Monday, February 04, 2008

Dairy Queen



Dairy QueenDairy Queen: a novel by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, narrated by Natalie Moore, Listening Library 2006 (print edition published by Houghton Mifflin)

I knew the story of D.J. Schwenk, the football loving teen from Red Bend, Wisconsin, had captured the imagination of readers at schools where I sub, because several girls told me I "really" needed to read this book.

What I did not anticipate was being completely and totally blown away by Natalie Moore's insightful and wholly authentic narration. Her voicing of D.J.'s frustrations, her hopes and inner dialog is spot on, at once self-aware, wistful and totally endearing.
There is pride in her voice as she almost single handed keeps the family dairy farm going. Her resentment at her father's slow recovery from hip surgery is understandable as exhaustion overtakes her at times. Still, D.J. is philosophical and accepts the hard work and tries not to dwell on the toll it has taken on her academics and school life.

When Brian, the quarterback from the rival high school football team, is ordered to "help out" at the Schwenk farm by his football coach, D.J. is disgusted with his lack of discipline and work ethic. Used to training with her older brothers who are now away at college on football scholarships, D.J. finds herself enjoying their workouts which have evolved from the daily chores and agrees to act as Brian's trainer for the summer. As time goes by, she has to admit to herself that she enjoys Brian's friendship and that it might be evolving into something more.

Murdock captures life in a small town where football is the lifeblood of the community and cows are named for football players and coaches. I'm off to find the sequel. Surely, Moore gets an encore, she is D.J.'s voice for me.


Dairy Queen is one of twenty titles on the always excellent Texas Lone Star reading list for 2007-2008..

6 comments:

Girl Detective said...

I'll have to check this out on your recommendation. Do you know that the author is the sister of Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love?

Lady S. said...

Oh good - so glad you liked this one too! Definitely a big favourite of mine, and nice to know that the audiobook version is so well done. I'll be interested to see what you think of The Off-Season when you read it. I loved it too, though it's bleaker.

CindyD said...

There's a sequel, too (can't remember the title), but I didn't think it was as good as this book.

Gail Gauthier said...

I liked Dairy Queen very much. I was aware that there's a sequel, but I haven't run out to look for it. Dairy Queen didn't seem like a story that needed to go on.

Camille said...

I think I do agree with you about the need for a sequel. Murdock resolved the issues very nicely.

I haven't read any reviews (that I remember) of the second book but I enjoyed Natalie Moore's narration so much, I am interested to hear her performance again.

Em said...

Is she really the sister of Elizabeth Gilbert? That's so interesting...

I really liked the sequel. And she's got a new one coming out later this year called Princess Ben. Not part of this series though.