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The Canning Season

Polly Horvath

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Oct 26, 2012 Grace rated it it was ok

This book was recommended to me by my mom with praise. Usually we completely agree on books, especially children's books but I just didn't enjoy The Canning Season as much as I had expected to. It actually took me three goes before I finished the entire book. It was difficult to put my finger on exactly what was the problem, especially considering this book is rather short. I wouldn't have finished it at all had my mom not kept bringing it up and because I wanted to get her to read something els This book was recommended to me by my mom with praise. Usually we completely agree on books, especially children's books but I just didn't enjoy The Canning Season as much as I had expected to. It actually took me three goes before I finished the entire book. It was difficult to put my finger on exactly what was the problem, especially considering this book is rather short. I wouldn't have finished it at all had my mom not kept bringing it up and because I wanted to get her to read something else.

Let's first start with the tone. A lot of people compare Polly Horvath to Roald Dahl. She definitely has moments, but I think therein lies the problem. They are only moments and the tone felt inconsistent to me at times or like some characters were part of a different book. While there were parts that were hilarious and very Dahl-like, I felt that the effect was lost in other places.

Next is the main character, Ratchet. I think this was the biggest issue for me. I simply did not feel a connection to Ratchet. She was the main character, yet she seemed the least developed. She began passive and at the end of the book she was still passive. The other character in the book were compelling and had interesting backstories, their reactions and feelings were well established, but Ratchet was pushed to the side. It ended up causing me to have very little investment in Ratchet's story.

The other major issue I had was that the main plot arc (The Thing) ended up being extremely anti-climactic. Now, I didn't expect it to be anything monumental, but I expected to at least get a little more information about it. The Thing was basically the one major plot point and it felt too hastily resolved. It was very unsatisfying.

That said, I did enjoy Polly Horvath's writing. There were a lot of very funny moments (how Ratchet got her name, the bears, the wedding etc). I find it far more difficult to read a book with poor writing and Horvath can definitely write but there were too many other faults with the book for me to thoroughly enjoy it. ...more

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Jul 05, 2007 Patti rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

I bought this book for my friend's kids and read it before giving it to them. I enjoyed it, but I didn't give it to the kids. I felt it was too old for them. There are discussions of adultery and some language that I thought was not appropriate. Now the my friend's boy is 13 I will pass it on to him, but for ages 9 (his sister) and 11, I thought it was inappropriate. ...more

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Sep 19, 2016 Janet rated it really liked it

Shelves: yanovels

If there wasn't a Polly Horvath, we'd have to invent one. I love her sense of humor and the feeling that life is really weird, but most of us work hard to not notice.

But why so many bears? I've spent a lot of time in the Maine woods and only seen one. They must be all hanging out in The Canning Season. ...more

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Sep 07, 2007 Angie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: teen

One of my very favorite books! The quirky characters create a vivid and wild story of thirteen year old Rachet coming of age in a strange place with her even stranger elderly great-aunts, Tilly and Penpen.

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