Icy Sparks
by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2008)
Read in July, 2008
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Read in November, 2006
Good read. For the most part, this book was a very enthralling and entertaining read. The story itself and the writing both very fine. It's not a book, though, that's going to go down in history as one of my favorites, despite the fact I really did enjoy it.
The main problem I had with the book was the characters themselves. They were likeable enough, but with the exceptional of Icy, most everyone she encountered seemed 2Demensional at most, they weren't flushed out enough for my taste. I'm n...more
The main problem I had with the book was the characters themselves. They were likeable enough, but with the exceptional of Icy, most everyone she encountered seemed 2Demensional at most, they weren't flushed out enough for my taste. I'm n...more
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Read in March, 2008
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in June, 2007
Sometimes when I come to the end of a good book I feel a little sad because I've enjoyed the story so much and now it's come to an end. That's how I felt when I closed the book on Icy Sparks by Gwyn Hyman Rubio. I'd picked up the book because it was one of Oprah's selections and the book jacket sounded interesting--a little girl with a troubling affliction grows up in 1950s Kentucky. As one growing up with deaf parents, I felt very different from the others as a child. I would be able to rel...more
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Granted, I listened to it and the narrator was okay until the end when Icy, the main character, finds God and there is all kinds of singing. Well, the singing just about sent me over the edge. "Amazing Grace" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in a bad hillbilly accented voice was almost more than I could handle. I found myself finishing the book out of anger: "Damnit--I've lasted this long. I have to finish it." So I slogged through and finished the damned thing...more
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Read in August, 2002
Downloaded from Audible.com
Narrator: Kate Miller
Publisher: HighBridge Audio, 2001
Length: 6 hours and 54 min. (abridged)
Publisher's Summary
Rural Kentucky in the 1950s is not an easy place to grow up, and it's especially hard for 10-year-old Icy Sparks, an orphan suffering from undiagnosed Tourette Syndrome, who lives with her grandparents. Icy's adolescence is marred by the humiliation of her illness. Its all-too-visible signs are the source of endless mystery and hilarity as everyo...more
Narrator: Kate Miller
Publisher: HighBridge Audio, 2001
Length: 6 hours and 54 min. (abridged)
Publisher's Summary
Rural Kentucky in the 1950s is not an easy place to grow up, and it's especially hard for 10-year-old Icy Sparks, an orphan suffering from undiagnosed Tourette Syndrome, who lives with her grandparents. Icy's adolescence is marred by the humiliation of her illness. Its all-too-visible signs are the source of endless mystery and hilarity as everyo...more
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Read in June, 2008
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This is a story about an orphan growing up with Tourette Syndrome. The story takes place in a small town of Kentucky in 1950, where not only is there little knowledge about this disorder, but it's hard for her to hide it in such a small town.
It's actually both a funny and sad story. Funny because when she gets mad or nervous the illness kicks in and she says some pretty crude things. It's sad because once the town realizes she's not normal they shun her. The only person who's willing to ...more
It's actually both a funny and sad story. Funny because when she gets mad or nervous the illness kicks in and she says some pretty crude things. It's sad because once the town realizes she's not normal they shun her. The only person who's willing to ...more
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Read in August, 2003
Well, this book came to me at just the right time! Last week I found out that a former student of mine has been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome. I knew he had difficulties when he was in my first grade class, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Now that he is in 4th grade, the work load has become more demanding and other students less forgiving about behavior outside of the "norm." I am so glad to have read this book to get a glimpse of what life might be like for him.
I was dra...more
I was dra...more
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Read in June, 2008
I REALLY liked the first half of this book. The experience of a young girl with Tourrette's was fascinating and plausible. The author's poor conveyance of dialect was distracting but forgivable, mostly due to the overaching sparkle of the main character's wit. Ten-year-old Icy is precocious and interesting, if a little too perceptive and articulate to be believed.
However, her transformation upon returning home (I'm being vague to avoid spoilers) defies her character and any patience the r...more
However, her transformation upon returning home (I'm being vague to avoid spoilers) defies her character and any patience the r...more
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Read in March, 2008
This book was the first selection my book club picked. I thought it was well written. Seeing as I am from the south I was especially sensitive to the language that was used. Too often in "southern" books you get the Ma and Pa and ya'll a bit too much for my taste. While this book did contain a southern dialect, I didn't feel it made the characters stupid or dumb them down. Interestingly enough from reading the reviews I expected to be very very depressed and sad, but that was not w...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2008
Icy Sparks is Anne of Green Gables with Tourette Syndrome. I loved the character, but wasn't super crazy about the story.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part was kind of painful because it shows her at 10 years old first beginning to manifest Tourette's, and becoming an outcast in her community--it's the 1950's in rural Kentucky and nobody had a clue about Tourette's. I really liked the second part, which induced me to keep reading the book (saying what it's about would be a...more
The book is divided into three parts. The first part was kind of painful because it shows her at 10 years old first beginning to manifest Tourette's, and becoming an outcast in her community--it's the 1950's in rural Kentucky and nobody had a clue about Tourette's. I really liked the second part, which induced me to keep reading the book (saying what it's about would be a...more
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Read in December, 2007
When I began this book I thought I would love it. Overall, I didn't. There were parts that enthralled me, but there were parts that dragged. In the middle, I wanted it to be finished, but the first third and last third were terrific. It is the story of Icy, a girl living in the hills of Kentucky in the late 50s early 60s. Icy has Tourette's Syndrome and at this point in medical history there are no medicines to help her with her affliction, so she struggles through life. The character deve...more
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Read in January, 2005
I loved this book! I remembered picking it up at the library and coming home to read it being stunned at the first sentence." On June 10th I turned 10.That Sat . after my birthday, the eye blinking and popping began." Well my B-Day is the 10th and when I turned 10yrs old I had my first seizure and many more to come after that. I related so much to this book that even all of the things she went through that even in the end she wouldn't have anything different because that how she became...more
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Read in March, 2008
Icy Sparks was disappointing. There were many lulls between chapters and the ending seemed as if it was placed there as a last resort in order to bring a quick close to the novel.
I liked the character Icy Sparks, but she was not believeable. She seemed to be about 17 or 18 rather than a 10-year-old girl attempting to hide the symptoms of Tourette's Syndrome from her family and friends.
There's no doubt that the author is talented with words, but an entire novel with such a disconnect in ...more
I liked the character Icy Sparks, but she was not believeable. She seemed to be about 17 or 18 rather than a 10-year-old girl attempting to hide the symptoms of Tourette's Syndrome from her family and friends.
There's no doubt that the author is talented with words, but an entire novel with such a disconnect in ...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2007
I really enjoyed the narration of this story when being told from the viewpoint of a 9-year-old kid. Then she grew up, and it became slightly less interesting, but still engaging. However, if you're planning on reading this book about a girl growing up in Appalachia in the 1950's while living with an undiagnosed case of Tourette's Syndrome, I would skip the beginning and the end. For some reason it took me about 70 pages to decide I would finish this book, and I really would have not missed the ...more
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Read in January, 2005
This book takes place in KY several years ago. It is about a young girl, named Icy, who has Tourette's syndrome and is being raised by her grandparents. . (I think that that is an interesting premise for a book!)
I read it a while back...and, while I liked the book, I didn;t think think that the book was as memorable or well developed as it could have been...having started with a truly different idea. (I don't know of many other books that address Tourette's...much less one that take splace in ...more
I read it a while back...and, while I liked the book, I didn;t think think that the book was as memorable or well developed as it could have been...having started with a truly different idea. (I don't know of many other books that address Tourette's...much less one that take splace in ...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Rachel by:
my mother in law
Icy Sparks is a brilliant character. Flawed and beautiful, simple and complex, I don't think I've ever read anyone like her before. However, that being said, I admit rather woefully that I just simply did not get the book's popularity. The plot stumbles and plods along with the fluidity of cement. I never found myself longing to grab up my copy of the book and pick up where i'd left off. No, this was a very calm read... i read it mostly on an eliptical bike at the gym. It filled my time, but fai...more
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i read this in high school and used it as part of my research for a paper on tourette's. "but anna," you may be thinking, "this book has a publication date of 2001, and you are 26 years old. that math doesn't compute."
yeah, well, books exist before oprah gets her hands on them. TAKE THAT, OPRAH! WHO SCOOPED YOU NOW, HUH??!?!? you think you're SOOOOOO cool with your show and your book club and your free iPods? well GUESS WHO READ THIS BOOK before you?????
anyway, i reme
yeah, well, books exist before oprah gets her hands on them. TAKE THAT, OPRAH! WHO SCOOPED YOU NOW, HUH??!?!? you think you're SOOOOOO cool with your show and your book club and your free iPods? well GUESS WHO READ THIS BOOK before you?????
anyway, i reme
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Read in February, 2008
This book dragged on. The characters were dull and repetitive and void of understandable motivations. In addition the plot was boring and non-sequential. The jump at the end to Icy's religious revival went without explanation. At times I appreciated Icy's introspection, but too often she was complaining instead of working towards a solution or acceptance to her disorder. Even near the end, the writing failed to grab my attention; I only finished it because I had started it, and it was required f...more
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