TANGERINE by Edward Bloor
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  9/1/06
    Publisher:  Harcourt
    Reviewed by:  Mark Frye, author and reviewer
    Rating:  5 Stars


    TANGERINE is a surreal novel strong in pacing and character development. From the opening page to the very end,
    Edward Bloor takes the reader on a breakneck course through one family's conflict with the past and its devastating
    impact on the present. Paul Fisher's nightmare experiences in the shadow of his older brother come to a climax after
    the family moves from Houston to Tangerine, Florida, a fallen Eden of sorts. He narrates his experiences in the new
    community with intensity and passion regarding the problems they face. A tension remains until the very end.

    Paul is an outsider from the very beginning. He is the younger brother of teen football legend, Erik Fisher. Their father
    dotes on Erik, living out his own frustrated athletic dreams in a sad, pathetic manner. Their mother endures their father,
    holding the family together with equal parts denial, busy-ness, and critical intensity. She is hyper-involved in all of the
    family's business, a contrast to her husband, who is focused solely on Erik's success on the field. Both deliberately turn
    a blind eye to Erik's moral failings, which include a propensity for violence and a complete lack of empathy for others.
    He is a textbook sociopath and the world merely a gaggle of potential victims.

    Bloor guides the reader through the novel's 300-plus pages building upon each character with incident upon incident
    that reveals their true nature and failings. Paul and his parents are forced to face their own cowardice and complicity at
    several key junctures of the story, particularly during the break-ins and the events that led to the death of Luis Cruz.
    Facing their failings leaves them broken, but broken for potential rebirth as a better family unit.

    The novel's message builds upon itself through the evolution of each character: burying a wrong under a bushel of
    denial takes a terrible toll.

    Highly recommended. 5 Stars!
Tangerine
by Edward Bloor