Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:

Author:  Christina Baker Kline

Genre:  Fiction, Historical Fiction

278 pages, published April 2, 2013

Reading Format:  Audio Book

Summary

Orphan Train tells the story of two orphans, nonagenarian Vivian Daly and the teenaged Molly Ayer whose community service sentence requires her to help Vivian clean out her attic.  As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be.  We flash back to the 1930’s when Vivian (formerly Nieve and then Dorothy), a recent immigrant from Ireland, is sent on an orphan train from New York City to Minnesota.  Nieve is placed with several horrible families until she is rescued by her teacher and permanently settles with a couple who lost their daughter.

Quotes 

“I’ve come to think that’s what heaven is- a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on.”

 

“You got to learn to take what people are willing to give.”

 

“Time constricts and flattens, you know. It’s not evenly weighted. Certain moments linger in the mind and others disappear.”

 

“I am not glad she is dead, but I am not sorry she is gone.”

 

“I like the assumption that everyone is trying his best, and we should all just be kind to each other.”

 

“Upright and do right make all right.”

 

“And so it is that you learn how to pass, if you’re lucky, to look like everyone else, even though you’re broken inside.”

 

“I love you,” he writes again and again. “I can’t bear to live without you. I’m counting the minutes until I see you.” The words he uses are the idioms of popular songs and poems in the newspaper. And mine to him are no less cliched. I puzzle over the onionskin, trying to spill my heart onto the page. But I can only come up with the same words, in the same order, and hope the depth of feeling beneath them gives them weight and substance. I love you. I miss you. Be careful. Be safe.”

 

“Turtles carry their homes on their backs.” Running her finger over the tattoo, she tells him what her dad told her: “They’re exposed and hidden at the same time. They’re a symbol of strength and perseverance.”

 

“So is it just human nature to believe that things happen for a reason – to find some shred of meaning even in the worst experiences?”

 

“It is good to test your limits now and then, learn what the body is capable of, what you can endure.”

My Take

As a big fan of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books, I enjoyed the parts of Orphan Train that focused on the scrappy orphan and Irish immigrant Nieve and her fight for survival during the Depression.  She is a very can-do child who does her best to deal with everything that life throws her (which is a lot).  I enjoyed how Orphan Train convincingly transplanted me to another time and place.  A good read and recommended.