first chapter. I tried skipping ahead to see if the middle would catch me, but no luck there, either.
I know it's not much of a review, but the only thing I really can say is "I just didn't get into it" and since I'm reading for my own enjoyment, I figured why force the issue. I gleefully put this book down unread without feeling any guilt! ;-)
I know it's not much of a review, but the only thing I really can say is "I just didn't get into it" and since I'm reading for my own enjoyment, I figured why force the issue. I gleefully put this book down unread without feeling any guilt! ;-)
August 10, 2009
This was a very good book, I was drawn in on the first page and could not put it down. I am eagerly looking forward to another book by this author
December 4, 2009
Awesome book! I started reading it the library and found it hard to put down. I was so sad when it ended, I wanted to know more about the characters lives!
February 25, 2021
A book written from the point of view of a very precocious seven year old girl? Hard to imagine but I was willing to go along and overall found it imaginative and fairly well done. Yes, I had to notice places, plenty of them, where the narrative was adult but somehow that was okay for me. The biggest argument I have is with an ending that seemed arbitrary and cut-off. I wanted another 10 or 20 pages to at least hint at the near future for Asta.
September 7, 2019
This book was compared to Room (which I thought was fantastic) so I was excited to read it. It had potential to be a great book and there were moments where I thought it was going to get exciting but it never quite happened. The end was even more disappointed and very anticlimactic.
May 29, 2009
Asta in the Wings is written from the perspective of 7-year old Asta. She lives in a boarded up house with her older brother, Orion, and her mother. As her mother goes out into the world to work everyday, Asta and Orion stay inside, protected from the debilitating germs and disease their mother has warned them exists in the outside world. They sip at soup, remembering their mother's warning that too much food will make them ill. They have fantastic explanations for simple occurrences, and are the product of being hidden and molded by the mind of a mentally ill parent. When their mother fails to return home one day, Asta and Orion are forced out into society. Asta is placed with an aunt she never knew existed, while Orion goes to live in a different foster home. Other than being told that her mother is incapable of taking care of her, Asta is told nothing - in the hopes that she will simply forget the life she used to live. Instead, like any child, she tries to fill in the gaps with the explanations her mother once gave her. I found the writing of this book unsettling - it is from the perspective of a 7-year old who has not been exposed to the world, and while intelligent, simply does not know the meaning of relatively common words and objects. Yet, the book is written with complex language, as if the story is being told by an adult version of Asta looking back on herself. As first-person narration, I did not find this to be a believable account of the story as a book like To Kill a Mockingbird, which is complex on many levels, yet still seems to realistically portray Scout's experiences. Subject-matter-wise, this book is disturbing - it demonstrates the power parents have over their children - to shape and mold their world views - and the incredible responsibility that comes with that. But, it also focuses on the problems in our foster care system. Given Asta and Orion's upbringing, they were overly dependent on each other, more so than the usual sibling pair - yet, they were readily split up and given no information about the other person's whereabouts. The new adults in Asta's life believe not only that she can actually forget her mother, but that it would be a good thing for her to do so. A fundamental misunderstanding of the psychological impact of such actions is truly heartbreaking and frustrating. This book has no resolution, and as far as plot goes, I found it unsatisfying. But, as an exploration of the impact on children of being raised around mental illness and chaos, I found it quite compelling.
September 8, 2015
I really liked this book. I would recommend it to almost anyone. Right from the start you can tell the family is very different. The writing is descriptive yet holds the innocence and youthful thoughts of the narrator, which I particularly loved. You can tell this girl is intelligent and holds quite the active imagination for a seven year old. The mother comes off as egotistical and a bit cold but you can tell she holds love for her children. As the story goes on, we get bits and pieces of the bigger picture. The delusional world Asta is living in starts to emerge. I like how it's not spelled out to you, that there is a mystery to this and the author is making you work a little to fit all the pieces together. One line I really liked, "There is something particularly magical about listening to music from a car radio while looking out a window at a vast, open sky." I love experiencing the world through Asta's new eyes. It makes me remember all the little things we overlook and take for granted. I feel as if the story is speaking to people who feel they are different and saying, "It's okay, there are others who feel the same and there is a place for you in this conventional society of drones." What society considers normal is tested by the beauty and intrigue of characters that exude unusual actions and traits. Even Asta herself wondered about fitting in with the world, "for a minute - just a minute - I wondered if my specialness had been compromised."
July 12, 2012
If you read Room, read this.
The story is told from the perspective of Asta, a 7 year old girl. It is told in a retrospective manner in which she has had the time to process everything that has happened. That is the only thing I really don't like. I didn't get that feel of immediency or complete bafflement. And I wanted that. I also wanted other things finished....like the upstairs tenant.
The first 100 or so pages were the best for me. The recollections of Asta, Orion, and Mother in their home. Mother worked and the kids went outside NEVER! Mother told them that there was a plaque and people were dying off and being piled up outside. As crazy cakes as that is, these kids were happy. Even in the retelling of the story Asta is not bitter or angry. And Mother might be a nutjob, but she is a very caring and protective mother. She might have limitations on them on the quantity of food eaten per day, and the love of them being so thin and not to mention that she is crazy. But she also educates them in such a way that they are way ahead scholastically of other children their age. She encourages their use of imagination and genuinely loves them.
Mother goes missing one evening. The kids get worried. They manage to get out of the house (no small feat considering Mother locks them in when she leaves for work every day) and goes searching for them. The rest of the book is about how they assimilate into the everyday world.
This is a charming book.
The story is told from the perspective of Asta, a 7 year old girl. It is told in a retrospective manner in which she has had the time to process everything that has happened. That is the only thing I really don't like. I didn't get that feel of immediency or complete bafflement. And I wanted that. I also wanted other things finished....like the upstairs tenant.
The first 100 or so pages were the best for me. The recollections of Asta, Orion, and Mother in their home. Mother worked and the kids went outside NEVER! Mother told them that there was a plaque and people were dying off and being piled up outside. As crazy cakes as that is, these kids were happy. Even in the retelling of the story Asta is not bitter or angry. And Mother might be a nutjob, but she is a very caring and protective mother. She might have limitations on them on the quantity of food eaten per day, and the love of them being so thin and not to mention that she is crazy. But she also educates them in such a way that they are way ahead scholastically of other children their age. She encourages their use of imagination and genuinely loves them.
Mother goes missing one evening. The kids get worried. They manage to get out of the house (no small feat considering Mother locks them in when she leaves for work every day) and goes searching for them. The rest of the book is about how they assimilate into the everyday world.
This is a charming book.
May 27, 2010
Every year, my favorite booth at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, is the Tin House Publishing booth. They always have a great collection of books by new authors. Every year, I grab a minimum of four books from Tin House and just buy them based on the cover/title. I take a chance and this year, “Asta in The Wings” by Jan Elizabeth Watson, was one of the books that I grabbed.
Watson’s debut novel was impossible to put down. I read it in two days and found myself sad, when I had to set is aside for stuff like work and sleeping! The story is told from the point of view of seven year old Asta. Initially the book starts out sort of like M. Night Shyamalan’s, “The Village.” Asta and her brother, Orion, are told by their mother that a deadly plague exists outside of their house. They are terrified to so much as look outside of their windows, which are totally boarded up. They are also kept malnourished, in what they are told is the only way to stay healthy.
One day, their mother leaves the house and fails to return. Asta and Orion must face their fears of the outside, in order to try to find their mother. The story takes a bunch of twists and turns that are not only compelling, but emotional. Watson really nails it with the way she tells the story from a seven year olds perspective. I loved this story and cannot wait to read future novels by Watson.
Watson’s debut novel was impossible to put down. I read it in two days and found myself sad, when I had to set is aside for stuff like work and sleeping! The story is told from the point of view of seven year old Asta. Initially the book starts out sort of like M. Night Shyamalan’s, “The Village.” Asta and her brother, Orion, are told by their mother that a deadly plague exists outside of their house. They are terrified to so much as look outside of their windows, which are totally boarded up. They are also kept malnourished, in what they are told is the only way to stay healthy.
One day, their mother leaves the house and fails to return. Asta and Orion must face their fears of the outside, in order to try to find their mother. The story takes a bunch of twists and turns that are not only compelling, but emotional. Watson really nails it with the way she tells the story from a seven year olds perspective. I loved this story and cannot wait to read future novels by Watson.
April 12, 2009
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. It sounded interesting, but probably wasn’t a book I would have picked up on my own. It took me a little while to warm up to it, but eventually I did. I think initially I was just uncomfortable with the premise of two young children being kept locked in their house by their unstable mother. Once the children were forced to leave the ‘safety’ of their home, things got a little more interesting. I thought the author did a really good job of conveying how challenging it was for Asta, the 7-year old narrator of the story, and her 9-year old brother to function in the real world, and what a scary place it was for them with everything being so unfamiliar.
Both Asta and her brother, Orion, do manage to adapt and to live with some level of normalcy. It’s obvious from the tone of the book that the story is being told by a much older Asta, remembering events from her childhood. I wish the author had given us more insight into how Asta made that transition from a young girl in such a strange new world to an adult. Overall I enjoyed the book; it just left me wanting a little more.
Both Asta and her brother, Orion, do manage to adapt and to live with some level of normalcy. It’s obvious from the tone of the book that the story is being told by a much older Asta, remembering events from her childhood. I wish the author had given us more insight into how Asta made that transition from a young girl in such a strange new world to an adult. Overall I enjoyed the book; it just left me wanting a little more.
February 21, 2010
This story is riveting from the beginning. Asta is seven, and her brother Orion is nine. Set in rural Maine in 1978, the tale begins with them playing in the house when their mother goes off to work. Everything seems normal until Asta comments on the triple locks that her mother sets every morning to keep her children inside, and safe from the plague that rages all around. Asta asks her brother to tell her the stories from when he remembers being outside, before the plague began - running along the beach, and seeing seagulls. She reads the Bible as part of her homework, and looking at herself in the mirror, comments on her hipbones "jutting out like handles". One night their mother doesn't come home, and the next morning the children venture out of the house to go find her. To their wondering surprise, there are no dead bodies stacked like cordwood along the road. They meet an adult, and then another, and are eventually taken into custody by the authorities, and in the hospital are judged to be malnourished. This one's a page turner!
June 7, 2016
This is a fascinating book about so many things scrunched up into one: the resiliency of children, the over-protectiveness of a (slightly crazy) mother and how much influence a parent can hold, the innocence and wide-eyed wonder of seeing the world for the first time at seven years old, and the way we grow, we learn, we forgive, and we persevere.
It's a little bit like the novel Room, except this is told from the POV of a much older Asta, so it lacks the babyish language and omitting of details that I found annoying with Room. This narrator is wise and looking back at her naive younger self, and yet there is no anger with her mother, no bitterness over her lot in life; just a sweet, nostalgic, and even a slightly wistful quality to the writing.
Since the narrator was an older Asta, I longed for more of a resolution, a tying up of loose ends. I felt the ending was lacking a little bit. But otherwise, this was really a lovely book.
It's a little bit like the novel Room, except this is told from the POV of a much older Asta, so it lacks the babyish language and omitting of details that I found annoying with Room. This narrator is wise and looking back at her naive younger self, and yet there is no anger with her mother, no bitterness over her lot in life; just a sweet, nostalgic, and even a slightly wistful quality to the writing.
Since the narrator was an older Asta, I longed for more of a resolution, a tying up of loose ends. I felt the ending was lacking a little bit. But otherwise, this was really a lovely book.
April 30, 2009
I enjoyed this book very much. It's an excellent effort by a first-time author. The young narrator's voice seemed emotionally right on target to me and I appreciated how she remained true to her brother and her psychotic, but loving in her own warped way, mother throughout.
The plot moves right along and definitely pulls you in for some late-night page-turning. However, I found myself a little annoyed with a character who comes in toward the end of the novel and seems to threaten Asta in a sexual way. There's a bit of a plot twist involving him that felt contrived to me. (I can't reveal anything more w/o spoiling it.) But it's a minor criticism.
I enjoyed the ending very much. Watson wraps up "Asta in the Wings" with a touching scene that incorporated the movie/acting theme in a very satisfying way.
Try it! You'll enjoy it.
The plot moves right along and definitely pulls you in for some late-night page-turning. However, I found myself a little annoyed with a character who comes in toward the end of the novel and seems to threaten Asta in a sexual way. There's a bit of a plot twist involving him that felt contrived to me. (I can't reveal anything more w/o spoiling it.) But it's a minor criticism.
I enjoyed the ending very much. Watson wraps up "Asta in the Wings" with a touching scene that incorporated the movie/acting theme in a very satisfying way.
Try it! You'll enjoy it.
June 2, 2009
Lovely writing. Thought there was some kind of supernatural side to it, but instead it was so much like reality that it was a bit painful. I think I was disappointed at the end because I wanted there to be some kind of alien taking over the mother's mind instead of mental illness because that was just too real for me, but the more I think about the book, the more I liked it. I LOVED both Asta and Orion, especially Orion. But I feel like there should be another book, or maybe more about the upstairs neighbor character. I'm not sure what to think about him yet.
I really did enjoy reading it. But every time I put the book down, I was afraid to pick it up again, thinking something horrible would happen to these two children that I loved. Yet while I was reading it, I couldn't put it down unless forced to.
Beautiful job, Jan.
I really did enjoy reading it. But every time I put the book down, I was afraid to pick it up again, thinking something horrible would happen to these two children that I loved. Yet while I was reading it, I couldn't put it down unless forced to.
Beautiful job, Jan.
April 11, 2010
I found this story very compelling. Two children Orion and Asta are basically shut out from the world in their home because their mother feels the world has the plague. They have basically never left their house. The imagination and storytelling of these children was truly amazing for me. I can't even imagine basically living in a house.
One day, their mother goes to work as she usually does, locks them in, and doesn't come back. Orion and Asta decide to go and look for her and thus ensues some problems and challenges.
They end up meeting a policeman eventually and get taken in by distant relatives. They have to encounter the "real" world. Overall, very interesting story, but the writing is what I enjoyed most about this book, despite the sometimes sad things that Asta and Orion have to experience.
One day, their mother goes to work as she usually does, locks them in, and doesn't come back. Orion and Asta decide to go and look for her and thus ensues some problems and challenges.
They end up meeting a policeman eventually and get taken in by distant relatives. They have to encounter the "real" world. Overall, very interesting story, but the writing is what I enjoyed most about this book, despite the sometimes sad things that Asta and Orion have to experience.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 1, 2009
This was a well-written, thought-provoking debut novel. The voice was both mature and innocent while the story was heartbreakingly inspirational. The character development was subtle, but effective and I really did care what happened to each and every person in the story.
I was immediately drawn into the story and couldn't put it down for the first 150 pages or so. Then, it got a little slow for me. I was waiting for something, anything to happen or for Asta to really start growing and learning about herself. It started to really roll again for the last 50 pages or so. The ending left me wanting to know the rest of this unusual family's story.
I will absolutely pick up more works by this author in the future. Her writing style is very unique and enjoyable.
I was immediately drawn into the story and couldn't put it down for the first 150 pages or so. Then, it got a little slow for me. I was waiting for something, anything to happen or for Asta to really start growing and learning about herself. It started to really roll again for the last 50 pages or so. The ending left me wanting to know the rest of this unusual family's story.
I will absolutely pick up more works by this author in the future. Her writing style is very unique and enjoyable.
August 2, 2010
“Hi! I’m a young character whose only type of depth is that I’m given lines that no one my age would ever think of! I’m S-M-R-T! That means I’m likeable. I like to stare at things and describe them in an obscenely BOOTIFUL way! I complain a lot and my mom is mean and stupid. She’s also neurotic but surprisingly, has more depth than me still! I’m also kind of sad. Depressed, even. This really makes me relatable to older people who read this because you can’t possibly have a young character in a book and have them have some kind of personality beyond three words. Please listen to me talk about things for 100 pages that you don’t give two shits about.”
And then it went. Except for like 100 more pages.
And then it went. Except for like 100 more pages.
August 9, 2011
I think I enjoyed the premise of this book more than the actual way it was executed. Don't get me wrong, the writing was beautiful and insightful, but I almost wanted more from it. I wanted to know more about Asta and Orion's relationship with their mother, and other things from the outside world which were foreign to them. I wanted the children to make more of a deal about the "plague" and their relationship with the new adults in their lives. Most of all, I wanted more of a suspenseful ending. I felt like this book had absolutely no climax; that it just ended with the assumption that everything would slowly and surely get better. In the end, it was the ending that made this book a not so worthwhile read.
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