The Same Stuff as Stars Book

"You gotta know someone cares about you, or you just give up."

'The Same Stuff as Stars, P. 21

Katherine Paterson has brought into the twenty-first century her compassionate feel for the stories of fractured families, and I think that we are tremendously lucky for it.

The story of Angel and her kin is vintage Katherine Paterson, as moving and surprising and germane as her works of mastery from the '70s and '80s. The interactions between Angel and her younger brother Bernie are as authentic and nuanced as any sibling relationship that I have seen in any book, and this relationship builds well upon the connection that Angel has to those around her as an authority figure who was chosen for that position whether or not she wanted it, as a safe harbor of mature decisions in a sea of adults that seem unable to make decisions for their own good, let alone take proper care of a couple of kids.

Angel's world of uncertainty further intensifies when her mother abandons Angel and her brother with their father's grandmother. Because their father is in jail their only guardian now is their frail grandmother, who is herself in many ways like an unmanageable child. As she always naturally does, Angel takes over as the authority figure and tries to navigate the storms that life inevitably brings.

The harsh realism of Angel's days is unexpectedly alleviated by the appearance of a warm, thoughtful stranger who appears outside of Angel's grandmother's house at nights to examine the brilliant stars that shine like studded jewels in the dark. Angel goes out to view the majestic skies with the "Star Man" every night and soon begins to learn a great deal about them, and to deeply reflect on the vastness of the universe and her relationship to the awesome sum total of creation. Somehow, this makes her regular life more palatable, makes her realize that her troubles are not as all-encompassing as they seem. She watches the constant North Star, Polaris, and knows that such an unchanging ballast is what she needs in her own life, even as she instinctively acts as a sort of Polaris for Bernie and their grandmother.

It takes a while for Angel to truly become comfortable with her grandmother, but through time she accepts the idiosyncrasies that make up the old woman's character, and their makeshift family begins to heal. Issues continue to bombard Angel and keep her off balance, but as long as she has the Star Man to explain the stars to her, she feels that she can handle it all. Until one night, when the star man doesn't come...

What really stands out to me about The Same Stuff as Stars is the fact that even though Angel and her grandmother appear so different, they really are kindred spirits. Both of them fear deep down that they aren't good enough to fulfill their responsibilities to their family, that they have failed the ones they love again and again, and that they are powerless to avert their cycle of failure. Growing slowly behind all the scenes of the book is the feeling that both Angel and her grandmother are beginning to see that even if they have made some mistakes, the best thing that they can do is to love the family around them now, and hope that their loved ones will make good decisions for themselves.

A powerful, thoughtful book that makes its way forward in humor as well as sadness, The Same Stuff as Stars is one of the best books of the year, in my opinion. I would absolutely recommend it.