Sunday, January 18, 2015

White Pine: The Silent Summer PART 4 -David Wu

The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley
David Wu

The fourth post is right here.

Part 4: Setting
This story was primarily set in the house of Scott and Jill and the nearby surrounding area. The setting was not described in too much detail, but has enough so you can get the idea. The house is described by Kyle relatively well, but does not really specify the exact location or orientation of the house. At the start of the book, it is mentioned once that they are heading towards a place called the Ottawa Valley. Unless you really specifically know what the Ottawa Valley is, you probably would not realize that the house is in the middle of a place like this:


You would only truly realize that they live in a rural area on farmland when you find out that Scott was teaching Kyle how to drive a tractor. I believe that the house and surrounding area could have been explained in much more detail. Also, the inside of the house is not described in particular detail; we know what their are and the design and location of Kyle’s room, but the orientation of the other rooms in the house is quite unknown to us. I would have liked it much more if the house had been described in much greater detail, but that is a personal preference. I like all my writing to be accurate, precise, and detailed to provide a complete image.
However, the amount of detail describing the area is actually of little consequence to the book, as the story is mainly about internal conflicts and the heart, so the surrounding area is of little importance. Kyle doesn’t really go anywhere for the entire story other than moving around the house and explicit detail on the house and the inside wouldn’t do too much at improving the book.
The setting was described sufficiently, but not enough to satisfy what detail I like. However, extreme detail was snot really needed in this books as the focus was on the personal level, not on travelling or action.

6 out of 10 stars

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