cover image The Sabbath Garden: 9

The Sabbath Garden: 9

Patricia B. Greene. Dutton Books, $15.99 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-525-67430-6

Opal is an African American girl who lives with her despondent mother and hoodlum older brother on New York's Lower East Side, an ethnically mixed neighborhood that has its share of violence. Though she is bright, athletic and a literary contest winner, Opal's self-hatred is so intense she bruises herself physically and emotionally. Attention and concern from an elderly Jewish neighbor--the pious, feisty Solomon Leshko--heals wounds that have festered in her for years. Her spirits lifted, Opal begins a community project that brings media acclaim and a hopeful outlook for the future. Greene's first novel has good intentions, but Sol and Opal's friendship seems contrived. A mawkishness pervades the essentially plodding narrative, and the stereotypical dialogue (`` Oy vay , a darkness is all over me'') often fails, especially when it strives for profundity. The story is occasionally provocative and suspenseful, however, and its message--Solomon's conviction that ``we are all the same''--is worthwhile. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)