Failed Heroine
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This book boasts the intensity of the heroine, Truly, but doesn't nearly deliver to par. A seasoned reader will expect a herione that triumphs over adversities, but Truly just "lies there and takes it" until everyone dies. Her only "success" was small incremental actions that causes the death of the doctor (which we know already from the beginning of the book) but whose journey was so excrruciatingly slow that I could put the book down for days without wanting to open it. Also the plot was obvious from the middle of the book -- something I'd rather have preferred close to the ending. Honestly, I was really disappointed but the mysticality of the book is great and the idea is brilliant, it just needed better editing to improve the pacing so readers are urged to read on rather than feelign like they have to get "through" the book.
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Mrs. Q: Book Addict : Visit my blog for newest reviews.
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Title: The Little Giant of Aberdeen County
Author: Tiffany Baker
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 342
Category: Fiction
Source: Publicist
Rating: 3.75/5
Synopsis:
The Little Giant of Aberdeen is a story of life, acceptance and preconceptions. Truly Plaice was destined to have a difficult life. Truly was born extraordinarily large. She entered the world the same day her mother left it. While her mother was fighting to live, the townspeople were betting on Trulys size. Most believed she had to be a boy, because no girl could possibly be born so huge. Small towns often have small suspicious minds and Truly was shunned by most. Truly and her beautiful, beloved sister was left to be raised by their grief stricken father. Truly quickly outgrew her sisters clothes, and her poor father resorted to dressing her in old t-shirts. While locals offer to help Mr. Plaice, they were more inclined to offer to help with Serena. Truly seems to be the devil child and most seamed uneasy around her. Her father resorted to separating each child during the day. Her sister Serena was babysat by a well to do family who doted on her while Truly was babysat by a poor family whos daughter refused to speak and Truly helped in the barn. Unfortunately, their father passes away shortly after and each child remains living separately. Truly is constantly living with ridicule and her sister is crowned May Queen. While Serena loves being the center of attention, her mind is set on city living and when the town doctors son impregnates her right out of high school, Serena faces her own challenges and Truly is forced to deal with her issues. While it seems like Serena has the perfect life, she is rather miserable. Truly on the other hand has fallen into a comfortable life that she loves.
Overall Impression:
The story spans from Trulys childhood to adulthood. I will warn you that this book seemed slow-paced but it was very enjoyable. This is a wonderful little story, and I would definitely recommend it. This book reminded me of another favorite book of my The River Child by Lori Ann Bloomfield. Small town minds fear the unconventional. I loved the characters of this story, some characters were very enjoyable while some seem horrible. I really enjoyed the style and writing. I believe Tiffany Baker is a great writer. The ending was not predictable, and Baker kept me guessing. Sometimes I was wondering which direction the book would take, and I felt impatient but it was worth the time.
Would I read from this author again? Yes I will!
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Enchanting
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This was a magical story of love and family. I enjoyed it completely from beginning to end.
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A Delightful Tale
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I chose Tiffany Baker's "The Little Giant of Aberdeen County" as my pick for my book club. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I became engrossed in Truly's story. Truly is truly an extraordinary woman; from the baby who broke all size records to the woman who just can't stop growing, Truly's size sets her apart from everyone else throughout her life.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the novel is the community of Aberdeen itself. It is a seemingly average small town but filled with special people, like Truly, her friends Marcus and Amelia, and the legendary Morgan doctors. Baker created a believable setting and added dashes of magic here and there. The magical aspects, including Truly herself, work in this novel.
Baker's greatest strength in this novel is creating characters that readers care about. I wanted to read and find out what happened to Truly and her circle of family and friends.
The one complaint I have about this novel that prevents me from giving it five stars, is the lack of character development in some of the background characters. Amelia seems like such an important aspect of the story but we never really get to know her. Even from Truly's perspective, Amelia, Marcus, Bobbie, and even Serena Jane are flat characters.
All in all, it was an interesting and fun read.
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Fantastic!
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It is not easy to grow up being different. It's even harder to grow up different when you live in a small town in the shadow of your seemingly perfect older sister. Truly Plaice is born being the biggest baby in town, and sadly her mother dies just after naming her. From this point on in life Truly will continue to face hard realities, and she will also continue to get bigger.
As a child she is tormented by the other students in the class, mainly Bob Bob Morgan, the son of the town doctor, whom also becomes an integral character later on in the story. The first time she is referred to as a "giant" is on her first day in the one room school-house, and by the teacher no less.
Truly faces much more loss through her life, family members, friends and life long enemies, but she also manages to find a purpose within the small town, and even finds love where it was all along.
It is not often that a book comes along that grabs you within the first few lines of the story, but Tiffany Baker introduces characters that you love for all their oddities, and dislike for their flaws.
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