I finally got around to reading Lullabies for Little Criminals, which has been recommended to me by all kinds of people, including one of my students who seemed quite immune to the charms of most of the novels I was teaching in English class but who was completely captivated by this book.
I can see why, actually, because Baby, the narrator and main character of Lullabies, reminds me a lot of some of my students — or of them as they might have been at twelve or thirteen. Baby is the child of a twenty-seven-year-old drug addict dad who loves her dearly but has no idea how to care for her. Baby’s life is a chaotic journey through the streets of inner-city Montreal, from dingy boarding hotels to foster homes to a juvenile detention centre and eventually, inevitably, to dangerous shelter under the wing of a neighbourhood pimp.
Yet throughout the insanity of her life Baby remains a bright, perceptive, and somehow innocent girl, seeing her tawdry world through fresh eyes. O’Neill’s use of language here, the voice she gives Baby, is lyrical and poetic without straining credibility and without ever detracting from the story.
The first part of the novel moved slowly, I thought — it was rambling and episodic and I wondered if things were ever going to start happening. Then they do start happening and the story moves toward its conclusion, leaving the reader unsure what kind of outcome to hope for. I found the ending not quite satisfying — but it could have been much worse. The book is engaging and enjoyable, a quirky portrayal of beauty found in unexpected places.
4 Comments
December 19, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Hi,
Thanks for coming by even though I wasn’t in agreeance. It is nice to be able to discuss things with people who don’t agree- even more so, it’s nice to talk books. I am glad you weren’t offended, and if you were, thanks for being nice about it.
I look forward to reading more of your reviews.
Just One Canadian
May 25, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Hi,
I really enjoyed the book and your comments. The book totally captured my imagination when I heard it read on the CBC, so I read it myself in full and was even more captivated. What makes it so readable even though Baby’s circumstances are not easy to bear at all is her never-failing undepressed and deeply humanistic outlook on the world. As a teacher of English (in Germany) I should love to use it in class, much more than, e.g. “About a Boy,” which has become something of a standard in year 11 in Berlin. Would you know of any source of lesson plans or reading tasks for “Lullabies”?
May 25, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I don’t know of any, Axel, and I don’t know if the book has made it onto any English class curricula in Canada, but if I find out anything I’ll let you know!
August 25, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Hi,
Just to let you know, I’ve successfully put Lullabies into the curriculum in 2 schools now in Ottawa with great success. Not a lot of resources yet, but it’s getting there. Great response from students on the whole, especially those kinds of kids who don’t read anything we give them.