Icy Sparks, by Gwen Rubio

Assignment #4: Write a book review. I hope this doesn't sound like a cheese-ball review...I just feel like reviews are so contrived and opinionated that it doesn't really matter what I say here. You might love the book or you might want to throw it at me after you get done reading it. Just give me some warning so I can duck out of the way.

I belong to a book club where it’s more about eating and gossiping than it is about reading the book. When I first joined, it took me three months before I actually read one of the selections. Not because I didn’t like the book, but because the only way I could finish reading a novel in a month was to take a weeklong vacation to the beach. I figured my time was short as a member in this elite group if I didn’t put forth some serious effort, so this month I ignored everyone I knew until I turned that last page. I wanted to show the girls at book club that yes, I can indeed decipher the printed word.

I was about ten minutes into Icy Sparks, written by Gwyn Rubio, before I realized it wouldn’t be hard to delve into the story of a child with Tourett Syndrome. The story is set in Southern Appalachia and begins with a ten year old girl named Icy who is cared for by her grandparents after she was orphaned by the unfortunate deaths of her two parents. The reader is sent along the path of self-discovery with Icy as she learns how to deal with her tics and outbursts by hiding in the root cellar to let loose the perceived pressure of a pending explosion in her body. Having never met anyone or seen the outbursts of someone suffering from Tourett Syndrome, I was compelled to hop up on you tube to catch a few horrific glimpses of this socially devastating syndrome.

Icy Sparks seems to show the easiest ride between a potentially disastrous and debilitating condition to a peachy keen ending, but the story reads so quickly and effortlessly that the reader gets caught in the delight of Rubio’s prose rather than checking to see if reality is still a factor. I caught myself reading lines over and over again, marveling in the metaphorical glory of each chapter. For instance, when describing what happens to her eyes right before she has an outburst, Icy says, “Out popped my eyes, like ice cubes leaping from a tray.” With her mouth-watering metaphors and uncanny knack for describing what the reader can’t see, Rubio negates any need for a motion picture rendition of her story.

As a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and an Oprah’s Book Club selection, Icy Sparks is proven to be worth the couch time it takes to read it. You will fall in love with Icy, clench your fists in response to her frustrations, and want to climb through the pages to save her from herself.