Book Review of The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause
Author: Annette Curtis Klause
ISBN: 0-440-21346-0
Publisher: Laurel Leaf Books
Type of book: Vampires, coming of age, death, love story, 1980s, young adult
Year it was published: 1990
Summary:
Zoe is wary when, in the dead of the night, the beautiful but frightening Simon comes to her house. Simon seems to understand the pain of loneliness and death and Zoe's brooding thoughts about her dying mother.
Simon is one of the undead, a vampire, seeking revenge for the gruesome death of his mother three hundred years ago. Does Simon dare ask Zoe to hlep free him from this lifeless chase and its intolerable solitude?
Characters:
The characters are three dimensional and one can see them change throughout the book; that is they don't stay the same. The villain in this book is one dimensional and seems to be excused from change because he is only a child. I enjoy reading about Zoe's journey from angry teenager to someone who tries hard to accept the change. The passages within the book are also very beautiful.
Theme:
"Things changed, she realized. People grew, they moved, they died. Sometimes they withdrew into themselves, and sometimes they reached out after needing no one. SHe remembered Simon's clinging embrace. What would it be like if nothing changed? she wondered. It would be stagnant, she supposed: frozen, decadent, terrifying. But why did it have to be so painful-all this change? Why did it mean losing people you love?" (192-193)
Plot:
The author did a good job of sticking to the characters' points of views, that is you get a chapter of things from Simon's point of view, and one of Zoe's. This is written in third person limited point of view. As I mentioned, the plot seemed to move nicely and one can see the characters change, or else their situations change. It has to mean something that this is one of the books that I loved since I was in middle school.
Author Information:
(From wikipedia) Annette Curtis Klause (born 1953) is an American author and librarian, specializing in young adult fiction. Annette is currently a children's materials selector for Montgomery County Public Libraries in Montgomery County, Maryland. Born in Bristol, England, she now lives in Hyattsville, Maryland with her husband Mark and their cats. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.
She has published four novels for young adults: The Silver Kiss (1990, Delacorte), Alien Secrets (1993, Delacorte), Blood and Chocolate (1997, Delacorte), and Freaks: Alive on the Inside (2006, Margaret K. McElderry). From 1982 through 1994, she contributed book reviews to the School Library Journal.
Opinion:
First time I read this book was in the spring of when I was in seventh grade I think. I remember meeting someone at an Easter Egg hunt or something like that that the HOA put up in the neighborhood and mentioning that I liked vampires or something of that kind. The person I talked with recommended this book. Since then I read it very daily, almost every year. This novel has a strange beauty to it, the mood of the eighties, the death and isolation. This book is not Twilight, for its not filled with endless adjectives of Edward's body, and beauty of the vampire character, Simon, is mentioned a few times but its not overwhelming. This also sticks close to the traditional vampires of being hurt by crosses, wooden sticks, and sun. It has a beautiful ending in my opinion, for one can sense the lessons learned within this small book. If you are looking for a book to satisfy your vampire thirst, try this book.
4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
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