Your Eyes in the Stars is a captivating novel mainly about two teenage girls growing up during the Great Depression. It is told both from the perspective of Jessica, the main character, and from the perspective of a criminal who is held prisoner at Jessica's father's prison where he is warden. As for the two teenagers, Jessica and Elisa seem at first an unlikely pair of friends. Jessica was born in America, however Elisa was born in Germany to a wealthy family who has traveled the world. Though both their backgrounds and personalities were extremely different, they find that they can be themselves around each other and speak their minds about not only their problems as adolescents but also issues that arise from growing up during the Great Depression. This allows the reader to learn about the Depression from a more personal perspective, unlike reviewing facts or statistics in a textbook. As for the prisoner, Slater Carr, he is introduced a little further into the book through chapters exclusively about him from a narrator's point of view. As you read through the novel, you gradually learn more and more about him, how he got into prison, and about his past as an orphan. I especially like how the author included his character in this way and how she connected him with the two teenagers. One thing that most characters in Your Eyes in the Stars have in common is that they enjoy listening to or playing music, especially Slater Carr, who can stop everyone in their tracks when playing the bugle. This, for me personally, adds something that I can really relate to and makes the story even more enjoyable to read for anyone who feels strongly about the art. It also shows how music was one way for people to escape their problems during the Great Depression. Overall, I thought that Your Eyes in the Stars was a good book, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to see how the Great Depression affected the lives of all Americans, or to anyone just looking to read a good book about friendship and the challenges that Jessica and Elisa face.
“I’ll never forget meeting her that first afternoon, the little sideways grin on her face, the sparkle in her eyes as though we were friends who got a kick out of each other, even though we hadn’t yet spoken…I bent double laughing. She would always affect me that way, make me see the fun of things, even when the joke was on her” (7-8).Jessie Myrer is a loquacious tomboy who lives next to a prison in Cayuta, New York since her dad is the prison warden, which later has a major effect on how everyone must live life. Her German neighbor, who has just moved in, quickly becomes Jessie’s best friend. Your Eyes in Stars by M.E. Kerr is an enlightening book about this teenage girl living through the Depression. The first part of the novel is about the story of Jessie’s life after she meets her German neighbor, Elisa Stadler, and what their adventures or experiences together are like. In addition, part two of Your Eyes in Stars is a collection of letters written between Jess and Elisa explaining what their lives are like, due to the fact that Elisa’s family had to move back to Germany and are unable to leave the country.True to M.E. Kerr’s approach with other novels, this book stresses to show how every family or group of friends has to struggle through life and overcome obstacles together. Your Eyes in Stars depicts many instances of difficulties that each character had to endure throughout the Depression, which leads to a heart-wrenching ending to the compelling story. Every character enters the story, each with an interesting background, and contributes to a captivating plot of what it is like to be living through the Depression and finding out what is occurring in Germany.The bond that is created between each character, and each one of their stories, makes for an interesting and riveting read. This story is anything but boring and it does have a somewhat unpredictable ending that only few could see coming.
Do You like book Your Eyes In Stars (2007)?
This should have been two books: one focusing on the girls' friendship, the relationship of the prison to the town, maybe exploring the difference between hero worship (of gangsters) and the reality of criminals (the prison escape); the other focusing on a correspondence between an American girl and a German girl living in pre-World War II/wartime Germany. The different portions of the story did not come together smoothly or naturally and I found that extremely jarring; additionally, I feel ther
—Miss_otis
I read "Your Eyes in Stars" by M.E. Kerr. It was about the challenges that faced a young girl, named Jessica, during the depression and how her dear friend, Elisa, struggled in Germany under Hitler's reign. The two girls first met in America after Elisa and her parents had just moved to Cayuta, New York, where Jessica, her mother, father, and brother, Seth, lived. In a matter of months the two became inseparable. They spent every moment together although their parents did not approve of this friendship. Jessica's family had difficulty paying the bills and being able to afford food on their table. When Elisa moved back to Germany, she was forced to stop communicating with all of her Jewish friends or risk being sent to a concentration camp or even killed. I believe that this novel was entertaining and factual, but it wasn't something I would recommend. Also, it was not a book that I simply couldn't put down . The reason I say that is because the story jumped all over the place. For example, one chapter would be about the struggles that the two girls faced and then another would be about the childhood of one of the inmates at the local prison, which I felt didn't relate to the story at all. In addition, the book was broken up into two parts that were seemingly unrelated. Since Elisa was German, she often spoke her native tongue which was not translated for an English reader. Additionally, Elisa had difficulty with English, which, along with her accent, made her hard to understand. All together the book did work well for the assignments I was required to do, but it is not the kind of book I would read for enjoyment. If I could choose a different book I probably would because of the way the story was structured.
—Alanna M.
