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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A Little Giant of a Gem
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While I was picking up something to read for a trip to Scotland the title of this novel caught my eye. I realized that it was a county in the states and not the Aberdeen in Scotland where I was travelling to. Nevertheless, once I started reading this book I had a hard time putting it down. You can read the other reviews to get the jist of the story but I must say I loved everything about this book. It has a little bit of everything and is a pretty easy read. Thoroughly enjoyable!!!!
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This book is a gem
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"The Little Giant of Aberdeen County" is narrated by Truly Plaice, an unusually large child who grows into an even larger adult, who tells her own tale along with the other interesting and eccentric people in her life. This books spans many years and follows Truly along her path, where it seems as though she is destined for misfortune and heartache. Truly dances along the fine line of morality and obligation when she unlocks the secrets to ancient herbal remedies and their dangers, which ends up altering her fate and teaching her important life lessons.
There are so many reasons why I adored this book. The most obvious one being Tiffany Baker's beautiful and eloquent writing. She has a real talent for conveying her meaning through metaphor and I often stopped to re-read certain passages out of admiration. It's astounding to me that this is Tiffany Baker's first novel, as her writing has the maturity of an experienced author.
The storyline itself is also as imaginative and well-crafted as they come, which also amazed me that it's written by a first-time novelist. Each character in this book is almost an exaggeration of themselves, and yet there is something so human and relatable about them.
I also loved the mystical and magical elements of the story, which added a unique quality to the plot and made it even more interesting.
I don't want to spoil too much about the book because yes, it is that good and I want others to read it and see for themselves why it is worthy of all the praise it is receiving! Needless to say, this book has quickly risen to the top of my list of favorite books. It is not one that everyone will necessarily fall in love with, but it is one that I felt an immediate connection with and will recommend to anyone in search of a true gem of a book.
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Fantastic Debut!!
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What a stunning first novel!
Covers are often enough to make me want to read a book. I loved this one. But the opening paragraph cinched the deal...
"The day I laid Robert Morgan to rest was remarkable for two reasons. First, even though it was August, the sky overhead was as rough and cold as a January lake; and second, it was the day I started to shrink."
We know the ending, but what led to this point?
The entire town is gathered outside her parent's home the day Truly Plaice is born. Her mother had grown so big, bets were being laid on the size of what would surely be a strapping boy. The local doctor Robert Morgan delivers a girl and she is abnormally large. Her mother dies in childbirth. Her father isn't quite sure what to make of her - she is much different from her delicate sister Serena Jane. Truly continues to grow and grow. She is teased and scorned and just never 'fits'. She does make two friends - others who don't fit the mold either - Marcus and Amelia
This Dr. Robert Morgan is the fourth in his family to be the town's doctor. He is descended from Tabitha Dyerson, who was the town's original healer. Her book of cures is mythical in the town and never was found. Without giving away too much of the plot, circumstances lead to inextricable intertwinings between the Morgans and the Plaices.
The book is written from Truly's point of view - detailing her hurt, anger and desires. Although this led me to know Truly very well, it only gave one viewpoint of events and other characters. I would have enjoyed hearing what Marcus, Amelia and Serena Jane actually thought, not Truly's take on things.
The tone of this book is almost magical and fairy tale in feel. Baker has a gift with words, painting vivid descriptions.
"Even his narrow prowling walk told you he was a man of limitless appetite- hungry all the time and yet never filled all the way up."
I started this book and really could not put it down. It's unique and captiviating. Baker is a fresh new voice on the fiction front. I look forward to her second novel.
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"LOVE IS LOVE HOWEVER IT COMES...."
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Love, hate, forgiveness, revenge, mystery, witchcraft - all the elements of a fine novel. When these elements become prose in the hands of Tiffany Baker the results are finer than fine.. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is memorable in every way, not only as an extraordinarily well written novel but also as a story rich with meaning.
We meet Truly Plaice who is an anomaly in the small town of Aberdeen. She would be an anomaly anywhere because Truly is a gargantuan woman, challenging the scales at 400+ pounds. There is little room in our world for those not seen as normal and Truly is reminded of her perceived abnormality every day. These reminders come in cruel ways, such as a schoolmate putting tacks on her chair to see whether or not she can feel the sticks through such generous flesh or in the astonished stares of the curious.
Her mother died in childbirth. Townsmen had placed bets on the weight of a baby who had added so much poundage to a woman. By the age of one and one-half years the only clothing that would cover Truly was one of her father's shirts. He was a perplexed miserable man who never recovered from his wife's death, and was totally unable to handle raising Truly and her older sister, Serena Jane, who was petite, beautiful, vain and a perennial May Queen. Such a contrast was painful for both girls.
After their father died the sisters were parceled out - Serena Jane went to the home of Amanda Pickerton where she and her minister husband doted on the girl. Serena Jane's future was bright until it was altered by Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest son of the Morgans whose men had been the town's doctors for generations.
Truly was sent to a ramshackle farm owned by the Dyerson's; it was a place where no one save debt collectors came to call.. While Truly missed her sister she grew to love working out of doors and tending to the farm's horses.
She walked to school with young Amelia Dyerson who rarely spoke. They found no friends or welcome there save for Marcus, another unusual child who had an eager mind and a penchant for remembering details.
Truly grew to adulthood, ever larger due to an abnormality in her pituitary gland. She knew little of what other young women knew but she also knew some things that they did not. It was rumored that the first Dr. Morgan's wife, Tabitha, was a witch who possessed strange healing powers and had made note of her secrets in a shadow book long hidden where it would not be found.
Readers will find themselves loving Truly and pulling for her, hoping that somehow she can overcome insurmountable obstacles. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is a not to be forgotten epic, every bit as grand as Truly herself.
Highly recommended.
- Gail Cooke
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