Eli the Good

September 21, 2009
In his YA debut, adult author House tells the story of a smalltown family reeling from the Vietnam War. The narrator, Eli Book, describes the summer of 1976, when he was 10 years old, with the hindsight and perspective that adulthood brings (“It's important that you know this: my mother was beautiful.... She must have driven the boys at the high school absolutely crazy”). Eli lives with his father (a traumatized Vietnam vet); his loving but distant mother; a rebellious teenage sister; and his outspoken antiwar activist aunt. The candid conversations between Eli and his best friend, Edie, underscore the turmoil in both of their households. House laces the book with references to Bob Seger and Happy Days
, but keeps the focus on the family's crackling dynamics and Eli's struggle to make sense of them. There's subtle poetry at work in House's writing, and as the tension and summer months heat up (“The sun broiled on the sky, a living thing that pulsated and grew larger”), Eli comes to understand how love and forgiveness can overcome even the most deep-seated conflicts. Ages 12–up.

Starred review from January 1, 2010
Gr 5-8-Eli, 10, spends the summer of 1976 riding bikes with his friend Edie, reading Anne Frank's diary, talking with his Aunt Nell, and watching his Vietnam-vet father experience flashbacks. He observes his mother trying to ride out various storms: 16-year-old Josie's rebellious attitude; the anger between her husband and his sister, Nell (who protested the war); and the flashes of violence and despair that wrack her spouse. Eli is curious, thoughtful, and not above eavesdropping or snooping through personal letters to find out things that his family would prefer to keep private. He learns that Nell came home with cancer; that he and Josie do not share a biological father; and how his father felt after killing a man in the war. Nell nicknames him Eli the Good, and he is. He is a decent kid, just trying to understand his family and the world around him. He makes mistakes, but he learns from them, and simply wants the best for those he loves. House writes beautifully, with a gentle tone. He lays out Eli's world in exquisite detail. A Bicentennial celebration, along with mentions of pop songs and clothing styles, sets the stage, but never takes over the narrative. The story flows along as steadily as a stream, carrying readers and Eli to the end of summer and beyond, into a coda where he is an adult. Eli is good company and children will enjoy accompanying him on his journey."Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2009
Grades 9-12 Sensitive 10-year-old Eli is at the center of this story, but the real star is House himselfwhen his writing is cooking, and it usually is, his sentences are works of understated beauty. It is 1976, and Elis usual summer routine (adventures with his pal Edie, dodging feuds between his mother and his tempestuous older sister) is derailed when his free spirit aunt Nell, dealing with breast cancer, comes to stay with them. Nells history as an antiwar protester brings to a boil tensions with Elis father, who increasingly seems to be losing his own battle with the ghosts of Vietnam. Every minor event (a sudden rain, the washing of dishes, Van Morrison on the radio) is fully wrung for its poetry. As such, this story requires patiencepossibly a bit too muchas it cannily distills a childs experience of an endless summer. Its slow burn belies the drama that only periodically, but powerfully, cracks the surface. An intelligent, nostalgic challenge to those who insist teen readers wont read about younger kids.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2010
Looking back on his ten-year-old self, a grown-up Eli Book reflects on the summer of 1976, as his family tries to accept that Dad isn't the same after his experiences in Vietnam. Though the adult narration distances readers at times (especially in the final chapter), this intensely emotional family portrait resonates on many levels.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)