Christine Keleny

This is a cute story of a 12 year old girl who travels to Istanbul, has adventures, and tries to uncover information about her father.
Overall, I liked the story okay but I *hated* the constant defining of words and idioms. I found this annoying and distracting. Helping with the pronunciation of turkish words was nice though. In general, I found the narrator overly pedantic and needing to explain things.

The book takes place between 1961-1963. Several times things are drawn attention to to accentuate this time period.… (meer)

This story's setting is during the late 1920s and early 1930s...A time when The United States was experiencing devastation and other countries were in a terrible war the US would soon join. It is a time when old prejudices still dominated a large portion of individuals. Interracial association was still frowned upon by both Black and White cultures.

Rose's tale is very entertaining and full if adventure. There is only one brief area it felt a little too prolonged. However, the reader's attention was captured and enticed to eagerly await the next event.

There are some sexual situations unbecoming for younger YA to read without parent's supervision. They are not explicit and are tastefully done.

The characters were very realistic with numerous personalities. The background scenery is well-portrayed and easily to visualize. The flow of one scene to the next and one setting to the next "flows" easily. It has 478 pages but once one begins to read, the pages seem inconsequential and the reader is left wanting more.

The Title states the name of the primary character, so fits well. I feel the book cover was good but could have been more eye-catching.

I listened to the book on CD, which was excellently narrated by Adam Seeger. He slightly stumbled through the first couple of pages but more than made up for it with the remaining 476 pages! He truly did an amazing job with the various voices and changing scenes.

My review of this book and book on CD offers a Four and a Half Stars rating!

This book was generously sent to me by the author for an honest review, of which I have given.… (meer)

Rose Marie Krantz, the protagonist of “A Burnished Rose,” after visiting her family home in rural Wisconsin, trains to become a nurse, joins the army, and for a good portion of the book serves with the 95th Evacuation Hospital as it accompanies American forces through North Africa, Italy, and Germany during World War II.

What I liked best about Christine Keleny’s historical novel is its authenticity. I was impressed with the detail of Wisconsin farm life, which only a person who has lived it could provide. An example: Rose’s friend Lilly Mae watched “the swallows dive and dance around the tractor as it kicked up the moths and grasshoppers that were resting on the new, spring plants.” More impressive is Mrs. Keleny’s detail about diseases and military wounds and the treatment of such, information she obtained in large part by interviewing knowledgeable medical personnel. Her research, as revealed in a section after the conclusion of the novel, was extensive.

Independent-minded, adventurous, and empathetic, Rose is a singular character. She is the kind of person that people gravitate to. Of the secondary characters, I liked especially Rose’s mother. They had an understated special bond, a connection that is revealed in chapter 2 when Rose helps her mother stabilize her breathing during a serious pneumonia attack. The bond is revealed again at the end of the book when Rose’s mother helps her daughter during a special time of need. I also liked Earl, a young man Rose meets while in Wisconsin. Earl is especially helpful. He is sincere in his attentiveness. She is attracted to him despite her commitment to Malcolm, a young man who lives in New Orleans. Then there is blunt-speaking Lilly Mae, Rose’s African-American Louisiana friend, whose presence in Wisconsin demonstrates Rose’s refusal to adhere to the prevailing cultural racial prejudice. Several secondary characters -- Rose’s army nurse friends and Alfee, Rose’s male 95th transport friend – needed, I felt, more development.

The story is well-planned. Many of the scenes are imaginative. I liked especially the driving lesson that Gertie, Rose’s older sister, gives Rose (a pitch-perfect depiction of sibling animosity). The scene in which Rose talks to dead nurses while she washes their bodies was moving. The author makes excellent use of letters to inform the reader of useful information. I was not particularly interested in the section of the book in which Rose is trained to become a nurse. Her major concern is her having to tell Malcolm that she plans to join the army knowing he expects them to be married and to settle down and raise a family after her training is completed. When she left Wisconsin to begin her training, she had decided she would shut Earl out of all her thoughts. Because the author makes no mention of Earl until late in the book, she succeeds. This section of the book would have interested me more if Rose hadn’t.

I had difficulty accepting the scene in which Rose is finally forced to tell Malcolm her plans. Malcolm has showered Rose repeatedly with numerous favors and much attention. He does so again, setting the scene for his proposal. He is justifiably angry at her refusal. She is upset with his having pulled strings to obtain a determent, which allows him to profit financially from the country’s mobilization for war. I was bothered that Rose was willing to accept his attentions over a three-year period knowing she would not be marrying him upon graduation. This made me question how much she loved him. I felt that because she had been dishonest she deserved punishment. A logical outcome would have had Malcolm terminating, at least temporarily, their relationship. After too brief a display of temper Malcolm, however, surrenders. Malcolm’s acquiescence bothered me more than Rose’s dishonesty. Most men would have dropped her. A separation during which Rose soul-searches and Malcolm reassesses his needs would have been realistic. Their coming-together afterward, having reached a better understanding of each other, would have worked.

Christine Keleny has chosen to express herself mostly with uncomplicated sentence structure and easily comprehended vocabulary. Although this encourages wider readership, it does limit, I believe, an author’s opportunity to be expressive. In most instances, though, Mrs. Keleny’s style succeeds. In certain scenes simple dialogue and precise character actions do work better to convey emotion than a reliance on subjective narration. This was true of the climatic scene at the end of the book.

Two aspects of Mrs. Keleny’s narration did bother me. I did not care for her use of colloquial expressions, like “made a beeline to,” “running out of steam,” “might be in the clear,” and “beaming from ear to ear.” I was also annoyed by her use of teasers at the ends of some of her chapters: “Soon she would have a new title, one that fit her even less.”

I enjoyed the historical content of this novel – very well presented – more than the romantic thread, but, then, I am a man. I consider Mrs. Keleny’s book a tribute to the many thousands of Americans, male and female, who sacrificed so much during those terrible years for our and humanity’s benefit.… (meer)