The Woman in the Wall by Patrice Kindl 192 Pages

The Woman in the Wall is a young adult fiction book that I randomly pulled off the library shelves.  I tend to pull off random books when I don't have anything particular in mind to read.  There have been a few times where I have been very pleasantly surprised by a random story and this book was no exception.  First let me say, I seriously thought this book was a fairy tale or fantasy.  You have to suspend reality and just believe that a 7 to 14 year old girl can sew clothing perfectly, can do carpentery, use heavy duty power tools and complete major home renovations.  Got that?  Good.  Then we can continue. 

Anna is the middle children of three girls.  They live with their mother in a huge home.  Dad is dead, or so they assume, as he disappeared one day while working in the Library of Congress.  Anna is extremely shy and is overlooked by those around her.  When I say "overlooked" I mean it is literally like she is not there.  Anna is quiet, plain and blends into the walls.  When the thought of having to start school is too much for her, she decides to take blending into the walls one step further and begins to build walls.  She creates secret rooms and passageways throughout the house.  Then she decides to live in those secret places and never come out again.  Eventually her mother and sisters forget she ever existed.  When Anna's mother plans to marry and move to Chicago, Anna knows she must come out of the walls or she will be sold along with the house.  After 7 long years in the walls, Anna shows herself.

Okay.  So that is all really unbelievable.  How could a family forget about one of their own?  How can a child be so small and shy as to not be there?  I really thought there was a lot of metaphor going on here.  I can easily see where a small, shy, middle child can be overlooked in a family.  I think the themes in the story were taken to extreme to add emphasis to the idea that family does forget about family sometimes.  Children are overlooked.  Children sometimes have to make their own decisions.  Children sometimes have to build walls.  Short book, fast read.  I liked it.