Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Zorrie
Laird Hunt
Review by Priscilla Comen
Zorrie
Laird Hunt
Review by Priscilla Comen
Zorrie, by Laird Hunt is Zorrie’s life story told in poetic phrases from start to end. After her parents both die of diphtheria, Zorrie is raised by a mean aunt who dies, and at age twenty, Zorrie sleeps in the fields. She looks up her former teacher, the kind Mr. Thomas. He cuts off his shirt buttons so she can sew them back on. Looking for a job, she walks for two days to Ottawa because she hears of work there. It’s at the Radium Dial Company and she is trained to paint numbers on clock faces with luminous yellow paint. Her Supervisor sprinkles radium in his Coca Cola at lunch time. She works with Janie and Marie and walks at night with them through the town. She sees her first movie and eats her first ice cream sundae with them.
At the end of a month, Zorrie goes back to Indiana. Her aunt’s house has sold to pay off her debts and Mr. Thomas has moved because there is no school this year. Gus and Bessie let Zorrie sleep on their cot in their spare room and they introduce her to their son Harold. She’s speechless when she meets him. They play catch and go for long walks. She wears Bessie’ dress when they marry. Harold has a hundred acres and Zorrie makes the garden grow with vegetables and flowers.
At the fourth of July picnic she meets all the neighbors and Noah, whose wife has tried to burn their house down. She’s still in the mental asylum. Noah had to carry her out of the burning house. Zorrie meets the Duffs, the Summers, and the Dunns. In the winter they read to each other at night. Zorrie gets pregnant but looses the baby. The next fourth of July they don’t go to the picnic, although she says they could have.
In 1942, Harold goes to Europe as an air force navigator and Bessie moves to the farm to keep Zorrie company. In December, 1943, Harold is killed when his B17 sustains heavy gunfire from Germans. Memorial services are held at her home. Years later when Zorrie gets a post card from Jamie in Chicago she decides to visit them in Ottawa, Illinois. On her way she gets lost and ends up in a parking lot near Lake Michigan. When she gets back home Ruby gives her a puppy she names Oats. Soon Oats goes to Virgil’s house to lie by his chair, knowing Virgil is ill. Virgil is Noah’s father and Zorrie is invited often to dinner at their house. She reads aloud to them and even Noah likes it.
Author Hunt describes the seasons, the plantings, the illnesses that Zorrie experiences in the late ‘50s. She buys a second grain bin and a new truck. Her garden grows and she shares the canned and frozen foods. Sheriff Hank Dunn comes to call on her many times and she dresses up for him. After several months, she tells him it’s over and he says he knew there was someone else who had her heart. Is it still Harold?
Months later she drives to Ottawa to see Marie and stands at Janie’s grave. They talk of the Luna powder and the barrels they had swallowed. She visualizes Janie glowing with the yellow stuff from her grave.
When Zorrie goes home she visits Opal, Noah’s wife, at the mental hospital and brings her a phonograph and records and blueberries to be kind. Later Zorrie smells smoke and sees a fire in Noah’s barn. When the firemen arrive, Noah says he set it and should be taken to the hospital where Opal is. He says he’s crazy but Hank says he’s not that crazy. He calms Noah and tells Zorrie they weren’t ever married. Hank says Noah needs someone to watch over him all the time. She’s not sure she can do it. She makes a peach pie and a ham casserole and takes them to Noah’s. They sit at the kitchen table and Noah eats with gusto. She brings dinner over several nights a week and listens to Noah swear and talk constantly. Hank checks in and seems satisfied that all is going well.
Other neighbors stop by for coffee; Ralph Duff says it’s good to have company and human talk.
Later in her life, Zorrie goes to Holland by jet plane to see the art in museums, the gardens of tulips, and Anne Frank’s home. She thinks of Harold falling from the sky in Holland. A woman in the seat next to her on the plane listens to Zorrie’s stories of friends and loved ones who have passed away.
This poignant story takes us everywhere in Zorrie’s life and stays in our hearts a long time. Find this beautiful novel on the new fiction shelf of your local library.
At the end of a month, Zorrie goes back to Indiana. Her aunt’s house has sold to pay off her debts and Mr. Thomas has moved because there is no school this year. Gus and Bessie let Zorrie sleep on their cot in their spare room and they introduce her to their son Harold. She’s speechless when she meets him. They play catch and go for long walks. She wears Bessie’ dress when they marry. Harold has a hundred acres and Zorrie makes the garden grow with vegetables and flowers.
At the fourth of July picnic she meets all the neighbors and Noah, whose wife has tried to burn their house down. She’s still in the mental asylum. Noah had to carry her out of the burning house. Zorrie meets the Duffs, the Summers, and the Dunns. In the winter they read to each other at night. Zorrie gets pregnant but looses the baby. The next fourth of July they don’t go to the picnic, although she says they could have.
In 1942, Harold goes to Europe as an air force navigator and Bessie moves to the farm to keep Zorrie company. In December, 1943, Harold is killed when his B17 sustains heavy gunfire from Germans. Memorial services are held at her home. Years later when Zorrie gets a post card from Jamie in Chicago she decides to visit them in Ottawa, Illinois. On her way she gets lost and ends up in a parking lot near Lake Michigan. When she gets back home Ruby gives her a puppy she names Oats. Soon Oats goes to Virgil’s house to lie by his chair, knowing Virgil is ill. Virgil is Noah’s father and Zorrie is invited often to dinner at their house. She reads aloud to them and even Noah likes it.
Author Hunt describes the seasons, the plantings, the illnesses that Zorrie experiences in the late ‘50s. She buys a second grain bin and a new truck. Her garden grows and she shares the canned and frozen foods. Sheriff Hank Dunn comes to call on her many times and she dresses up for him. After several months, she tells him it’s over and he says he knew there was someone else who had her heart. Is it still Harold?
Months later she drives to Ottawa to see Marie and stands at Janie’s grave. They talk of the Luna powder and the barrels they had swallowed. She visualizes Janie glowing with the yellow stuff from her grave.
When Zorrie goes home she visits Opal, Noah’s wife, at the mental hospital and brings her a phonograph and records and blueberries to be kind. Later Zorrie smells smoke and sees a fire in Noah’s barn. When the firemen arrive, Noah says he set it and should be taken to the hospital where Opal is. He says he’s crazy but Hank says he’s not that crazy. He calms Noah and tells Zorrie they weren’t ever married. Hank says Noah needs someone to watch over him all the time. She’s not sure she can do it. She makes a peach pie and a ham casserole and takes them to Noah’s. They sit at the kitchen table and Noah eats with gusto. She brings dinner over several nights a week and listens to Noah swear and talk constantly. Hank checks in and seems satisfied that all is going well.
Other neighbors stop by for coffee; Ralph Duff says it’s good to have company and human talk.
Later in her life, Zorrie goes to Holland by jet plane to see the art in museums, the gardens of tulips, and Anne Frank’s home. She thinks of Harold falling from the sky in Holland. A woman in the seat next to her on the plane listens to Zorrie’s stories of friends and loved ones who have passed away.
This poignant story takes us everywhere in Zorrie’s life and stays in our hearts a long time. Find this beautiful novel on the new fiction shelf of your local library.