The Adventures of Opal and Cupid
Grade 4-6-- Several of Tryon's adult novels, including The Other (Dell, 1987), earned him a good following among young adult readers. This one isn't for them, or even for the younger set at whom it seems aimed. Initially, the story conveys the feeling of a regional oddity--just folks in the mountains. However, unlike an authentic voice, such as Robert Burch's in Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain (Viking, 1980), we have here a re-creation by someone with a pretty good ear. The best parts are like a down-home story that's almost genuine. The rest is episodic, cinematic, undisciplined, and disappointing. The central characters are a preadolescent girl, Opal, and a preternatural elephant, Cupid. Opal is living in a shack in Peavine Hollow with her 103-year-old grandmother, and is awaiting the return of her father, who has gone to New York to get rich at Radio City Music Hall. The time is the Depression, according to the few references, but the action rambles through anytime. Huge impediments, one close upon the heels of the next, are put in the way of Opal and Cupid and overcome within the space of a casual paragraph. The author has a fondness for the wild chase scene and throws one in, always involving the lumbering elephant, at every possible turn. There are many chances for tension, depth, or character development as the story rushes on, but they're tossed aside and the book plods at a headlong pace to a predictable end. Published posthumously, this reads like a first draft. --Sally Margolis, Deerfield Public Library, ILCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.