In her new novel, The Secret of Clouds, Alyson Richman proves she has exceptional talent, because even though the plot moved as I expected it would, I was hooked on this book from the very start, and I found myself sobbing late last night as it ended.
Maggie Topper is a teacher with a true passion for what she does. She loves the feeling of reaching her students, of making connections with them, and inspiring them. She looks at each school year as a new challenge, and tries not to fall prey to the cynicism that often plagues her fellow teachers.
At the start of a new school year, Maggie is asked by the principal to take on an extra task—to tutor a student, Yuri, whose heart problem hampers him from being able to attend school on a daily basis. Maggie is reluctant at first, because the thought sparks painful memories from her own childhood, but she realizes that Yuri deserves to be inspired and challenged just like every other student she teaches.
Yuri at first rebuffs Maggie's attempts to connect with him, until she realizes she may be trying too hard. She finds the key to Yuri's intellect and his heart is through baseball—even though he cannot play the game, he is a diehard Yankees fan like his father, and has tremendous passion for the players and the stats. Little by little, she realizes how much wiser and more insightful he is than a typical sixth-grader, and he opens Maggie's eyes to the need to live life to the fullest.
Maggie and Yuri's relationship deepens, and she begins to understand just how his parents, Katya and Sasha, who emigrated from the Ukraine in the mid-1980s following the Chernobyl disaster, are torn between wanting to protect him and wanting him to be a "normal" kid, between believing he will get better and fearing for the worst. But Yuri seems to give everyone the strength he so desperately needs for himself, and touches people in ways they never quite expected.
"We can't be so afraid of experiencing pain that it interferes with the things we love."
The Secret of Clouds is in many ways, a love story—romantic love, the love between friends, parental love, the love of baseball, and above all, the love of life. Richman has created some beautifully fleshed-out characters and tugs at your emotions without being too maudlin (most of the time). Maggie's mother also is supposed to be an amazing Italian cook, so it's best not to read this on an empty stomach! (She does provide a recipe along with the acknowledgments at the end of the book.)
You may not be surprised by the book's plot, but I hope you'll be moved, and that you'll think about these characters long after. I know I will.
No comments:
Post a Comment