The Rope Walk

I finally finished "The Rope Walk" by Carrie Brown. It's this year's ALL IOWA READS choice. It ended up being a very satisfying book and I'm really glad I finished it. But let me tell you, it took nearly 2 months for me to get to the end of the book. I was bogged down at the beginning by the overwhelming amount of description that Brown used in the form of similes and metaphors. That put me off a bit. I would be interested to see if her other book is similar in that regard.
The story centers around a ten year old girl, a young mixed race boy who is staying with the family through an unusual set of circumstances, and a man dying of Aids. The book deals with the dynamics between the three unlikely characters. We see the world as young Alice sees it. And she begins to discover that the world isn't always a very nice place, that ugliness can exsist even in the middle of very beautiful places. The events of the story take place over one summer and it is remeniscent of many childhood summers. The story is about friendship, self realization, and a growing awareness of self in the world. It surely wasn't my usual murder mystery but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I would recommend this read!