Review: In the Heart of the Valley of Love by Cynthia Kadohata
The Novel
In the Heart of the Valley of Love is set in a future Southern California of the mid-twenty-first century. It centers on the experiences of Francie, a young Japanese American girl of that time, and her family and friends. The story is told in the first person and is divided into sixteen short chapters.
In the Heart of the Valley of Love begins with the narrator and protagonist, Francie, driving through the Mojave Desert in the company of her Auntie Annie, who has taken care of her since the death of her parents. With them is Annie’s boyfriend, Rohn. On their way to the desert, they had been stopped by a highway patrolman, but Rohn had bribed the officer to let them go. Despite this incident, the three people in the car are having a good time as they speed eastward. In the scarcity of this projected twenty-first century, such necessities of life as water are jealously hoarded and dearly priced. When Rohn is offered an opportunity by an enigmatic man named Max the Magician to buy some water, he agrees with alacrity. The entire water purchase, though, is a trick played by the authorities, with Max as either tool or dupe. Rohn is arrested and carted off to an unknown locale. Even though Auntie Annie is far senior to her in years, Francie feels a responsibility to take care of her aunt in the wake of Rohn’s disappearance. Having weathered many travails during her life, Francie sees herself as supremely adaptable.
Francie reflects on the death of her parents. They had known that they were dying and had been understandably bitter. This bitterness, however, was laced with bursts of sincere optimism. The memory of her parents’ courage lends Francie the strength to persevere even after the upsetting episode of Rohn’s kidnapping.
Francie enrolls in a local two-year college that serves primarily the underprivileged classes. Here, she develops a circle of friends for the first time since she had moved to California from Chicago in her early teenage years. Among
In the Heart of the Valley of Love is set in a future Southern California of the mid-twenty-first century. It centers on the experiences of Francie, a young Japanese American girl of that time, and her family and friends. The story is told in the first person and is divided into sixteen short chapters.
In the Heart of the Valley of Love begins with the narrator and protagonist, Francie, driving through the Mojave Desert in the company of her Auntie Annie, who has taken care of her since the death of her parents. With them is Annie’s boyfriend, Rohn. On their way to the desert, they had been stopped by a highway patrolman, but Rohn had bribed the officer to let them go. Despite this incident, the three people in the car are having a good time as they speed eastward. In the scarcity of this projected twenty-first century, such necessities of life as water are jealously hoarded and dearly priced. When Rohn is offered an opportunity by an enigmatic man named Max the Magician to buy some water, he agrees with alacrity. The entire water purchase, though, is a trick played by the authorities, with Max as either tool or dupe. Rohn is arrested and carted off to an unknown locale. Even though Auntie Annie is far senior to her in years, Francie feels a responsibility to take care of her aunt in the wake of Rohn’s disappearance. Having weathered many travails during her life, Francie sees herself as supremely adaptable.
Francie reflects on the death of her parents. They had known that they were dying and had been understandably bitter. This bitterness, however, was laced with bursts of sincere optimism. The memory of her parents’ courage lends Francie the strength to persevere even after the upsetting episode of Rohn’s kidnapping.
Francie enrolls in a local two-year college that serves primarily the underprivileged classes. Here, she develops a circle of friends for the first time since she had moved to California from Chicago in her early teenage years. Among