Teen Fiction - Choices & Transitions, Teen Fiction - Entertainment & Arts, Teen Fiction - Romance & Friendship

Orfe

Name: Orfe
Author: Cynthia Voigt
ISBN: 9781416998426

by Cynthia Voigt

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Overview

Love stories aren't about how they end.

A chance meeting on a street corner with her childhood friend Orfe plunges Enny into the tough world of popular music. As Orfe's business manager, Enny sees Orfe and her band, the three Graces, arrive at the brink of success -- and watches Orfe's dangerous obsession with Yuri.

Yuri, with his black, tightly curled hair that hangs like the tendrils of grape vines. Yuri, with his dark eyes that look right into yours as if he doesn't want to miss anything about you. Yuri, with a problem that may be deeper and stronger than the love he and Orfe share. Orfe's music has always been her salvation, but it may not be enough to save Yuri. And without Yuri, what will become of Orfe herself?

Enny tells of her relationship with Orfe, an unusually talented musician, and of the love between Orfe and Yuri, a recovering addict.

Synopsis

Love stories aren't about how they end.

Publishers Weekly

In a boxed review, PW said, ``Never has Voigt's writing been more poetic, more deeply resonant. In this bravura effort she harnesses the strength of the [Orpheus] myth to advance her own imaginative vision.'' Ages 12-up. (Aug.)

About the Author, Cynthia Voigt

Cynthia Voigt won the Newbery Medal for Dicey's Song and the Newbery Honor Award for A Solitary Blue, both part of the beloved Tillerman Cycle. She is also the author of many other celebrated books for middle-grade and teen readers, including Izzy, Willy-Nilly and Jackaroo. She was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 1995 for her work in literature, and the Katahdin Award in 2004. She lives in Maine.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-- Like their mythological namesakes Orpheus and Eurydice, Orfe and Yuri are lovers. Orfe, in this case the female of the pair, is a singer/songwriter (rock) of spellbinding power, Yuri a recovering addict who succumbs to his weakness on the very day of their wedding. The narrator, Enny, begins Orfe's tale by recounting their school days, when ``the new girl'' strides into her bleak life to become her best friend. Like Sylvia Cassedy's Polly (M. E. and Morton, Crowell, 1987) and other heroines of the meek and the downtrodden, Orfe commands the respect of her peers by the sheer outrageousness of her behavior (most effectively, a talent for vomiting at will). As her protege, Enny ceases to be the brunt of their classmates' cruelty. And, up to this point, the book holds promise. Then the scene shifts to the present, where a grown and confident Enny discovers her friend singing on a street corner and becomes involved in the shaping of her career. As Orfe rises to the brink of musical success (from the depths of a heavy-metal band that exploits her projectile vomiting), allusions to Yuri find their way into the narrative, though readers never actually meet him or learn his story until the tragedy of their romance has been revealed. There are lighter moments to the tale, but its overwhelming tone is one of darkness and despair. As a character, Orfe never justifies her early promise, nor, for that matter, Enny's devotion. Characterizations, in general, are disappointingly flat and unconvincing. The style is awkward and ponderous, sentence structure often clumsy, transitions often abrupt. The plot is unfocused, undirected, and, generally, uninvolving. A firmer hand might have made this more successful; a lighter touch might have made it more palatable. Voigt is more than capable of both. --Marcia Hupp, Mamaroneck Public Library, NY