Book Review

Book: Hush by Donna Jo Napoli

It's no secret that I'm a big Donna Jo Napoli fan. Every book that I've read by her has been fabulous, which is an over-used word, but here it applies. All of her previous books I've read have been short for novels and I've been amazed that she could pack so much story in so few pages. Hush is a book that was twice or three times longer than those others, so I was expecting a LOT of story. The first hundred pages or so could have been left out and the story would have been better for it, which gave me a great lesson in not delaying the plot. (I had been considering beginning my story much earlier, but this book made me realize that it added nothing so I decided against it.)

I would really hesitate to recommend this book for the age-group it's intended, just because of the way she dealt with sex. The only sex represented was rape, and I was incredibly annoyed when the protaganist fell in love with her rapist later. I really thought Napoli could have at least given some caveat that not all sex is violent and bad. Between this and the slow start I wouldn't give it as a gift to somebody.

As far as I'm concerned Donna Jo Napoli is the Mistress of Story. She can pack more story in a few pages than most people have in an entire novel. It's amazing to read, because you don't feel as if you're being rushed through at all, but you realize that you've taken such a huge journey in such a small span. In this book the pacing was not as tight, which is so strange because this is one of her more recent novels. There are lagging points, side-stories that add nothing, and so many unanswered questions that at the end I felt a big sinking disappointment instead of that elation that a story ending usually brings. I don't mind if there are unanswered questions, but if the whole crux of the plot is never resolved than it's not a great story.

I am really glad that I read this book, however, because I learned a lot from it. Of course most of the things I learned were what NOT to do, but what can you do? I was able to see a lot of my own mistakes through this book and it made it more clear to me what I needed to repair and avoid in my own novel. But that's the whole idea of reading as a writer, to emulate the positive and watch out for the negative.

All in all, don't let this book turn you off from Donna Jo Napoli her other ones are MUCH better.