Evocative and easy going smooth paced dialogue highlight the story of Pete, a young man whose father and best friend, Isaac, are both gone within a very short time. Despite that Isaac, Pete's father, and most of the main characters are too good to be true, the book delivers many page-turning chapters.
Pete's adventures carry the plot into challenges of early love and a lot of hard work.
The story falters at The Pig Wells. Though both Pete and Dovey are around thirteen,
they surely would have immediately seen that there were neither footprints nor signs of anything being dragged or thrown over the wells. Unlike the build-up, the predictable cave-in and rescue felt really contrived.
Their town of Glory, so close to Birmingham, Alabama, is strangely and totally unaffected by the historical changes marked by The Marches, Dr. King, violence, the evolution of Civil Rights, and all the 60s assassinations.
As well, on their many and various trips to Birmingham, did no one, Black or White,
ever meet any African Americans who did NOT speak in dialect? And none who
called themselves other than "colored?"
One might further envision how different the story would have gone if Daddy Ballard's last tenants had been Black (as I first thought) and if Rich White Folks weren't always
saving the day for everyone.
Missing Isaac is ultimately a good love story for many characters!
Pete's adventures carry the plot into challenges of early love and a lot of hard work.
The story falters at The Pig Wells. Though both Pete and Dovey are around thirteen,
they surely would have immediately seen that there were neither footprints nor signs of anything being dragged or thrown over the wells. Unlike the build-up, the predictable cave-in and rescue felt really contrived.
Their town of Glory, so close to Birmingham, Alabama, is strangely and totally unaffected by the historical changes marked by The Marches, Dr. King, violence, the evolution of Civil Rights, and all the 60s assassinations.
As well, on their many and various trips to Birmingham, did no one, Black or White,
ever meet any African Americans who did NOT speak in dialect? And none who
called themselves other than "colored?"
One might further envision how different the story would have gone if Daddy Ballard's last tenants had been Black (as I first thought) and if Rich White Folks weren't always
saving the day for everyone.
Missing Isaac is ultimately a good love story for many characters!