Synopsis:
An unexpected connection becomes the saving grace for two unlikely friends.
Eleven-year-old Stewie Little’s parents died when he was a baby so, tragically, he never had the chance to know them. He and his older brother, Theo, are being raised on a farm by their older sister following the death of their grandmother. Stewie steadfastly tends Gam’s chickens and goes door-to-door every day selling fresh eggs from his wagon.
But one day his routine yields a surprise — a new customer, Marilyn. She’s prickly and guarded, yet comfortably familiar. She reminds Stewie so much of the grandmother he is still grieving and misses more than he can express.
But Marilyn has a secret. And to protect it, she keeps her distance from other people. Stewie is determined to breach that divide. As their visits become more frequent, a complicated but deeply rooted relationship grows. Stewie discovers how much more there is to Marilyn, her past, and challenges that become more pressing each day.
But whatever difficult times lie ahead, Stewie learns that even though he can’t fix everything for Marilyn, himself, or anyone else, he’s no longer alone. Dreaming of Flight is acclaimed author Catherine Ryan Hyde’s latest novel about love, loss, and moving forward.
Review:
Readers desiring to read a story that makes them feel better about life and all of its mysteries need only look to the work of Catherine Ryan Hyde. She is a gifted storyteller who writes in a deceptively plainspoken, unembellished style with extraordinary depth and emotion. Her goal is “to delve deeply enough into the human experience to find a sort of universality. Once you dig down underneath surface differences, we are all human beings. And all human beings want essentially the same things at our core. We want to love and be loved. We want to be safe. We want our loved ones to be safe.” She skillfully crafts thought-provoking tales about common people facing relatable obstacles. Her protagonists are often children and adolescents facing seemingly insurmountable challenges for the first time and learning valuable lessons in the process of navigating their way to a solution or, as is often the case in life, acceptance of a situation or circumstances they are powerless to change. In the process, her characters grow and become empowered. Hyde’s writing is richly compelling and entertaining.
Dreaming of Flight focuses on eleven-year-old Stewart Little, a boy who cares deeply about things. His parents were killed when he was an infant, and he and his disabled older brother, Theo, were raised by their grandmother. But Gam suffered from dementia and, following her death, their older sister, Stacey, who works nights as a nurse, cares for the boys. Stewie took responsibility for Gam’s hens and sells their fresh eggs by going door-to-door with the eggs in his wagon.
One day he has eggs left over because four of his regular customers were not at home when he called on them. So he decides to venture down to the last house on the road for the first time ever. He is determined to sell all of the eggs while they are fresh, rather than refrigerate them to sell the next day. With a carton of eggs in his hand, he traverses the home’s cement steps, rings the bell, and meets an older woman who is “small and stooped” with “that curved upper spine his grandmother used to have.” With her short gray hair and “a pinched appearance,” she looks nothing like Gam, but reminds Stewie of her just the same. She buys his last dozen eggs and becomes one of his regular customers.
The woman’s name is Marilyn and she lives with Sylvia, providing childcare for Sylvia’s daughter, Izzy. When she meets Stewie, she immediately associates him with Stuart Little, the title character in the classic children’s book by E.B. White. Nonetheless, she has trouble remembering his name . . . and a lot of other things, as well, including the fact that she left a pan on the stove when she exited the kitchen to open the front door the next time Stewie arrives with his eggs. In the process of preventing a fire, Stewie burns his hand. And Marilyn recognizes how lucky it was that he came by. If Sylvia knew about her forgetfulness, she would not be permitted to continue looking after Izzie and would lose the very roof over her head.
Because Stewie “wants to fix everything,” he takes it upon himself to look out for both Marilyn and Izzy by spending time with them and playing with the young girl. He and Marilyn develop a friendship that leads Marilyn to discover that Stewie is reading well below grade level, unable to read Stuart Little on his own. Stacey has been too busy working nights and running the household to pay attention to notices from Stewie’s school. Embarrassed, Stewie has not wanted to put more stress on Stacey who is working hard to make ends meet and provide for him and Theo. Marilyn volunteers to tutor Stewie and he agrees to accept her help.
Their arrangement might have worked out splendidly for both of them except for a shocking event that is traumatic for Stewie. He witnesses Marilyn being forcibly removed from Sylvia’s home and learns her secret. Undeterred, Stewie is intent upon helping Marilyn and she accepts his assistance, even though he is just a young boy, because she is desperate and has no one else to turn to. In the process, Stewie learns that families are not perfect. Because he never got to experience growing up as part of a stable home with two loving parents, he has idealized family life, but discovers that even intact families can be dysfunctional with power struggles, greediness, communication failures, and an unwillingness to appreciate each other’s feelings and needs. Despite the truth about Marilyn’s past and her actions, Stewie is her friend and considers her his adopted grandmother. He will never abandon her, nor will Marilyn — no matter how cantankerous and crusty she may be on the outside — give up her friendship with Stewie. Because Marilyn recognizes that Stewie has come into her life for two very specific reasons. Not only is she supposed to teach him to read. It also falls to her “to heal his traumatic life.” The two of them find ways to remain in each other’s lives, even though time is Marilyn’s enemy.
Once again, Hyde has created multi-dimensional, empathetic, and unforgettable characters. And through their struggles, she examines important topics. Stewie is a tender-hearted youngster who, at just eleven years of age, has already sustained great losses. He has been deprived of the love of his parents, and the comfort and security of growing up in a nuclear family. Gam cared for him and Theo for as long as she could, and Stacey does her best for them. But Stewie is sensitive, inquisitive, and unwilling to just accept situations and events without questioning why things have to be a certain way. His feelings about things are intense and he is often profoundly sad. He knows that he cares deeply about people, animals, and their circumstances, and does not perceive his feelings to be problematic. When he meets Marilyn and sees that she is having memory issues, just as Gam did, he resolves to help make things easier for her. He understands that Marilyn will not always remember him or their connection to each other, and that knowledge angers and frustrates him, as do many other things. Stacey wisely sees to it that Stewie begins working with a therapist who, she explains to him, can help him deal with his intense feelings. Hyde’s depictions of some of their sessions provide further insight into Stewie’s thought processes and emotions. Through his relationship with Marilyn, Stewie learns about life’s seasons, the aging process, and the cruelly inevitable ravages of dementia.
Hyde also highlights the fissures in Marilyn’s relationships with her own children and grandchildren, as well as the losses that compelled Marilyn to take drastic, unconventional action. Marilyn is fighting for her independence and autonomy. Her freedom has been taken from her — wrongfully, as she vehemently declares — and she longs to be accorded the dignity and respect that she deserves as a wife, mother, and grandmother. Her story is heartbreaking and illustrates the way too many senior members of society are treated by the people who should be caring for, rather than abandoning them.
And as in so many of her novels, Hyde explores what it means to be a family and demonstrates, through the journeys of Stewie, Marilyn, and her intriguing cast of supporting characters, that people can come together and form a family unit. It is not necessary to be related by blood or marriage in order to forge lasting bonds that cannot be severed even by separation or death.
Dreaming of Flight is a lovingly constructed and compassionately related story that will resonate with readers long after they finish the book. And perhaps inspire them to adopt a grandparent, or a few, just like Stewie.
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