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Pride Before a Fall
Orphea Proud by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
If Sharon Dennis Wyeth’s Orphea Proud is any
indication of the direction of children’s literature,
may all kids henceforth be gifted with iPods,
Xboxes, and Game Boys, which will undoubtedly
require of them more brain cells than this book.
At its best, Orphea Proud is an affront to both
creative writing and the art of storytelling with its
faux sincerity and patronizing passages. At its
worst, it is filled with candy coated scenarios,
resulting in one hundred and eighty-nine pages
of potential energy that never turns kinetic. Its
“life is a box full of chocolates” type of philosophy
is pure fantasy, even for its intended teen
audience. And its trite and cliche-filled poetry is
so painful that it likens itself to nails on a
chalkboard. Nothing is explored in this book, no
lessons learned. Wyeth is so preoccupied with
turning out a crowd pleasing novel that she
seems to have forgotten the definition of the
word sincerity. This book, about a girl on a path
to self-discovery, is uneven and dull in its
execution (it involves making the reader a part of
a live audience), and features characters,
including the narrator, that are drawn so thin
they will remind one of the cardboard cut-outs
used in place of real people in kindergarten
plays. P&A
indication of the direction of children’s literature,
may all kids henceforth be gifted with iPods,
Xboxes, and Game Boys, which will undoubtedly
require of them more brain cells than this book.
At its best, Orphea Proud is an affront to both
creative writing and the art of storytelling with its
faux sincerity and patronizing passages. At its
worst, it is filled with candy coated scenarios,
resulting in one hundred and eighty-nine pages
of potential energy that never turns kinetic. Its
“life is a box full of chocolates” type of philosophy
is pure fantasy, even for its intended teen
audience. And its trite and cliche-filled poetry is
so painful that it likens itself to nails on a
chalkboard. Nothing is explored in this book, no
lessons learned. Wyeth is so preoccupied with
turning out a crowd pleasing novel that she
seems to have forgotten the definition of the
word sincerity. This book, about a girl on a path
to self-discovery, is uneven and dull in its
execution (it involves making the reader a part of
a live audience), and features characters,
including the narrator, that are drawn so thin
they will remind one of the cardboard cut-outs
used in place of real people in kindergarten
plays. P&A
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