Keeper of the Night by Kimberly Willis Holt

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Kimberly Willis Holt, author of the National Book Award–winning When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, crafts a moving story of one girl's struggle to cope with her mother's suicide.

Told in short chapters through the narrator's words, Holt's tale takes us to modern-day Guam, where we see how Isabela and her family try to get on with their normal lives despite the tension that surrounds them. At first, Isabela is the "dutiful daughter," tending to her anguished family, but she slowly begins acting out herself, particularly when Mary Kelly -- a non-native from a wealthier family -- moves to the area and a potential romantic interest of Isabela's gravitates toward Mary instead. But when things slowly come to a head and Isabela's brother, Frank, winds up in the hospital after cutting himself, the family begins healing communication.

Holt weaves together a beautiful, sophisticated story that won't disappoint her loyal fans. As usual, the author is keenly attuned to people and their relationships, always remembering to keep young Isabela feeling the pain of difficult family situations but distant enough to focus on her own friendships and problems. Different from Holt's previous work -- especially with the atypical setting of Guam -- this tour de force is a novel not to miss. Shana Taylor

From the Publisher

“In a series of exquisitely presented snapshots, a young teen struggles to cope with the aftermath of her mother’s suicide. . . . Stunningly beautiful.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred

“Readers are drawn into Isabel’s world and her determination to keep on going in the face of her overwhelming loss and responsibilities.”—School Library Journal, Starred

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

A Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Choice

A Parents’ Choice Gold Award

The New York Times

Given the subject matter, Keeper of the Night could easily have been a treacly coming-of-age novel. But Kimberly Willis Holt, who won a National Book Award for When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, has created an endearing, complicated narrator in Isabel; she manages to sound both lyrical and like the eighth grader she is. — Nora Krug

Publishers Weekly

"This evocative novel set in Guam traces the months following the suicide of native girl Isabel's mother," wrote PW in a starred review. "The author works magic, recreating the sights, sounds and smells of Guam and encapsulating the essence of her characters through very few words." Ages 12-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Alan Review

Keeper of the Night is set in Guam, and the beauty of this setting stands in contrast with its subject matter. The book opens with the suicide of Isabel's mother and traces the paths of Isabel and her family toward recovery. As the oldest daughter, Isabel assumes responsibility for her father, her brother, and her sister, and she watches helplessly as they each descend into their grief. Her father throws himself into his work, ignoring his children. Brother Frank's anger eventually leads to self-mutilation, and her younger sister, Olivia, suffers from nightmares. Kimberly Willis Holt skillfully weaves local legends and folklore into Isabel's story. In a series of very short chapters, we clearly see her frustration with her inability to help herself and her family. Perhaps best suited for middle-grade readers, Keeper of the Night is a gentle and compelling exploration of the effects of depression on one family. 2003, Henry Holt and Company, 308 pp. Ages young adult. Reviewer: F. Todd Goodson

Michele Winship - KLIATT

Holt's fifth and sixth grade years in Guam set the stage for this story told in a series of mini-chapters, each a lyrical vignette of island life. The narrator is Isabel, an eighth-grade girl living in the aftermath of her mother's suicide. She parents her seven-year-old sister Olivia and nine-year-old brother Frank, and shuttles back and forth between her Auntie's houses while her father drifts further and further away, spending his nights sleeping on the floor on the spot where his wife "died praying on her knees." Living each day with Isabel, readers taste the culture, language, and people of Guam while experiencing the deep sense of loss that each member of Isabel's family deals with differently. Readers also watch Isabel struggle with coming of age as she sees her local friends begin to notice boys and care about dating and the popularity of being fiesta queen, and learns to understand Western values through her American friend Mary Kelly. All the while she keeps the secret of Frank's growing violence to herself. When the sub-plots climax at once, Isabel is referred to a counselor and slowly learns to accept her mother's death and her own role in her family and culture. KLIATT Codes: J*—Exceptional book, recommended for junior high school students. 2003, Henry Holt, 308p.,

Leah Hanson - Children's Literature

Isabel appears to be like every other teenager in her small town on the island of Guam. She has a pesky younger brother and sister, meddlesome aunts and a father who works all the time. But this story is about how she is very different from any other teenager—her life has been turned upside down by her mother's suicide. Suddenly thrown into the position of caring for her younger siblings and trying to understand what has happened for herself, Isabel shares with readers her struggles and journey to accepting her circumstances. Told in snapshot-like chapters, Isabel reveals her story piece by piece. We see her interact with her tomboy best friend, grow to see her best guy friend in a new light, deal with the changes of adolescence, worry about her younger brother's reclusiveness and reach out to her grieving father. With the help of a caring psychologist and numerous family members and friends, Isabel comes to understand not only her mother, but also herself. Holt weaves a captivating growing-up tale together with the Polynesian culture in a way that will provide teen readers with both a window to another culture and a mirror of the challenges of adolescence. 2003, Henry Holt and Company,

Sherry York - VOYA

Thirteen-year-old Isabel, younger brother Frank, and little sister Olivia are all affected by their mother's suicide. First, their father makes them stay with Aunt Minerva on another part of Guam. For months the siblings try to carry on. Olivia wets the bed, and Isabel covers for her to avoid the wrath of their very religious aunt. When they return home, nothing seems the same. Their father sleeps on the floor where his wife died, refuses to let anyone sit in his wife's chair, and avoids his children. Isabel makes lists, worries, and tries to take care of everyone. Olivia keeps wetting the bed. Frank starts carving "I hate you" on the walls of his room. Their Auntie Bernadette, a healer and midwife, tries to help. Isabel is angry with her friend Roman and puzzled when her friend Teresita decides to run for fiesta queen. Isabel and her friends are starting to mature, and Isabel resents her mother for not being there. Frank progresses to carving on his body and eventually uses a razor blade, carving "I hat-" into his arm before losing consciousness. After Frank is hospitalized, the children begin seeing a counselor. Their father refuses counseling, but he and Isabel begin to communicate, and the family starts to heal. Holt, author of the award-winning My Louisiana Sky (Henry Holt, 1998/VOYA August 1998) and When Zachary Beaver Came to Town (1999/VOYA December 1999), integrates the exotic setting and realistic characters into an easily read yet complex story of a girl growing up, family problems, and suicide. VOYA Codes: 5Q 4P M J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; SeniorHigh, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2003, Henry Holt, 308p,

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-After the suicide of her mother, a 13-year-old in Guam struggles to keep her family together as she grapples with her own confusion and grief. An affirming story, suffused with atmosphere. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In a series of exquisitely presented snapshots, a young teen struggles to cope with the aftermath of her mother’s suicide. Her grief-stricken father having effectively abdicated his responsibility, Isabel must mind the family store, from which she watches both helplessly and resentfully her brother Frank’s descent into his own brand of madness. Holt makes the most of her Guam setting, subtly and inexorably involving readers in a way of life utterly foreign to most of them and getting it so thoroughly under their skin that taking in the story is like dreaming of the tropics. Isabel narrates the story in tiny present-tense vignettes, the longest of which approaches three pages. This narrative technique takes readers in and out of memory, showing how Isabel’s mother’s depression had repercussions that began in the past and echo loudly into the present. It also enables the development of several subplots that parallel the primary narrative, introducing a colorful and unforgettable array of secondary characters, whose lives touch, support, and mirror Isabel’s. Stunningly beautiful. (Fiction. 10+)

Product Details

• ISBN: 0553494414
  
• ISBN-13: 9780553494419
• Format: Mass Market Paperback, 308pp
• Publisher: Random House Children's Books
• Pub. Date: March 2005
• Edition Description: Reprint
• Sales Rank: 91,175
• Age Range: Young Adult

• Reading Group Guide
• Read an Excerpt

Reading Group Guide

1. Why did the author title the book Keeper of the Night? What happens at night, and what does it reveal about each character that is concealed during the day?

2. Did you like the format of the book, which consists of short passages? How was reading it different from reading a book written in longer chapters? What characteristics of this particular story lent themselves to this format?

3. What are Isabel’s most significant traits? How might another type of character react to the events in the book? What are some of the forms grief takes for the members of Isabel’s family?

4. “Whenever I think of my mother, something fills up inside me, like water filling a bucket. It fills me up so much, I’m afraid my feelings will spill over for everyone to see” (p. 9).

Why do you think Isabel fears that her feelings will come to the surface and be seen by others? What does she suppose will happen? Have you ever been afraid to let your feelings surface? Did they eventually emerge?

5. Look at the lists Isabel makes over the course of the story. Aside from the obvious function that some of them have as to-do lists, why do you think she makes them? Do you do anything similar when your life confuses or overwhelms you?

6. Pick one of your favorite “chapters” in the book. How does it add a piece to the puzzle of the story? How does the author convey a lot of meaning in a few words? Think about how you might tell the story of your own life. What part of your story might you paint a portrait of in this style? Try to write it down.

7. What realization comes to Isabel toward the end of the book? What does Dr. Gurrero (Ed) help her to see? What does she learn from the love story of Auntie Bernadette and Uncle Fernando (pp. 287 to 289)?

8. How does Mrs. Cruz’s painting of Isabel’s mother help Isabel remember her mother, when photographs do not (pp. 276 to 278)? Has a photograph or another image shaped the way you remember something or someone? Can photographs lie?

9. “Roman stops by the cabana. ‘How’s Frank?’
And just that one question is like the last drop in a full bathtub that makes the water run over the rim” (p. 250).

When Isabel’s emotions finally do come to the surface, what thoughts, accusations, and questions come out of her? Think about what she says to Roman, Ed, and her father.

Read an Excerpt

A Dutiful Daughter


My mother died praying on her knees. Her rosary beads were still in her hands when we found her. She left no note, said no good-byes, gave no last hugs or kisses. Only the empty bottle of sleeping pills that had rolled under her bed proved that she'd meant to leave.
I found her first. But I didn't know she was dead. I thought she was praying.
That morning, I eased her door shut, tied on her apron, and made breakfast for my little brother and sister. I felt proud to scramble their eggs and butter their toast.
Later I tied blue ribbons in Olivia's hair and dipped the comb into a glass of water before parting Frank's. I had no idea it was the first of many mornings I'd be doing that.


Tamuning


After my mother died, my father couldn't bear to look at the front door of our home. I overheard Tata tell my mother's older sister, Auntie Bernadette, that he saw my mother's ghost standing by the door. That's why we're staying with Tata's sister, Auntie Minerva, in Tamuning.
"Just for a little while, Isabel," Tata told me the day we moved here, but it's been five long months. I asked Tata why we couldn't stay with Auntie Bernadette in Malesso. She lives a few houses away from us. But Tata said, "Bernadette is . . . was your mother's sister. Not mine."
Tamuning is north of Malesso. Stores and restaurants line the streets. All night long, I lie in bed and smell spicy scents from the Thai restaurant across the road. I hear cars pass on the highway. Sometimes a siren whines, reminding me of the morning the ambulance carried my mother away.
We're stupid staying in Tamuning while our lives take place in Malesso.Everyone we know lives there—Auntie Bernadette and Uncle Fernando, my friends, our dogs. Our store is there, Frank's school, and my father's boat. We're like clubs trying to be hearts in a stack of cards.


Rides to St. Cletus


Each weekday morning, before the sun rises, Tata slips out of Auntie Minerva's house and heads to Malesso to feed our dogs and spend the day fishing. Later, Auntie Bernadette drives from Malesso to pick us up for school because Auntie Minerva claims she's too busy with the church. Before taking Frank to the public school, Auntie Bernadette drops us off at St. Cletus in Talofofo.
This is Olivia's first year at St. Cletus. She's in second grade, and my father believes when girls get old enough to notice boys, it's good for them to be surrounded by nuns. I'm in eighth grade. The nuns can't stop me from looking.
Auntie Bernadette has no kids of her own and is old enough to be my grandmother. Even though she was born with a crippled hand, she's one of the most respected suruhanas on Guam. Auntie heals aches and pains and helps barren women become pregnant. She drives with her right hand, or, as she calls it, her good one. As if the other hand that stays folded, pressed against her chest, is the bad one.
Auntie Bernadette talks the entire way to Talofofo, and in the afternoon she picks us up and talks the entire way back to Auntie Minerva's house.
Olivia likes Auntie's talk because she gets to hear about how Mrs. Cruz's daughter is going to have a baby, but no husband, how Mrs. Santos spent her entire paycheck at bingo, how Roman's mom poured a pitcher of water on Roman's hungover dad and he just rolled over and peed on the couch. Olivia knows more gossip than any seven-year-old at St. Cletus.
One day I tried to remember what my mother said during our daily trips to and from school, but I couldn't remember a single word. My mother lived in a world of her own—a world filled with sadness that I couldn't see.


Sh-sh


My school friends, Delia and Tonya, are back to their normal selves, gossiping about Lola, passing notes in class, sneaking bites of dried squid. But, after my mother died, whenever I approached, one of them would quit talking and say, "Sh-sh."
Even the nuns stopped whispering to each other when I walked by. Sister Agnes nudged Sister Rachel and their bodies straightened. "Hafa adai, Isabel."
Sh-sh. So many secrets. Don't they know there's nothing they can tell me about my mother's death?
Unless they know why she left.


Evaporate


Whenever I think of my mother, something fills up inside me, like water filling a bucket. It fills me up so much, I'm afraid my feelings will spill over for everyone to see. So I close my eyes and picture the water in the bucket evaporating until nothing is left, not one single drop.


Monday's List


1. Get up
2. Draw Olivia's bathwater and wake Olivia
3. Hide Olivia's nightgown and wet towels
4. Make sofa bed
5. Get ready for school
6. Remind Frank to comb his hair
7. School
8. Clean bathroom and vacuum
9. Homework
10. Eat dinner
11. Finish homework
12. Read until lights-out


Techa


Auntie Minerva is a techa. To be chosen a techa, you must know the rosary in Chamorro. Most people my age understand a few Chamorro words like Hafa adai, but English is our main language. Even though she lives in Tamuning, Auntie Minerva grew up in Malesso, so she leads the rosary for most of our village's dead. She said the rosary, each of the nine evenings, for my mother.
"I knew the rosary by heart since I was eight," she tells us for the millionth time.
Of course, Auntie Minerva doesn't perform the rosary every day, but she finds reasons to go to church. Usually to light a candle and pray for someone. Tonight she lifts her muumuu and shows me the bruises on her knobby knees. "This afternoon I prayed for six hours straight," she says. "But my suffering is nothing like our Savior's."
When Auntie Minerva isn't fasting, she barely eats. Twice I caught her spitting food into a napkin; she's afraid to put some meat on those bones. I've seen the way she shakes her head, studying Auntie Bernadette's full hips.
It's been almost six months since we came to Auntie Minerva's house. Every couple of weeks I ask Tata when we will go home.
"Soon," he always says. But he never looks in my eyes when he says it.
After Auntie Minerva's tasteless dinner tonight, I ask Tata again. And when he answers the same thing, I tell him, "You always say that. Are we going to live here forever? Why can't we go home?"
Tata glares at me. "We will go when I say so."
I should know better. Tata always does as he pleases, never minding anyone else's feelings. When I was younger, I pretended I wanted to fish so I could be near him, but he never asked me along. And when he returned from the sea, he claimed he was tired. He was never too tired to drink beer in the cabana with his friends almost every night. Frank was the one he spent time with, but that changed when Frank became afraid of the water.
Back then I liked going to Mass because he went, too, and we sat on the pew together like a real family. But Tata hasn't been to Mass since my mother died.
Sometimes I get angry when I watch television programs that show fathers who take their kids to the movies, play basketball with them in driveways, and give great advice. I don't know any dads like that.