cover image The Long Search

The Long Search

Christine Pullein-Thompson. Bradbury Press, $13.95 (152pp) ISBN 978-0-02-775445-2

``Ion felt as though he was living inside a history book,'' Pullein-Thompson writes of her male protagonist; a history book, however, might be a more compelling read. Set in a generic Eastern European country prior to the revolutions of 1989, the story follows 12-year-old Ion as he seeks his parents, who have been held as political prisoners for the past 10 years. In fact, the ``long search'' of the title is not very long: Ion finds his parents relatively easily. The promising concept is held down by leaden prose (``I shall be milking the cow from now on, and today your father fetches the other two cows from the cooperative farm and I shall milk them too''); cliches (Grandma is ``strong as an ox''); and the language of bad movies (`` `After them,' yelled Christina''). The author attempts, admirably, to give Ion a female role model, but the relationship is woodenly scripted. The most interesting aspect of the story is Ion's resentment of his brother, Donald, who returns to his homeland Westernized. Paradoxically, the lack of individuation here recalls the socialist literary realism that was a product of the very system Pullein-Thompson's characters are rebelling against. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)