Review: Well-Written and Emotional
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 19, 2012
Lucretia "Loochie" Gardner is your average twelve-year-old living in Queens. While her best friend Sunny is away receiving treatments for her illness, Loochie is left feeling alienated and alone. She struggles with issues that all young girls go through: fitting in at school, puberty, appearances. So when Sunny finally returns home, Loochie is determined to have fun to make up for their lost time together. That is, until Sunny goes missing and Loochie must find the courage to face the Kroons in apartment 6D and rescue her friend.Once Loochie enters apartment 6D, she finds herself face-to-face with one of the Kroons. Monsters that are notorious for taking children and burning them. Freeing herself, she runs deeper into the apartment only to find herself in a park, complete with grass, tall trees and even a playground. Running for her life and trying to make sense of her surroundings, Loochie is focused on finding Sunny who she knows is far to weak from her treatments to survive. Imagine Loochie's surprise when Sunny is the one to find her with the help of an unexpected friend.Lucretia and the Kroons is a well-written short story that is ultimately a story about love and learning to deal with loss. Victor LaValle does a wonderful job showing the reader the emotions Loochie is going through and the ways that she learns to deal with her loss.This story is listed as a horror but I would personally classify it as a dark fantasy instead because I found the dark elements rather tame to be a horror.I received a copy of Lucretia and the Kroons via NetGalley when asked by Random House Publishing for an honest review.