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Out of the Dust



    It's 1934 the dust bowl and Billie Jo is just trying to survive. Out of the dust is an award winning lyrical novel that tells the tale of 14 year old Billie Joe. Billie Jo is from Oklahoma during the dust bowl years throughout this sorrowful story Billie Jo must learn to navigate through her life even though everything she loves has slowly been ripped out of her life one by one.


    Billie Jo's life was as normal as it could get when you're a 14 year old girl living in the dust bowl. Billie Jo shared a passion for playing the piano with her mother; and she loved her daddy like there was no tomorrow. But within the blink of an eye Billie Joe's seemingly normal life goes up in flames. Her mother is gone and the one thing she shared with her is nothing but a painful memory. Billie Jo's father is nothing but a shell of the man he once was, a living memory of the past. Billie Jo must learn to live with the physical and mental pain she has been subjected to, But can she? Or will she allow the dust to carry her away? 


    This novel starts off by introducing the reader into Billie jo's life. The author explains family dynamics and goes into detail about how the family deals with the never-ending dust storms constantly attacking their home. Karen Hesse, the author also makes it clear that Billie Jo and her mother had somewhat of an estranged relationship but there was always something that kept them together, playing the piano. Throughout pretty much the first half of this book Hesse walks through Billie jo's life, she explains to the reader things that are important to Billie while also explaining the hardships of their everyday life. This build up is what makes the next part of the story absolutely devastating. It helps establish a certain level of importance in the characters which in turn allows the reader to really grasp why this major even has turned Billie Jo's life completely upside-down.


    I don't want to spoil this book because I truly believe that out of all the books I've read this one has the best show of character development yet. I believe that Hesse not only captures the reader's attention in this novel but once she has our attention she uses it to throw this huge plot twist towards us which really allows for character development in Billie Jo and in her father.



    Overall I 11/10 recommend this novel, I couldn't really find anything wrong with it. This novel is like being burned and then having some honey to soothe the pain. There is something inherently bittersweet about everything that happens in this book that in the end leaves you satisfied while still wanting a little more honey to get that bitter taste out your mouth.


-Nyla Kyles

Comments

  1. Maya ViswanathanNovember 13, 2020 at 9:27 AM

    I have read this book before and I also really liked it. I like your analogy of the honey and being burned. Billie Jo's life is really hard because of the dust bowl and everything that happens to her but the book was also not too depressing for me and some parts were happier. I thought it was really interesting that the book was set in the dust bowl because I did not know much about that time. Great job on the review!

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