I picked up "The Giver of Stars" because I had heard a few good things about it. Nevertheless, I did not trust Jojo Moyes as a writer. Boy, was I wrong. I had, without knowing it, stumbled onto a modern masterpiece.
My doubts about Moyes mostly stemmed from a film adaptation of her 2012 novel "Me Before You." I did not like the dialogue, which I had heard was mostly her original dialogue, and I absolutely grew to hate one of the principal characters (fans of the story might guess which).
The fact is, however, that "The Giver of Stars" is a much better story than "Me Before You." It is rooted in historical fact and manages to tell a compelling story that got me very interested and connected. Furthermore, for most of the book, I had no idea what would happen next. I did not expect that, given that "Me Before You" seemed very predictable and my knowledge that Moyes primarily wrote in the genre of romantic comedy.
To expand on the "historical fact" part, I found "The Giver of Stars" amazingly well-researched. In the age of the Internet and mass media, it may be easier for a Briton such as Moyes to write about Kentucky during the Great Depression, but credit is due for the amount of research she put into painting such a detailed picture of the setting.
And what a picture it was! "The Giver of Stars" was, cover to cover, beautifully and descriptively written. I have seen a handful of movies, most notably "The Sound of Music," where I felt that one could freeze the playback at any moment and the resulting image would resemble a painting. I feel like this would be true with a well-photographed adaptation of Moyes's novel (and Universal has already optioned it, so I have heard).
Moyes describes the hills of southeastern Kentucky as if they were her home. She probably traveled there during her research (what serious author would not?) but she seemed intimately acquainted with the trees, the flowers, the weather patterns, and more.
The interactions and character development were first rate. I really enjoyed the scenes involving conversations between characters, amicable and otherwise. By that I do not only mean the big set pieces, but even the day-to-day accounts of what everyone in the story did.
"The Giver of Stars" delves into many rich themes and Moyes does not shy away from their less savory applications. It does not do much good to say that "The Giver of Stars" made me think - any good novel should. So let me explain what it made me think about.
One theme of the novel was assimilation. The main character is originally from England, and in the United States, while the citizens of that region of Kentucky did not engage in the vicious rhetoric about immigration that we see disseminated by the news media today, there was some tension between her and her American husband due to their respective cultures, as there was between her and much of the rest of the town.
Prejudice also rears its head several times during "The Giver of Stars." Much of the United States remains racially segregated in the time the novel was set, and we see this as an African-American character enters the story. While she is portrayed without bias, many of the other characters do not trust her, and Moyes draws attention to this as a flaw in their character.
However, the most important thematic part of the novel, in my opinion, pertains to the social and cultural values of the characters. It is obvious that Baileyville (the city in Kentucky where most of the novel takes place) is a conservative and largely religious town. The work of the main characters goes contrary to the beliefs of many of the people there, who go to great lengths to protect their own interests. Moyes uses these actions several times to point out the hypocrisy of committing immoral acts in the name of protecting moral standards. The cultural battleground most important to the plot of "The Giver of Stars," or so I believe, regards the role of women. As the main characters are all women who have jobs and are more or less independent, most of the men of the town see them as a threat to their family values (remember, the story takes place in 1937 and 1938).
Hand in hand with this theme is the power of knowledge. As the main characters work for a library, they see their mission as granting knowledge to people. This is also a reason why many people oppose them - many people who oppress others do not want them to learn the knowledge that would lead them to break free from their tyranny. Furthermore, the oppressors of this story think that they have the best interests of the people over whom they run roughshod in mind (this is shown to be an illusion their minds create to maintain power), which complicates the story further.
Do not get the wrong picture of the book: most people in it like the main characters. While they may be fighting a lot of battles, they are not fighting them alone. They receive more support than opposition, to be fair. The opposition is simply made more intense for dramatic purposes.
Another theme that is very important is that of workers' rights. This is not explored as much as it might have been, but that is not what "The Giver of Stars" is really about. The father-in-law of the lead character owns a coal mine near the town, and it is demonstrated that some of his workers experience a degree of persecution for sticking up for themselves.
After reading this far, you may be forgiven if you think "The Giver of Stars" has more narrative than conflict. It does not. While the day-to-day scenes are important, they are replaced more and more as the book goes on by increasingly intense situations that the characters are in. Things happen. Events that do not seem important a hundred pages ago suddenly are. A character who I almost forgot about has a major role in the resolution. A subplot I found annoying holds the key to an unexpected ending. (As always, no spoilers.)
One of the major points of conflict I can discuss without spoiling anything is the mine versus the library. The owner of the mine (the father-in-law) is one of the library's main antagonists, and he does not like the lead character's involvement at all, especially as she grows more and more stubborn throughout the book. Other things lead to his rancor, and I knew showdowns were coming.
One complaint - not enough to dock a star - is that the beginning of the story seemed a little slow and I could not tell where exactly it would go. However, once things got going, I was able to read it without it feeling that way.
A minor note is that I liked the epigraphs from other works at the beginning of most chapters. I felt like they added an interesting touch to the story, one that showed Moyes knew her stuff
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