The Cloud Chamber in Q&A with Joyce Maynard

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Sep 19, 2010 Laurel-Rain rated it it was amazing

In a small Montana town called Lonetree, the Chance family struggles against all the adversities that often fall upon farmers, especially those, like Carl Chance, who do not really have the talent for it. Unlike most farmers, Carl Chance is a dreamer. He has taught his son Nate, who is fourteen, what it means to explore the outer limits of the world in which they live for the magic that escapes him in his own small corner of the universe.

But one day, something tragic and unexpected happens. Gett In a small Montana town called Lonetree, the Chance family struggles against all the adversities that often fall upon farmers, especially those, like Carl Chance, who do not really have the talent for it. Unlike most farmers, Carl Chance is a dreamer. He has taught his son Nate, who is fourteen, what it means to explore the outer limits of the world in which they live for the magic that escapes him in his own small corner of the universe.

But one day, something tragic and unexpected happens. Getting off the school bus, Nate and his seven-year-old sister Junie are confronted by the sight of their father, bloodied, being led to an ambulance. When he disappears with the paramedics, it's almost as if he has completely disappeared from the earth. For weeks and then months, the family is plagued by officers descending and asking interminable questions. They even suspect the mother of firing the shot—for the children learn, finally, what felled their father. Even though he appears to have survived the injury, the mystery of what happens to him next hangs over the family like a shroud.

School children snub and even bully Nate and Junie, who soon become outcasts. But Nate is determined to complete his science fair project, which he believes will somehow save his family. The Cloud Chamber he plans to build was inspired by things his father taught him. It will be his father's redemption, wherever he may be.

Naomi, another outcast, becomes Nate's partner in the project, and as they work together, a bond grows between them.

Nate's journey toward his goal is persistent, with its overtones of hope for the future. We see him single-mindedly planning how this particular project will open up the world for his family and restore what has been lost.

One of the greatest clouds that cloaks the family during this dark time is the secrecy that puts a distance between the family members and allows the pain and torment to continue unabated.

In many ways, the Cloud Chamber symbolizes the despair and grief that encompass Nate and his family. I like this quote near the end of the book: "He (Nate) imagined how it would be if grief were something visible, like cosmic rays. He imagined what the airspace around their kitchen table would have looked like, these last months, if there had been a light to shine on it or some chemical compound to pour onto the linoleum that made it so they could see all the things they had been feeling."

"The Cloud Chamber" is a wonderful story of the ties that bind and then come undone due to tragedy and loss. Categorized as YA fiction, this story is one that young and old can enjoy and relate to, especially the portions that reveal the chasm that yawns between family members when silence rules the day.

Definitely five stars and highly recommended. ...more

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Sep 03, 2009 Joyce Maynard added it · (Review from the author)

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Q&A with Joyce Maynard