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Tunneling: A Novel
Rachel Finch is twelve years old and in love—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—until she makes the acquaintance of a classmate who challenges that sense of otherness.
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’s greatest literary geniuses. Swooping in on Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and Chinua Achebe, among others, Rachel’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.
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, Tunneling is at once boldly fanciful and remarkably down-to-earth.
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’s greatest literary geniuses. Swooping in on Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and Chinua Achebe, among others, Rachel’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.
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, Tunneling is at once boldly fanciful and remarkably down-to-earth.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 14, 2011
hated, hated, hated this book. Main character: 12 year old girl named Rachel Finch. Best friend: 12 year old named Rachel Fish. Why ?????? Both are precocious, having read Shakespeare, Kafka, Chinua Achebe. Enough said.
Okay maybe not enough said because I have more to say. Rachel has a friend named S-man. Okay, he's Superman, why not call him that ? Together Rachel and S-man go back in time (tunnel) to meet famous authors and change history. They never succeed and their adventures are pointless. There are also three bad guys; Assemblage, The Stick, and Laff Riot. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Second plot also involved tunneling. A vietnam vet is training all boys to live in tunnels under the town. This is to prepare them to fight the Viet Cong.
I was really annoyed by this book. Nothing seems to follow. I was left frustrated by the story, the half-told stories, and the bizarre characters. My "Yuck" shelf was created for this book !
Okay maybe not enough said because I have more to say. Rachel has a friend named S-man. Okay, he's Superman, why not call him that ? Together Rachel and S-man go back in time (tunnel) to meet famous authors and change history. They never succeed and their adventures are pointless. There are also three bad guys; Assemblage, The Stick, and Laff Riot. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Second plot also involved tunneling. A vietnam vet is training all boys to live in tunnels under the town. This is to prepare them to fight the Viet Cong.
I was really annoyed by this book. Nothing seems to follow. I was left frustrated by the story, the half-told stories, and the bizarre characters. My "Yuck" shelf was created for this book !
February 2, 2008
I've started it three times and just can't get into it.
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-Man" that was interesting, but I just can't bring myself to muddle through the other stuff to get through it.
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-Man" that was interesting, but I just can't bring myself to muddle through the other stuff to get through it.
May 23, 2008
I liked the storyline that wasn't part of the main character's fantasy world (that's why I gave this book two stars), but the end was crazy. And not in a good way.
Maybe I'm not educated enough to "get" all the literary devices being used in this book. It was hard to read and I found myself skipping entire chapters.
Maybe I'm not educated enough to "get" all the literary devices being used in this book. It was hard to read and I found myself skipping entire chapters.
October 11, 2019
I genuinely don't know how I feel about this story...
Our main character is a young girl, who occasionally goes on adventures with a mysterious superhero she calls "S man". They go to save famous authors throughout history. During these adventures, she learns about humanity and religion and death... It was a wild ride from start to finish, and I find myself contemplating it still on occasion.
That being said, I have no idea who I recommend it to, nor do I know for sure what my own opinions on it actually are.
Our main character is a young girl, who occasionally goes on adventures with a mysterious superhero she calls "S man". They go to save famous authors throughout history. During these adventures, she learns about humanity and religion and death... It was a wild ride from start to finish, and I find myself contemplating it still on occasion.
That being said, I have no idea who I recommend it to, nor do I know for sure what my own opinions on it actually are.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2014
If this review is choppy, uneven, and otherwise disjointed, it is probably because I just pulled my head out of this book, which suffers the same afflictions.
The precocious Rachel Finch, aged twelve, adores Kafka, steals library books, and is whisked off on time traveling adventures by a mysterious alien known only as S-Man to rescue or not rescue important literary figures.
The time-traveling bildungsroman is peppered with utterly forgettable characters. Rachel's fellow students amount to nothing but white noise and are indistinguishable from each other because no effort has been made to do so. S-Man is a rip-off hybrid Superman/The Doctor, and no effort is made to disguise it.
Rachel does find a friend in a girl named Rachel Fish, who also loves reading and may be cleverer and somehow better than Finch, which Finch is all too aware of, and says to herself, 'but S-Man picked me to go on adventures!'
This novel tries too hard to be clever and fails to achieve what it dreamed of. Much like the protagonist whose life didn't turn out as she thought it would, and who muses about the other Rachel, who would have done great things, this book is an almost, but not quite. And if the writer orchestrated that outcome, she's better than I give her credit for.
I have the sense that the author intended some grand metaphor - what it may have been escapes me completely; puberty, maybe? - about the relentless forward progress of time, tunneling ever onward, but this tunnel ends in a dead end.
The precocious Rachel Finch, aged twelve, adores Kafka, steals library books, and is whisked off on time traveling adventures by a mysterious alien known only as S-Man to rescue or not rescue important literary figures.
The time-traveling bildungsroman is peppered with utterly forgettable characters. Rachel's fellow students amount to nothing but white noise and are indistinguishable from each other because no effort has been made to do so. S-Man is a rip-off hybrid Superman/The Doctor, and no effort is made to disguise it.
Rachel does find a friend in a girl named Rachel Fish, who also loves reading and may be cleverer and somehow better than Finch, which Finch is all too aware of, and says to herself, 'but S-Man picked me to go on adventures!'
This novel tries too hard to be clever and fails to achieve what it dreamed of. Much like the protagonist whose life didn't turn out as she thought it would, and who muses about the other Rachel, who would have done great things, this book is an almost, but not quite. And if the writer orchestrated that outcome, she's better than I give her credit for.
I have the sense that the author intended some grand metaphor - what it may have been escapes me completely; puberty, maybe? - about the relentless forward progress of time, tunneling ever onward, but this tunnel ends in a dead end.
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July 23, 2008I'm afraid I haven't read this book yet, but I picked up in Daedalus (a chain remainder bookstore) because the premise sounds fascinating and it was a distinct bonus to find that the copy was also signed.
I've had this since maybe 2006. It's still on my to-read shelf. Every so often, I'll pick it up and promptly set it back down again. I keep saying that I'll get to it someday, but the fact that I still haven't after all this time says something quite strongly.
I've had this since maybe 2006. It's still on my to-read shelf. Every so often, I'll pick it up and promptly set it back down again. I keep saying that I'll get to it someday, but the fact that I still haven't after all this time says something quite strongly.
February 19, 2010
I enjoyed this book so much at the beginning and through the middle and then, I’m not sure what happened. The premise is one I like—asthmatic dorky Jewish girl in the 60s helps out a superhero who travels through time to help literary figures. It even had a fabulous secondary character in Rachael Fish. But it just seemed to lose steam.
May 13, 2010
This book seemed like it was trying too hard to be well written. I had the sense while reading it of never knowing what is going on. It really was an uncomfortable sensation. When I finished it I was left with a deep sense of melancholy. Although all of the loose ends are ostensibly tied up, the knots are no neater that the original twisted rope. I really wouldn't recommend this.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews