Friday, August 24, 2018

The Lifters by Dave Eggers - OPTIONAL


The Lifters by Dave Eggers, 340 pages.  Alfred A. Knopf, 2018.  $18.  

Language: G; Mature Content: G; Violence: PG.  

BUYING ADVISORY: EL – OPTIONAL  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

Gran moves to a new town with his sister and parents.  Gran’s dad has trouble finding work and is usually traveling and Gran’s family seems a little stressed.  One day while Gran’s at school, he meets a girl named Catalina Catalan and he feels like they should be friends.  Catalina’s not the nicest, but Gran follows her one day after school and sees her disappear into a hillside.  Gran soon finds himself mixed up in Catalina’s secret about their town and because Gran is looking for a break from the stress at home, he likes feeling needed in Catalina’s cause.  

The cover of this book sucked me in and I really wanted to like the story because something about Gran was endearing, but I just couldn’t get behind the weirdness.  Catalina is a bully (she has no back story), so I’m never sure why Gran likes her and I wouldn’t follow her around the corner, let alone into a disappearing door, so I didn’t get the appeal.  The task the kids were given, to prop up the town with junk, seemed hopeless and unrealistic and the illustrations were blurry and unattractive.  

C. Peterson   

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