By Gary from Missouri
Internet Review of Books

It’s a tale well-told, but it’s short. Given that most of the pages are cartoon panels–that means only 20, 30, or maybe 40 words on a page–Henley cannot dig down hard, dig down, dig down into the mud, to find and then sustain, the emotional depth, the passion, the anger, the despair that ricochet off the pages of most memoirs. How short? I read The Shiniest Jewel in an hour, pausing to drink a cup of tea and eat a bowl of fruit and yogurt.

Was it enough? No. And yes.

No, because I’m a curious sort, a reader who is intrigued by nuance and referential writing and back story. For example, why adopt a Russian child? Are there not children in the USA who are adoptable? Why a boy and not a girl? Why not a mixed race or minority child languishing in foster care or an orphanage?

But yes, it was also enough because how else might I ask Marian Henley to tell the story? She is, after all, a gifted cartoonist, which means much of the way she sees the world comes out as the ink tracks along the page.

Read my full review at The Internet Review of Books.

Filed under: Reader Submitted Stories • THE SHINIEST JEWEL Advance Reviews