Jacob Have I Loved, Newbery Winner 1981

We have a repeat author! Katherine Paterson also wrote Bridge to Terebithia which won in 1978. I'm kicking things into high gear, not only is the end nearer than ever before - but next year's winner will be the 100th Newbery book!

And we're off!

First off - this book is one that I had been putting off based solely on the title and cover art. So... melancholy. 

And those taglines??? So dramatic.

First, let's address that title. There is not a love interest named Jacob in this book that the sisters end up fighting over. It refers to a Biblical quote:

This one.

Jacob and Esau were twins - one of whom was clearly favored by God. The twins in this book are Sara Louise and Caroline Bradshaw- and I'm sorry but the rivalry was really one-sided, to the point that I couldn't even sympathize with the narrator, Sara Louise, most of the time. She goes on and on about how selfish and awful her sister is but really only once did Caroline do something even a little despicable. She also complains that her family doesn't love her as much - but I see a family that is trying their best to give their daughters what they deserve. Sara Louise is so jealous of her sister that SHE ends up hating and pushing others away from her. No one is pushing her away as this whole "Esau have I hated business would imply". I concede that her grandmother is kind of a jerk to her - but she is clearly beginning to suffer mentally and the rest of the family pays no mind to what she says. 

So yeah. I didn't care for the protagonist. But that is just the beginning. An old captain named Hiram returns to the island and becomes friends with Sara Louise and a boy named Call. During a hurricane Hiram stays with the Bradshaw family, later he and Sara Louise go to check his property only to discover it is completely gone. She gives him a hug and experiences a sexual awakening.

Sooooooooooo...... she spends a good chunk of the novel pining for Hiram - even while acknowledging that she is, at 14, too young for him. She refuses to visit him after he enters a marriage of convenience with a stroke patient. During this time Caroline and Call continue to visit the captain and his wife and become great friends. Later, the captain uses his inheritance to send Caroline to a conservatory to expand her amazing gifts as a singer. Call goes to war and Sara Louise remains on the island stubbornly refusing her parent's offer to attempt to enroll her in a mainland boarding school. She spends the next several years pining for the captain. Even as we learn that her grandmother also pined for him... but was too young and he left for college while she was still a young girl.

That's... massively uncomfortable.

But, in spite of not caring for the protagonist and being slightly skeeved out by the young girl desperate for the romantic affection of a 70+ year old man.... I liked the book. Why on earth do I still like it after all that? I guess that Katherine Paterson is just that good.