Book Review: The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place
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What Parents Should Know
This is a paean to nonconformity and determined
individuality. Not all parents may agree with the values being
promoted here, and camp counselors may not appreciate the
depiction of summer camp. But agree or disagree, there's a lot
to discuss: what do we owe to ourselves and our groups, what is
the place of obedience, how should one resist enforced
conformity, what is the essence of neighborhood and of art, are
there limits to individual property rights, and much more.
Konigsburg doesn't hide her opinions, nor in either style or
structure does she make things easy for the reader, so this is
best for advanced discussion groups. Interested students may
want to research the Watts Towers.
Common Sense Media Review
Some things about E. L. Konigsburg never change. She has a
profound respect for the intelligence of her characters, who
are nearly always brilliant, quirky, and mature children,
determined to hold on to their individuality in the face of a
conformist society. She also respects the intelligence of her
audience and, while she does sometimes preach, she never talks
down to them or dumbs down her writing or ideas.
This respect for her audience has led her to experiment in her last few novels with increasingly complex structures, and that is certainly evident here. Margaret, the narrator as well as heroine, leaps around in time and space with gleeful abandon, and hunks of chapters are headed with bits of quotes from characters earlier in the story. There are parallels between different parts of the story, literary and historical references, and characters who pop in and out and in again. The result is a challenge for inexperienced readers, an ending that may disappoint some, and a unique and fascinating literary creation that flows like a page turner. After the disappointment of Silent to the Bone, it's great to see Konigsburg back in top form.
From the Book:
Even though all of the towers were taller than any of
the two-story houses in the neighborhood, even though they were
made of steel, they did not darken the space around them. They
were built of a network of ribs and struts that cast more light
than shadow. Like a spider-web, they were strong but delicate.
From each of the rungs, from each section of each of the rungs,
dangled thousands -- thousands -- of chips of glass and shards
of porcelain and the inner workings of old clocks. Some of the
pendants were short and hugged the horizontal ribs, while
others dangled on long threads of copper. In some places, a
single wire held two drops of glass, one under the other; in
other places, there were three -- dangling consecutively, one
beneath the other. Some of the pendants were evenly spaced in
groups of three or four. Some were bunched together like the
sixteenth notes on a musical staff followed by a single large
porcelain bob -- a whole note rest. On another rung, or perhaps
at a distance on the same rung, a series of evenly spaced glass
drops dangled in a rainbow of colors.
Like gypsy music (my uncles were Hungarian), the pendants hung in a rhythm that is learned but cannot be taught.
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