Description:
In The Tiny One Eliza Minot takes over what used to be her sister Susan's territory--just the way a younger sibling should. Territory in this case means a large, happy, Catholic family--the Reveres--that lives in Massachusetts, spends summers in Maine, and is lucky enough to have love to spare. All of this normality and stability, however, is changed by the death of Mrs. Revere--"Mum" as she is called throughout. What makes Minot's more than just another novel about a death in the family is the fact that it's written entirely from the perspective of the youngest Revere, Via. "Mum's dead forever," she says in the sentiment-free tones of a child grappling with death. "Mum's dead forever and the world's all different, roomy and huge." "I can't stop thinking about the day that it happened," Via tells us. "The day before yesterday.... The day was like other days and then it happened. I want to think about it so much that I also don't want to think about it." What follows is her account of the day her mother was killed in a car accident, interpolated with memories from and impressions of her young life. Minot makes the trappings of early childhood come alive. Everything from wanting to fit in at school ("I like the fish sticks better but I pretend that I like the pizza as much as everyone else does." "I like social studies but I pretend I don't because everyone else doesn't") to a multitude of the kind of fanciful observations that form the backbone of childish delight in the world. Here, for example, she comments on waiting in line for lunch: "The cinder-block walls are painted yellow and when I run my finger along the track between each block it's smooth and fits perfectly like I've made the line with my finger on frosting." We have to leave Via at the beginning of what we, as adults, know will be a long road, which might be heartbreaking if she weren't such a sensitive child. Early on she poses a series of questions: "But where do all the things she thinks go? And if I die when I'm eighty and I go to heaven, how old will I be when I see her? Older than her? Where do all of when she thinks of me go?" Obviously there are no answers, but it's somehow comforting to get to know Minot's little sage. It instills a kind of faith that seems to promise she'll make it through by asking the right questions, answers or no answers. --Melanie Rehak
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