It was the summer on Vliet Street when we all started locking our doors… Sally O’Malley made a promise to her daddy before he died. She swore she’d look after her sister, Troo. Keep her safe. But like her Granny always said-actions speak louder than words. Now, during the summer of 1959, the girls’ mother is hospitalized, their stepfather has abandoned them for a six pack, and their big … and their big sister, Nell, is too busy making out with her boyfriend to notice that Sally and Troo are on the Loose. And so is a murderer and molester.
Highly imaginative Sally is pretty sure of two things. Who the killer is. And that she’s next on his list. Now she has no choice but to protect herself and Troo as best she can, relying on her own courage and the kindness of her neighbors.
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I enjoyed this book on many levels. The author did a good job of capturing the innocence of a 10 year old girl as she told us about how she navigated the summer of being ten in 1959 Wisconsin. The memories came flooding back of the freedom of childhood almost 50 years ago. So the trip down memory lane was enjoyable. Then to throw in such an array of colorful characters, tragedy, secrets, loss, misconceptions, humor, and sisters looking out for each other was a gritty contrast to a young girl’s naïveté. This was definitely a character driven story with characters you grow to live. It was also a story that moved at a comfortable pace making it a pleasure to read. Highly recommended!
I don’t review books often, but this one was wonderful! If you were a child in the 1950’s, this is going to take you down the memory lane of playing in your neighborhood until dark – or after – with the reality that it was not all “growing up in utopia” as we like to proclaim that it was. I loved the author’s writing style and her spot on depiction of the world through a child of ten with a vivid imagination. It will tug on your heart on several levels. Highly recommend this book!
Loved the characters. As someone who grew up in the same era, the voice used by the storyteller was perfect…not always politically correct but that’s how things were back then.
I really enjoyed this book I thought I had it figured out,but turned out something different.
I am late, late, late with this post. I finished Lesley Kagen’s Whistling in the Dark several weeks ago, right before a vacation (sans laptop) and then we came home to a major power outage (so again sans laptop) and I’m just now getting around to this. The big question, as I sit down to type this, is has that time mellowed my views of this book? Perhaps, but if so it’s largely because many of the details have become hazy. (Oh, the perils of not recording my thoughts immediately!)
Whistling in the Dark is the story of Sally and Troo O’Malley, whose family is about as dysfunctional as they come in small-town, 1950s Wisconsin. (I think it was Wisconsin – I must admit, that’s one of those details that’s grown fuzzy. But it was definitely a small town in 1959.) The family didn’t start out that way, but after Sally and Troo’s father died in a car accident, things tumbled out of control, and now their mother is in the hospital, their stepfather is perpetually drunk (and usually in the arms of a paramour), and their older sister is more interested in her boyfriend than her babysitting responsibilities. All of which would be bad enough, but a murderer is on the loose and Sally just knows she’s next on his list. And also his identity…or it may just be her over-active imagination.
As I work my mind back over the novel, I have to acknowledge that there was nothing particularly terrible or particularly offensive about Whistling in the Dark. No, it wasn’t the writing or the characters or the plot, and yet, it was all of those things. The sum of the parts was simply too much. There were too many coincidences, too many pieces that fit together just perfectly, and too many events that were simply too far out there for me to completely buy what Kagen was selling. What’s more, Whistling in the Dark defies easy categorization. It’s not serious fiction to make you ponder the big questions in life (think The Summer Before the War), it’s not a lighthearted “beach read” a la Gwen Bristow, and it doesn’t completely capture the zeitgeist in the way The Truth According to Us does. It’s not bad, but it’s not memorable, either.
Slow but basically I liked it
I loved this book. It is narrated by a ten year old girl so it’s all her perspective. Fast paced and fun but also very serious subject matter. ( serial murder and molestation of children , alcoholism, child abandonment and abuse) but in the end the characters are resilient and fun to get to know.
Loved the voice of the narrator. Those growing up in the 50’s will appreciate the humor. Loved this book.