Orphan Train by, Christina Baker Kline
I love stories connecting people from different generations, most likely because I believe we have so much to learn from those who lived in a different time. Vivian Daly was sent on an Orphan Train (the United States governments way of dealing with orphaned children) to the Midwest in hopes to find a family. I had never heard of this concept before and was very intrigued by how it worked. All in all Vivian goes on to live a fairly normal life after her train trip but while she is in her later years she becomes connected with a troubled teen named Molly and the two of them spend their hours together piecing together the puzzle of Vivian’s life.
Historical Value- 4
Emotional Value- 4
Entertainment Value- 3
Personal character Value- 4
Age recommendation- Teen
“I’ve come to think that’s what heaven is- a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on.”
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train
“I like the assumption that everyone is trying his best, and we should all just be kind to each other.”
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train
“I learned long ago that loss is not only probable but inevitable. I know what it means to lose everything, to let go of one life and find another. And now I feel, with a strange, deep certainty, that it must be my lot in life to be taught that lesson over and over again.”
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train
“Time constricts and flattens, you know. It’s not evenly weighted. Certain moments linger in the mind and others disappear.”
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train
“And so it is that you learn how to pass, if you’re lucky, to look like everyone else, even though you’re broken inside.”
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train
“It is good to test your limits now and then, learn what the body is capable of, what you can endure.”
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train
“I love you,” he writes again and again. “I can’t bear to live without you. I’m counting the minutes until I see you.” The words he uses are the idioms of popular songs and poems in the newspaper. And mine to him are no less cliched. I puzzle over the onionskin, trying to spill my heart onto the page. But I can only come up with the same words, in the same order, and hope the depth of feeling beneath them gives them weight and substance. I love you. I miss you. Be careful. Be safe.”
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train
“I am not glad she is dead, but I am not sorry she is gone.”
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train
“you are only as interesting as you are useful to someone”
― Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train