Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves-during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement. (complete script of the school play) (Fiction. By the end, Leo knows life can’t be scripted, that he wouldn’t want it to be, that “dorky, little nobody kids” (not that he is one) can become “amazing grown-ups” and that improvisation is key.
In this warm, funny, philosophical novel, Creech cleverly juxtaposes life and stage life, complete with a cast of characters, short chapters listed as scenes and pieces of dialogue recorded as script.
When Leo gets the part of “old crone” in the school play, he analyzes that character, but more important, he examines his own life’s role, and that of his once-vivacious, now distant father. Papa says Leo can make “gold from pebbles,” and indeed, in Leo’s amusingly grandiose imaginings, readers will behold the often-stumbling, invisible-feeling boy emerge as the Nobel Prize winner or famous actor he was (possibly) born to be. One of four children in a large, chaotic Italian-American family, 12-year-old Leo is nicknamed “sardine” because he once said he felt squished like one, and occasionally “fog boy” because he slips into thoughtful trances where he “replays” life’s disappointing scenarios.
0 kommentar(er)
