The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow
The “Literary Lite” Book Team will discuss this book on May 27 at 7:00 p.m. in the Hopewell Library Quiet Room. This event is part of our “Water Your Mind” Summer Reading Program for Adults.
Heidi Durrow’s debut novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, won the Bellweather Prize, Barbara Kingsolver’s award for fiction addressing issues of social justice. It’s clear why. This novel chronicles the life of Rachel, a biracial daughter of an African American father and a Danish mother (which by the way is also the situation of the author herself). In the opening pages we learn that Rachel’s mom jumped off a roof and died along with Rachel’s two siblings. The story explores Rachel’s struggle to fit into the world, to become a person, and to survive, as she grows from child to adult.
If you want a book that is cozy from cover to cover, look elsewhere, because parts of this story are quite sad and painful. Told from several viewpoints, it slowly reveals the complex relationships that led to the suicide/murder event of Rachel’s childhood. It also explores beautifully and insightfully the realities of biracial life in our nation. If you choose to daydream about the troubled family history that produced our current President, feel free, but this story is self-contained. It’s about one imaginary girl who is taken in by her grandmother to become a new person, to deny her Danish half and become her black half completely, a thing that is not really possible. But as is the way of excellent fiction, it is also about every one of us- about the human struggle to overcome our collective and individual past, to live when life itself seems impossible. There are countless life details that ring true and are portrayed with great sensitivity, from hair-straightening to drug and alcohol issues to the reasons we hurt people we love. I would recommend this book to readers of all skin colors, and from both happy and troubled families. Details of the story return to my mind from time to time. Remembering this novel will hurt, but in a good way.
I initially felt nervous about picking this unread book for the “Literary Lite” reading team to discuss in May solely on the basis of advance reviews. I feel relieved to discover that it is well written. Beyond that, it is a book that lends itself to a far ranging discussion of racial identity and the challenge of rescuing children. It’s a great fit for that phrase “literary lite”- because it does explore deep issues, but in a very readable way. If you are interested, the “Literary Lite” Book Team will discuss this book on May 27 at 7:00 p.m. in the Hopewell Library Quiet Room. This event is part of our “Water Your Mind” Summer Reading Program for Adults.
Algonquin Books has once again discovered a new talent, and Barbara Kingsolver has worked to reward it. I am very curious where Heidi Durrow will go from here. But even if this ends up as her only novel, it’s an accomplishment.
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