| The Girl Who Fell from the Sky |  | Author: Heidi W. Durrow
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $11.99
as of 9/9/2010 08:10 CDT details
New (34) Used (12) Collectible (6) from $11.99
Seller: thebookguyz
Rating:  43 reviews
Sales Rank: 18,998
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 1565126807
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781565126800
Publication Date: January 11, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9781565126800 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2010: Early on in The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, Rachel Morse (the girl in question) wonders about being "tender-headed." It's how her grandmother chides her for wincing at having her hair brushed, but it's also a way of understanding how Rachel grapples with the world in which she landed. Her parents, a Danish woman and an African-American G.I., tried to hold her and her siblings aloft from questions of race, and their failure there is both tragic and tenderly wrought. After sustaining an unimaginable trauma, Rachel resumes her life as a black girl, an identity she quickly learns to adopt but at heart is always reconciling with the life she knew before. Heidi W. Durrow bolsters her story with a chorus of voices that often see what Rachel can't--this is particularly true in the case of Brick, the only witness to her fall. There's a poetry to these characters that draws you into their lives, making for a beautiful and earnest coming-of-age novel that speaks as eloquently to teens as it does to adults. --Anne Bartholomew
Product Description
This debut novel tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy.
With her strict African American grandmother as her new guardian, Rachel moves to a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring mixed attention her way. Growing up in the 1980s, she learns to swallow her overwhelming grief and confronts her identity as a biracial young woman in a world that wants to see her as either black or white.
In the tradition of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, here is a portrait of a young girl— and society's ideas of race, class, and beauty. It is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 43
 The Girl Who Fell From The Sky August 17, 2010
grumpydan (Andover, NJ United States)
Here is a biracial girl that survives a tremendous fall that kills her mother and two brothers. All her life she was taught to perceive herself as white, but after moving halfway across the country to live with her grandmother, she now is told to be black. As Rachel asks in the book and what I thought to myself; what does color have to do with it. Why can't she be herself? Each chapter of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is told by a different person's point of view and at times had me confused. Although a tough subject, this was a light read, but I didn't feel connected to the characters.
Tome for teens August 14, 2010
Lynda G Taylor (EIGHTY FOUR, PA, US)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"The Girl Who Fell from the Sky" is more a book for teens than an adult novel. It concerns a biracial girl who is sent to Portland, Ore. to live with her black grandmother after the tragic and puzzling deaths of her mother and siblings. While the subject matter is always ripe for discussion, I had hoped for something meatier that was part mystery, part thoughtfut treatment of race relations. Intead, I found the book to be a tad juvenile and fell flat when the mystery did not pan out. It was also annoying that the outlook changes from chapter to chapter depending on which character is telling the story. It was ok but I was sorry I chose it for my book club selection.
 Could have been better August 14, 2010
T. Edmund Jenkin
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Seeped in racial tension, The Girl who Fell from the Sky follows a group of characters directly and indirectly involved in an incident where an entire family falls to their death from a rooftop.
Only one young girl survives - and the majority of the story follows her as she tries to make sense of her life after the tragedy.
The narrative of this novel swings somewhat wildly, providing us with insight into a variety of characters in what I can only describe as a semi-chronological order. The main source of tension comes from the question of whether the family was originally thrown from the rooftop by someone else or whether the protagonist's mother took them down.
Personally The Girl who Fell from the Sky is not my kind of novel. The attempts to be literary seem too obvious, and the lack of real drama isn't adequately replaced by character development or philosophical realisations.
Overall the novel was an easy read and had some genuinely touching moments, but between the unreliable narrative structure and heavy handed symbolism I'd put this one back on the shelf.
 A moving perspective on race in our country August 8, 2010
E. Lawrence (Knoxville, TN)
"The Girl who fell from the Sky" presents a view of two of the many worlds which exist in our country, from the perspective of a European woman, and her child. You don't realize this until the last chapters, so the weaving of the story is mesmerizing. I finished this in one day, and went right back to read the beginning chapters with much more understanding. A writer with a real gift.
Good summer read! July 30, 2010
Lunavida
Overall, I wil say it was a good book. Not the best piece of lit out there but a good summer afternoon read. The topics could be heavy at times, but the author fails to give you direction, so she leaves you out there to make up your own conclusions or assumptions of the situation or event. It felt flat sometimes, the characters needed more life. But overall, if you are looking for a book to read quickly and forget about, I will recommend it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 43
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