Book 18 Jun 2007 06:38 am
Off-Season is dead ON!
Now, you all know how much I loved Dairy Queen. I labeled it my FAVORITE book of 2006. Well, it has a sequel. Off-Season is the name and GREATNESS is the game!
First, I still REALLY like DJ. The books are her diaries and Catherine Gilbert Murdock does a great job in using the diary format for DJ’s voice.
I liked DQ for its freshness for introducing me to DJ and her family, but comparing the two in my head and… I think that Off-Season was even better than DQ.
Off-Season deals with heavier topics than DQ. In Dairy Queen it was more self-realization for DJ. She helps train the rival-high school quarterback, ends up liking him, decides to join her school’s football team, all the while basically running her family’s dairy farm. Off-Season continues DJ and Brian’s relationship but it also shows the harsher injury side of football as well as the reality of how hard it is for small family farms. What DJ goes through, the decisions that have to be made, and the type of person DJ become are more intense and overall deeper than Dairy Queen.
The Schwenk family has issues with communication. Honestly, what family doesn’t? DJ’s family just chooses not to talk about things. Sometimes this is okay and the situation resolves on its own, and other times it ends up with an explosion. In Off-Season, these situations and their resulting explosions are just awesome.
Becky’s Book Review had this to say, and I wholeheartedly agree!
I hesitate to tell you any of the reasons why her world is falling apart. Just know this…it isn’t because she broke a nail…it isn’t because of something equally trivial or shallow. THE OFF SEASON is a serious novel; it’s well written. The characters are authentic and memorable. If you didn’t love D.J. before…you just might after reading THE OFF SEASON.
I liked Dairy Queen; I really liked it. But I loved The Off Season. It delves even deeper into the Schwenk family. You get to know even more about the family and how it works–how it functions: her relationship with her parents, her relationship with her brothers. Dairy Queen flirted with the idea of D.J. discovering who she is and what she’s worth…but she really and truly gets it in THE OFF SEASON.
Another review from the Columbus Dispatch, though don’t read the rest of the review before you read the book,
In The Off Season, Murdock spins a story that’s heart-wrenching and hilarious. She prods beneath the surface of the characters and leaves the ending a bit open. Readers will have to wonder — and probably expect another sequel — about what happens next to this dairy queen.
Dairy Queen is available in paperback and Off-Season is available in hardcover. Check them out, you WON’T regret it!
Tags: catherine gilbert murdock, cows, dairy, dairy queen, diary, dq, football, football injuries, gilbert, high school, injury, moo, murdock, off season, queen