Review: The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt

Written almost entirely without dialogue, The Underneath tells a story of love, survival, and triumph using animals as main characters, and nature itself as a supporting character. The lone human in the tale, a mangled, hate-filled creature named Gar Face by the townspeople, is a sad representation of humanity at its worst, himself a product of hate and abandon.

The present-tense story centers around Ranger, an old hound dog that lives his life in a 25ft circle on Gar Face's compound deep in the southern swamplands, a calico cat and her two kittens, Sabine and Puck. Woven into the tale of their troublesome lives is that of Grandmother, an ancient snake of magical blood, who has spent the last thousand years trapped in a clay jar under a massive tree. Both stories focus on love and respect, and the destructive hate that spawns when they are absent. This is the real heart of the story, played out both in present day and in Grandmother's memory, and the joining of the two at the end provides a resoloution that, really, is almost impossible to see coming until the last moment.

I was gripped by this story, which is NOT children's literature, or at least, not for children of the usual age who would be looking for a book about dogs and kittens. The story of the snake is not described on the book jacket, and the actual tone of the story is extremely dark at times, particularly in the chapters relating to Gar Face, who makes Cruella DeVil look like the Easter Bunny. I would let Josie read it, or I would read it with her, but not Patrick. Not only would the tone be inappropriate, but the deeper meaning, and probably much of the meaningful legacy story of the snakes, would be lost on him.

The literary style of the novel is also lovely, and quite different from typical children's literature. It is almost poetic, and reminds me of much older literature. There is a stream-of-consciousness aspect to it, and the phrasing is reminiscent of something much more classic, like Trumpet of the Swan or Watership Down. It is beautiful, and captivating, and entirely appropriate for the mystical, animal nature of the tale.

I love that I didn't know exactly how things were going to turn out. It isn't often, especially in children's fiction, that the plot turns aren't transparent. I honestly didn't know from moment to moment who was going to survive, or how to two tales were going to finally join together. As the pace got faster and faster, my heart was racing, and I was turning pages as quickly as I could while trying to restrain myself so I could honestly enjoy the wording.

This was a beautiful novel. I may actually read it again before returning it to the library, and will probably buy it to have in the house for the kids when they are ready. It's the kind of fiction I want them to read - not fluff, not talk-down, but excellent writing that expects the reader to rise to the moment, much like the characters themselves.

Rating: five stars. Excellent, excellent - read it yourself, with your younger children, or get it for your older kids (approximately grade 5+) It goes quickly, but every page is worthwhile.