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Book Review of The Outside Boy

The Outside Boy
The Outside Boy
Author: Jeanine Cummins
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
megt avatar reviewed on + 178 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


This is a coming-of-age story about a young, 10-year-old boy, who is an Irish traveller or Pavee Gypsy, during the 1950s. What initially drew me to this book was the fact that it was a historical novel and that it had family secrets. Christy has grown up without a mother, and deals with the grief and guilt of thinking he killed her during childbirth. After his grandfather passes away, he finds a piece of information about his mother and strives to learn more about her, and about his own past. It started out slow moving and stayed that way for most of the book, but the characters were what kept it moving along. This was truly a character based book and without them it would not have been as good. Christy is the main character and has a lot of internal thought and monologues going on. The reader truly sees what it's like to live as a traveler in a society where travelers are shunned.