James Venable
Pearson
English 11 CB
6 January 2016
Author: Randy Powell
Title: Swiss Mist
Illus: Jonathan Bartlett
Genre: Coming of age
Summary: Milo is a boy in the fifth grade, who lives in Seattle, Washington. His dad is a college professor who took psychedelic drugs and tried teaching him about philosophies. His mom worked part-time and she taught Milo most of the things he knew, from hammering a nail to how to play football. One day, his parents had a fight and his dad moved out. His mom consulted a life coach and she was going to move to Kangley, Washington so she could go to college and become a dental technician. There was a block party that Milo and his class attended right before he moved away, and his teacher, Ms. Swinford, gave
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him a book of synonyms. Once Milo moves, his mom made him promise to do five jobs, all of which are to keep him out of trouble. Milo occasionally gets to talk with his dad over the phone. Pretty soon, Milo finishes middle school and his mom earns enough to rent a house back in Seattle. Every so often, Milo consults his synonym book for words. Eventually, Milo’s mother meets a man that she is later engaged to. Milo is unsure of the man at first, but eventually he warms up to him. After living with his mother and his new father for a few months, he finds a section in the paper advertising Mrs. Swinford’s presentation on her adventures in Switzerland, which she also shared with Milo when he was her student. Milo attends the presentation and afterwards, she reveals that all of her adventures were a lie, but thinking about them kept her spirits up when she needed it he most. (275 words) Reception: In this novel, the main character, Milo, faces many emotional challenges throughout the story.
His parents get divorced, he moves to a new town, and he has to stay out of trouble to keep his mother happy. Milo is faced with all of these throughout the novel and it is interesting to see how he deals with them as the book progresses. The author uses Milo’s thoughts and values, which gradually change over the course of the novel, to show how Milo is growing up and maturing. Paula Rohrlick states in her review of Swiss Mist that, “This meditative, psychologically astute tale of a boy's emotional maturation is true to life”. This description truly captures the essence of the entire novel because Milo and his thoughts really do mature over the duration of the story, and this is very visible. In addition, Milo is presented with many meaningful lessons that are applicable to his life as well as ours. Using these lessons, Milo is able to approach his issues in entirely new ways. The lessons he learns also help him grow and mature by making him question and change the way he thinks about his problems. By the end of the novel, all of these factors change Milo into a person more mature than even his own father. (218)
Reflection: A pro of Swiss Mist would be the message that Milo learns. In the beginning of the novel, Ms. Swinford, Milo’s fifth grade teacher,
shares her stories and photos of traveling to Switzerland. The joyful thoughts of the Matterhorn and Switzerland filled Milo’s imagination at the time. She gets fired after Milo leaves elementary school, but before she did, she gave him a book of synonyms that he referenced quite a lot to describe his feelings and also to remind him of the happy memories associated with Ms. Swinford. Close to the end of the novel, Milo finds Ms. Swinford again and gets to talk with her after many years. When Milo asks about her Switzerland photos and trips, she confesses that she has never gone to Switzerland. Milo is shocked by this, realizing that he had been believing in a lie for many years of his life. He feels betrayed at this point, but Ms. Swinford says to him, “All right, so you’ve spent the last few years believing in something that wasn’t true. Did it help you or not? If it helped you, then what difference does it make whether it was real or make-believe? You should use whatever you can to get you through the day” (Powell 198). I felt that it was a very important message for Milo to hear because even though what he held onto was a lie, it meant something to him. I found this message resonated with me because, after all, if believing in something helps keep someone going, then it doesn’t matter if it is real or not; what does matter is that it helps them be inspired to go do something great. One con that I feel this book has is that it ends at the wrong time. With coming of age stories, the premise is that the character is learning and growing as a person. While Milo does learn and grow, I felt that there were plenty of unresolved issues and questions that could have been answered with an additional chapter. For example, in the falling action in the book, Milo rekindles a friendship with an old friend; however, not a considerable amount of the newly reformed relationship is talked about or even detailed in the book. With Milo spending time with his old friend, there was a potential to have something happen, but the writer never took advantage of it. I also think this novel would have been more satisfying if it ended after he finished high school. Milo mentions that he does not want to think about his future near the end of the book, “Tomorrow I would start the eleventh grade. Football practice five days a week. I didn’t want to think about that now” (Powell 210), which could explain why the story ends, but there is a great amount of dropped plot points that could have been answered with an additional chapter; how the main characters’ lives went on from that point, for example, could have been written about. To be fair, the ending written in the book does resolve some whereabouts and troubles of the main characters, but I feel that showing the events leading up to Milo graduating high school would have made for a more satisfying ending. (543) Works Cited Powell, Randy. Swiss Mist. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2008. Print. Peters, John. "Swiss Mist." Booklist 1 Dec. 2008: 45. General OneFile. Web. 4 Jan. 2016. Rohrlick, Paula. "Powell, Randy. Swiss mist." Kliatt Nov. 2008: 16+. General OneFile. Web. 4 Jan. 2016. Gershowitz, Elissa. "Randy Powell: Swiss Mist." The Horn Book Magazine Jan.-Feb. 2009: 100+. General OneFile. Web. 4 Jan. 2016.
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