false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176262558m/608707.jpg 608707 1 Rachel Finch is twelve years old and in love&#8212;not with a neighborhood boy, but with the Dewey decimal system, call numbers and the cellophane covers of library books . . . also with time travel, a superhero she knows only as S-Man and, above all, Franz Kafka. She considers herself a very different young girl&#8212;until she makes the acquaintance of a classmate who challenges that sense of otherness. <br><br>In this utterly inventive debut novel, we are irresistibly drawn into a world where Rachel, who many years later narrates our story, has begun to lead a double life. Severely asthmatic and deemed bookish and delicate by her family, she takes clandestine time-bending excursions with S-Man to rescue some of history&#8217;s greatest literary geniuses. Swooping in on Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and Chinua Achebe, among others, Rachel&#8217;s rescue missions are a rollicking ride through literary history, while her day-to-day life in Teaneck, New Jersey, emotively reflects the civil rights movement in 1960s America. <br><br>Writing with a confidence, intelligence and playfulness rare for a first-time novelist, Beth Bosworth has given us a book brimming with magical realism and boundless imagination, in which literary references, great humor and political consciousness fully blossom into a significance far beyond the grasp of a twelve-year-old girl. Witty and wise, with deftly rendered shadings of the heart, <b>Tunneling</b> is at once boldly fanciful and remarkably down-to-earth. 595204 2003 Tunneling: A Novel total:6|5:1|3:2|2:1|1:2| 6 15 16 4 1 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue May 12 20:23:33 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 20:25:47 -0700 2009 1 0 true false Fri Jan 18 19:12:10 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 02 10:39:09 -0800 2008
Update: I finally forced my way through chapter 1!

Final Word: I don't know enough about literary history to get into this book. Chapter two gave a glimpse of a storyline outside of the literary adventures with "S...more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri May 23 14:26:49 -0700 2008 Fri May 23 14:31:18 -0700 2008
Maybe I'm not educated enough to "get" all the literary devices being used in this book. It was hard to read and ...more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Jul 22 14:55:24 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 22 18:00:46 -0700 2008
I've had it about a year now. It's still on my to-read shelf. I will get to it some...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Jun 05 09:19:58 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 09:19:58 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed May 06 17:02:23 -0700 2009 Wed May 06 17:02:23 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Mar 24 08:50:15 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 08:50:15 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jan 25 05:19:35 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 06:07:45 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jan 12 08:24:45 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 08:24:51 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 28 09:03:22 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 28 09:03:22 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Sep 27 09:34:40 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 15 13:51:43 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 27 09:34:40 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sun Jan 20 15:20:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 20 15:20:00 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Wed Jan 16 08:17:03 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 08:17:03 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Tue Oct 02 22:41:10 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 02 22:41:10 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Thu Jul 12 17:01:54 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 12 17:01:54 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Tue Apr 10 20:36:02 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 10 20:36:02 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=608707