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Overview
Ever since he found her battered and raped in the alley near his home, Thulani hasn't been able to think about anything but Ysa. This is the first time since his mother died that he's given a thought to anything but the rock doves he keeps on the roof of his house in Brooklyn. Now that he has seen Ysa, Thulani finally has a reason to come down from the roof. But it's not so easy for him -- especially when it seems that Ysa doesn't want him in her world at all.
After seeing a girl raped and becoming obsessed with her, sixteen-year-old Thulani finds motivation to move beyond his interest in his pigeons and his grief over his mother's death.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewIn a beautifully written but hard-hitting tale about the harsh realities of life, African-American author Rita Williams-Garcia offers the elegantly poignant young adult novel Every Time a Rainbow Dies. Sixteen-year-old Thulani has been adrift in his life ever since the death of his mother. But the healing power of love, along with a tragic event and the vagaries of fate, eventually give Thulani's life new meaning and direction.
Living in the Brooklyn brownstone he and his older brother inherited upon their mother's death, Thulani's only interest in life is the pigeons he keeps in a dovecote up on the roof. As much as possible, he ignores his brother's attempts to "man him up" and his pregnant sister-in-law's incessant nagging. He has no direction, no goals, no purpose. But that all changes when he witnesses a vicious rape in the alley below his rooftop. By the time Thulani reaches the girl, her attackers have fled. But instead of the gratitude and relief he expects from her, Thulani is cursed, shunned, and even slapped by the battered girl.
In the weeks that follow, Thulani finds himself obsessing over the girl, whose name, he learns, is Ysa. He follows her during the day to see where she goes and dreams about her at night. It takes weeks before he has the courage to approach her, and his reception is not a warm one. But Thulani is determined and persistent, a trait that eventually wears down Ysa's defenses. Now for the first time since his mother's death, Thulani has something other than his birds that he cares about, but each time happiness seems within his grasp, something happens to take it away from him. Then Thulani's brother makes some decisions that will force Thulani to redirect his entire life. This crisis, combined with his brother's well-meaning but heartbreaking betrayals and the tenuous nature of his relationship with Ysa, teach Thulani how to love, forgive, and stand up for what he believes in.
Every Time a Rainbow Dies isn't always an easy read. A violent rape scene, which is depicted in vivid detail, and some sexual imagery that can, at times, be a bit coarse, dictate caution when considering the book's appropriateness for some YA readers. But although Williams-Garcia offers no illusions about the harsh realities of life, she also does an amazing job of proffering hope where there seemingly is none. For those who don't need their tales sugarcoated, this is a painful but rewarding read.
--Beth Amos
Riverbank Review
One of the most powerful new voices in young adult literature, Garcia explores loss and love, identity, and self-determination...Publishers Weekly
A remarkably sympathetic portrait of 16-year-old Thulani, who came to Brooklyn from Jamaica with his mother and brother, and aids a rape victim, wrote PW in a starred review. With its layered yet understated language, and complex yet truthful characterizations, this novel will hold the rapt attention of sophisticated readers. Ages 14-up. (May) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.Publishers Weekly -
Williams-Garcia (Like Sisters on the Homefront) paints a remarkably sympathetic portrait of 16-year-old Thulani, who came to Brooklyn from Jamaica with his mother and brother. As the novel opens, he is tending his beloved rock doves on the roof of his townhouse when he witnesses a rape. After he helps the young woman home, he cannot stop thinking of her; the author honestly conveys the mix of emotions the hero feels (sorrow, titillation, compassion, anger). Revisiting the scene of her assault, he discovers a rainbow-colored skirt that he knows must be hers, which he keeps and mounts on his bedroom wall. He follows her around until he works up the courage to talk with her, learns her name--Ysa--then falls in love with her. Through their budding relationship and her passion for life and her studies (textile design), Thulani works up the courage to accomplish his own goals, to break through his brooding silence and to accept his mother's death. Through Ysa's gradual willingness to trust Thulani, she helps him to live with uncertainty and sadness. The rape and, later, a lovemaking scene between Ysa and Thulani, are explicitly drawn, yet the manner in which Williams-Garcia contrasts the violence of one and the gentleness of the other underscores the myriad ways in which their relationship heals old wounds. With its layered yet understated language, including snippets of Jamaican and Haitian "patois" and complex yet truthful characterizations, this novel will hold the rapt attention of sophisticated readers. Ages 14-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.VOYA
Sixteen-year-old Thulani witnesses a horrific event. While tending his pigeons on the rooftop of the brownstone he shares with his brother and sister-in-law in Brooklyn, he looks down into the alley and sees a girl being raped. Quickly, he runs to her rescue and helps the nearly naked, incoherent victim to her house. She slams the door in his face, and that should be the end, but it is not. Thulani cannot get the girl named Ysa out of his head. Unable to focus on school, work, or his future since the death of his adored mother three years earlier, Thulani finds himself concentrating solely on Ysa's well being. As he eventually wins her over, he realizes that even attaining his dream girl cannot heal the hole in his heart that his mother left. Only he can make the decision to honor his mother's memory by getting on with his life. Williams-Garcia's writing becomes richer and more realized with each subsequent novel. The ardent Thulani is both utterly sincere and utterly clueless in his approach to Ysa, making him completely real and endearing. For comic relief, the author inserts finger-wagging, nosy Shakira, Thulani's bossy sister-in-law, who scolds him lovingly day and night. Thulani and Ysa do share some intimate moments, making Rainbow more suited to older teens, but Williams-Garcia's descriptive prose is elegant, never graphic. This Caribbean-flavored love story is a must-have for all public and high school libraries. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, HarperCollins, 166p, . Ages 13 to 18. Reviewer: Jennifer Hubert SOURCE: VOYA,June 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 2)Children's Literature
Still grieving from his mother's death three years earlier, sixteen-year-old Thulani lives in a self-imposed emotional coma with only the pigeons he keeps on his Brooklyn rooftop as friends, until the night he witnesses a rape from his aerie. The decision to intervene sets him back on the road to recovery. Ysa, the victim, has her own wounds to heal, but cautiously the two take fledgling steps toward love—and in the process, reconciliation with their lives. PEN/Norma Klein awardee Williams-Garcia's portrait of the slow-moving, Jamaican-born Thulani is paced as carefully as Thulani's mind—and as poetically, too. This is a strong, sometimes harrowing, lovely piece of writing. 2001, HarperCollins Children's Books, $15.95 and $15.89. Ages 14 up. Reviewer: Kathleen KarrKLIATT
To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, January 2001: This is a combination of grit and poetry. Williams-Garcia uses a slightly more distant third-person narrative to tell about Thulani's love for Ysa. He is from Jamaica and she is from Haiti, but the two of them meet in New York City—in horrific circumstances. Thulani is up on the roof, tending his beloved pigeons, when he hears a scream and looks down to see a girl being raped in the alley. He runs down to help her, frightening off the rapists; he finds the girl beaten up, bleeding, and understandably hysterical. She strikes out against him, thinking he is another rapist, but he manages to calm her enough to get her home. He urges her to call the police. He becomes slightly obsessed with her, even though she has no interest in even his friendship. Another girl is a distraction for a time, but he really can only think about Ysa. The background to their love evolving is the story of Thulani's grief for his dead mother, his conflict with the older brother who is his guardian, and his broken connection to the father left behind in Jamaica. Ysa is an artist, trying hard to qualify to get into a school of design to pursue her craft; she too is lonely, with a sad family history. The sexual encounters, the violence of the rape, and the gentleness with which Thulani makes love to Ysa nearly a year afterwards, are described in some detail. There is something disturbing about Thulani's obsession with her, which results in his frequent truancy and lack of effort in school. Readers do understand that he is vulnerable because of his mother's death, and the end of the brief story results in some hope that his upcoming journey to Jamaica tofind his father will definitely make him stronger and ready to believe in his own future. As usual, Williams-Garcia makes us really care about her characters and their struggles. KLIATT Codes: S*—Exceptional book, recommended for senior high school students. 2001, HarperTempest, 166p.,— Claire Rosser