How I Saved My Father's Life (and Ruined Everything Else)
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Twelve-year-old Madeline believes she can perform miracles. And her biggest one to date is saving her father from an avalanche. But, unmiraculously, he divorces Madeline's mother after his recovery, writes a book about the avalanche, becomes a celebrity, and marries Ava Pomme, a renowned tart maker.When he leaves, Madeline is left with her mother, who is slowly coming undone; her hypochondriac little brother, who spends his days worrying about air-bag safety; a house that is falling apart around her; and no clue how to perform the miracle that will fix it all.Amidst ballet lessons, insufferable recipe experiments for her mother's Family magazine column, and a life-changing trip to Italy, Madeline learns the true meaning of faith and family in this moving novel by acclaimed author Ann Hood.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hood (The Knitting Circle; Comfort, Reviews, Feb. 25) may be most recently celebrated for her adult novel and her memoir about grief, but her first YA title is a pitch-perfect comedy. Her subject here is also painful divorce but the narrative voice is exquisitely if unwittingly funny while true to the perspective of a child. Eleven-year-old Madeline, who assures readers up front that she's "not even a religious person," wants to become a saint. Why? She believes that her praying has miraculously saved her father from an avalanche, and with one more miracle she can fix the unintended consequences: her father has subsequently divorced her mother, moved to Manhattan, married a chic pastry chef named Ava Pomme and fathered a baby. Hood takes no shortcuts with any of her characters, allowing them to withstand Madeline's scorn or adulation in all their complexity. Rarely has divorce been shown so astutely from a child's point of view. Ages 11-up.
Customer Reviews
How I saved my father's life (and ruined everything else
This is the best book ever!!!! It has a lot of adventer