Current mood:
content
With a Hammer for My Heart by George Ella Lyon
This is the Boone County (or is it Northern Kentucky? ....all of Kentucky?) selection for One Book One Community. So, many Kentuckians are reading this book.
Although I wasn't real excited to start it, the book is fantastic. It follows Lawanda, a poor 15 year old girl, as she befriends the reclusive town drunk. She sees something in him that only a few can. She doesn't know what draws her to the man, but she finds a person she can talk to and continues to visit. Garland, the drunk, has a dark violent past created by his time at war, WWII. Although many years have passed and his family has left him, pushed away by his demons, the war lives on vividly inside him.
The events that occur as a result of their friendship are heartwrenching. And yet, the story is uplifting and hopeful. The resilience of the human soul isn't always evident, but through Lawanda, Garland does find his way finally out of hell.
I couldn't put it down
