Icy Sparks: Oprah's Book Club (A Novel)

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Penguin, 8 de març 2001 - 336 pàgines
A New York Times Notable Book and the March 2001 selection of Oprah's Book Club® !

Icy Sparks is the sad, funny and transcendent tale of a young girl growing up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky during the 1950’s. Gwyn Hyman Rubio’s beautifully written first novel revolves around Icy Sparks, an unforgettable heroine in the tradition of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird or Will Treed in Cold Sassy Tree. At the age of ten, Icy, a bright, curious child orphaned as a baby but raised by adoring grandparents, begins to have strange experiences. Try as she might, her "secrets"—verbal croaks, groans, and physical spasms—keep afflicting her. As an adult, she will find out she has Tourette’s Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, but for years her behavior is the source of mystery, confusion, and deep humiliation.

Narrated by a grown up Icy, the book chronicles a difficult, but ultimately hilarious and heartwarming journey, from her first spasms to her self-acceptance as a young woman. Curious about life beyond the hills, talented, and energetic, Icy learns to cut through all barriers—physical, mental, and spiritual—in order to find community and acceptance.

Along her journey, Icy faces the jeers of her classmates as well as the malevolence of her often-ignorant teachers—including Mrs. Stilton, one of the most evil fourth grade teachers ever created by a writer. Called willful by her teachers and "Frog Child" by her schoolmates, she is exiled from the schoolroom and sent to a children’s asylum where it is hoped that the roots of her mysterious behavior can be discovered. Here Icy learns about difference—her own and those who are even more scarred than she. Yet, it isn’t until Icy returns home that she really begins to flower, especially through her friendship with the eccentric and obese Miss Emily, who knows first-hand how it feels to be an outcast in this tightly knit Appalachian community. Under Miss Emily’s tutelage, Icy learns about life’s struggles and rewards, survives her first comical and heartbreaking misadventure with romance, discovers the healing power of her voice when she sings, and ultimately—takes her first steps back into the world.

Gwyn Hyman Rubio’s Icy Sparks is a fresh, original, and completely redeeming novel about learning to overcome others’ ignorance and celebrate the differences that make each of us unique.

 

Pàgines seleccionades

Continguts

Chapter 1
7
Chapter 2
10
Chapter 3
20
Chapter 4
32
Chapter 5
39
Chapter 6
46
Chapter 7
49
Chapter 8
58
Chapter 20
151
Chapter 21
167
Chapter 22
169
Chapter 23
176
Chapter 24
185
Chapter 25
195
Chapter 26
205
Chapter 27
215

Chapter 9
65
Chapter 10
69
Chapter 11
74
Chapter 12
78
Chapter 13
89
Chapter 14
96
Chapter 15
101
Chapter 16
110
Chapter 17
120
Chapter 18
130
Chapter 19
140
Chapter 28
222
Chapter 29
226
Chapter 30
238
Chapter 31
244
Chapter 32
253
Chapter 33
267
Chapter 34
271
Chapter 35
290
Chapter 36
296
Chapter 37
300
Copyright

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Sobre l'autor (2001)

Gwyn Hyman Rubio has been nominated for a Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award and anthologized in Above Ground: Stories About Life and Death by New Southern Writers. She is also a winner of the Cecil Hackney Award as well as a recipient of grants from the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.

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