I haven’t had a lot of time to read in the past few weeks, but I did manage to devour a magnificent book. The name of this wonder: Orfe by Cynthia Voigt. It is short (only 120 pages long) and it is spell-binding. I only set it down to make tea and managed to read it in an hour.

The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking that it would be a perfect book to teach in a classroom. It does have some language that I could see a high school English department would have trouble with, but I think it’s as good as some of the classics.

Orfe is told from the perspective of Enny, who reminds me of Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby in a way because she mostly serves as an onlooker and narrator. The book follows all the encounters she has with her friend, Orfe. They meet in elementary school, get separated, and then meet again when Enny is in college and Orfe is trying to make it as a singer. That’s as much as I can write without revealing too much.

Tagline on my copy is, “There is music in her madness.” This sentence is what drew me to the book at first, but after I read it, I discovered that it isn’t the right tagline. I thought that Orfe would go mad or she would be mentally ill and she’s not (in my opinion) because of it. So if you just happen to pick up the same version as mine… ignore the sentence it is misleading.

I also do not like the sentence because it is  more dramatic than the language of the actual story is. The language is similar to some you would find in creative nonfiction, simple yet specific. Here is an example from the first page: “This is what I remember: I am sitting at a school desk. A wooden desk top with an open shelf of ridged blue pipe metal under it… It is recess and we’re inside, so it must be raining.” What I especially like is the fact that when Enny is a child, the events that she describes are more like the cloudy memories of childhood with not much dialogue and then when she is an adult, it is mostly dialogue.

Although the language may be simple, the subject matters aren’t. Some of issues that it touches on are addiction, bullying, and poverty. When I read it again, I’ll probably encounter more. That’s one of the beauties of re-reading.

The only thing that I wish was different about it was the ending, which is very abrupt. But even so… I would still say that if you’re tired about hearing about the mess that is Fifty Shades of Gray, it is definitely a book to read.