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beklovesbooks's review against another edition
3.5
Disappointing unsatisfactory series end. Still good quotable writing overs. One use of F-word and a couple other swears.
ardaigle's review against another edition
5.0
What a sweet and poignant end to a beautiful coming-of-age story for Dicey and the entire Tillerman family! My only complaint is that I wish Voigt had written more because I would love to see more of the Tillermans.
In this volume, we are back to where it all began with Dicey. At this point, Dicey has dropped out of college to realize her dream of being a boatmaker. She has a small shop, and a vague plan, and the strongest will of anyone, but will that be enough for her to succeed? Unfortunately, Dicey has to realize that dogged determination and a strong work ethic are not the only things she needs to achieve her goals; relying solely on herself and refusing the help of her boyfriend Jeff and loving family paint her into a corner of loneliness and regret. But this is where Voigt is best, putting young characters in challenging situations so they can reckon with the world and come out better on the other side.
Also, Gram had a poignant moment that will stick with me for a while...and also get jotted down in my therapy notebook.
"When I think about geology, it feels like time is so long - which makes my own time so short - I don't intend to waste a minute of it. The hard thing is knowing what constitutes waste."
Gram really gets it. That one sentence sums up about 85% of my mental chatter about doing what I "should" be doing or my preoccupation with always doing the "right thing." But who says what's right and wrong?
Voigt did a great job with this series and I would recommend it to anyone really who wants to time travel back to a time with fewer electronics and screens and reflect on the complexities of growing up.
In this volume, we are back to where it all began with Dicey. At this point, Dicey has dropped out of college to realize her dream of being a boatmaker. She has a small shop, and a vague plan, and the strongest will of anyone, but will that be enough for her to succeed? Unfortunately, Dicey has to realize that dogged determination and a strong work ethic are not the only things she needs to achieve her goals; relying solely on herself and refusing the help of her boyfriend Jeff and loving family paint her into a corner of loneliness and regret. But this is where Voigt is best, putting young characters in challenging situations so they can reckon with the world and come out better on the other side.
Spoiler
This book also had a very challenging plotline with Gram, who was suffering from an illness and, shockingly, also refusing help or listening to reason. I wonder where Dicey gets it from... I was so concerned about Gram's health and was getting a bit stressed out with her persistent cough. I was begging Voigt, not to kill her off in the last volume, and am grateful she didn't, but glad to have put the character in danger. It was interesting to see the parallels between Gram and Dicey's journeys to reckon with needing to take help from other people and that they can actually be stronger when they let others in.Also, Gram had a poignant moment that will stick with me for a while...and also get jotted down in my therapy notebook.
"When I think about geology, it feels like time is so long - which makes my own time so short - I don't intend to waste a minute of it. The hard thing is knowing what constitutes waste."
Gram really gets it. That one sentence sums up about 85% of my mental chatter about doing what I "should" be doing or my preoccupation with always doing the "right thing." But who says what's right and wrong?
Voigt did a great job with this series and I would recommend it to anyone really who wants to time travel back to a time with fewer electronics and screens and reflect on the complexities of growing up.
internationalkris's review against another edition
2.0
A sorry conclusion to a beloved series. Slow and depressing.
casehouse's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. In some ways, this was a nice wrap-up to the Tillerman cycle. I was frustrated with some of Dicey's choices, but the warm family interactions that I've come to expect from Voight's storytelling were present through the book. A huge frustration was the appearance of the Cisco character, who I assumed from the beginning was Dicey's father. I still think he must have been, despite the fact that he stole from her and disappeared. I really wanted more from this storyline.
sammah's review against another edition
4.0
I think this book was a fitting goodbye to a very poignant young adult series. I read these books in bits and pieces when I was younger, but never really got around to finishing them off. Now I'm glad that I did, and I'm glad I know where the story ends. It was nice to see Dicey's life wrap up and to know she had a promising future, despite her mistakes.
bowienerd_82's review against another edition
3.0
I was glad to see the focus return to Dicey for this, the final book of the Tillerman family cycle, but I was rather disappointed in the final product. Much like [b:Sons from Afar|275860|Sons from Afar (Tillerman Family, #6)|Cynthia Voigt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173337214s/275860.jpg|1142025], this felt like more of a character exploration than an actual book. I spent most of the book dreading the results of each mistake Dicey made, and there wasn't much of a pay-off at the end. Considering this was the final book of a seven book series, I think was hoping for more of a wrap-up to it all.
True, in real life, things don't wrap up neatly most of the time, so I suppose this was rather realistic, but after spending all that time with the Tillermans, I would have liked a more complete ending.
In the end, I thought [b:Dicey's Song|11831|Dicey's Song (Tillerman Family, #2)|Cynthia Voigt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166486065s/11831.jpg|1968913] and [b:A Solitary Blue|233330|A Solitary Blue (Tillerman Family, #3)|Cynthia Voigt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172961956s/233330.jpg|3247916] were the best books of the bunch, and that it kind of petered off from there. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and was glad to have discovered this series.
True, in real life, things don't wrap up neatly most of the time, so I suppose this was rather realistic, but after spending all that time with the Tillermans, I would have liked a more complete ending.
In the end, I thought [b:Dicey's Song|11831|Dicey's Song (Tillerman Family, #2)|Cynthia Voigt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166486065s/11831.jpg|1968913] and [b:A Solitary Blue|233330|A Solitary Blue (Tillerman Family, #3)|Cynthia Voigt|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172961956s/233330.jpg|3247916] were the best books of the bunch, and that it kind of petered off from there. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and was glad to have discovered this series.
hissingpotatoes's review
3.0
Better than the last few books in the series, but still nowhere near as good as the first three books. There was so much space wasted on unnecessary landscape descriptions, and the themes or "lessons" throughout seemed thin and stretched just to make a buck—I mean book out of them. The ending did not at all have the satisfying weight of finishing a seven-book series. What I liked most were the side character dynamics with Sammy, Maybeth, and Gram, though Sammy and Maybeth's subplots were introduced and then in Sammy's case unfinished and in Maybeth's case completely dropped.
anelisa's review against another edition
4.0
Heel erg van nu is het niet meer, vrees ik. Maar de boeken over de Tillermans zijn van mijn favoriete boeken ever (hoewel: door deel 6 ben ik nooit geraakt). Om de sfeer, de traagheid en de persoonlijkheid. En de kracht. Dit zijn verhalen over kracht.