Whistling in the Dark (Kagen)

Whistling in the Dark
Lesley Kagen, 2007
Penguin Group USA
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780451221230


Summary
It was the summer on Vliet Street when we all started locking our doors...

Sally O'Malley made a promise to her daddy before he died. She swore she'd look after her sister, Troo. Keep her safe. But like her Granny always said—actions speak louder than words. Now, during the summer of 1959, the girls' mother is hospitalized, their stepfather has abandoned them for a six pack, and their big sister, Nell, is too busy making out with her boyfriend to notice that Sally and Troo are on the Loose. And so is a murderer and molester.

Highly imaginative Sally is pretty sure of two things. Who the killer is. And that she's next on his list. Now she has no choice but to protect herself and Troo as best she can, relying on her own courage and the kindness of her neighbors. (From the publisher.)

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Author Bio
• Birth—1950 
• Where—Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA 
• Education—B.A., University of Wisconsin 
• Awards—Honor Book Award, Midwest Book Assn. 
• Currently—lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Lesley Kagen is a writer, actress, voice-over talent, and restaurateur. She owns  Restaurant Hama, one of Milwaukee's top restaurants. Her books include Whistling in the Dark (2007) and Land of a Hundred Wonders (2008). (From the publisher.)

Extras
Her own words:

I was born in Milwaukee and spent my early years in a great working class neighborhood, much like the one where Whistling in the Dark is set.

I attended Marquette University for one year, fell in love, and followed my boyfriend to New York City. I lasted about six months. I was so intimidated, I spent most of my time running from my apartment to the grocery store and back to my apartment, which was located above a 24 Hour Soul Record Store. Hence, I have the dubious ability to recite every lyric to every James Brown tune ever recorded.

After returning to Milwaukee, I enrolled in the University of Wisconsin where I majored in Radio and Television. I fell into a job as a morning drive DJ on one of the country's first alternative radio stations— WZMF. I got to interview lots of very cool rock n' rollers like Frank Zappa, Hendrix and John Lennon.

In 1976, I moved to Los Angeles, where I began a ten year career working for Licorice Pizza record chain where I produced, wrote and voiced thousands of commercials as Lesley from Licorice Pizza. When I set out to expand my career, I ended up doing on-camera commercials, a couple of Movies-Of-The-Week, and a Laverne and Shirley.

I met my husband, Peter aka Sushi Man, in Malibu, which is pretty funny considering he was from Milwaukee as well. While we both loved living in California, after the birth of our kids, Casey and Riley, we felt this overwhelming need to return to the roost, so we moved back home in 1990.

Ten years ago, we opened up Restaurant Hama. (Best sushi...bar none!)

Well, that's about it. Oh, wait. The writing. I adore it. I crave it. But it wasn't until Casey went off to college, and teenage Riley made it clear that any form of communication between us was to be restricted to—"With or without pepperoni"—that I found the opportunity to sit down and let 'er rip. I hope you love reading Whistling in the Dark and Land of a Hundred Wonders as much as I loved writing them. (Courtesy of the author's website.)

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Book Reviews
One of the summer's hot reads.
Chicago Tribune

The plot is a humdinger...a certifiable Grade A summer read.
Capital Times

Innocently wise and ultimately captivating.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The loss of innocence can be as dramatic as the loss of a parent or the discovery that what's perceived to be truth can actually be a big fat lie, as shown in Kagen's compassionate debut, a coming-of-age thriller set in Milwaukee during the summer of 1959. Ten-year-old Sally O'Malley fears that a child predator who has already murdered two girls, Junie Piaskowski and Sara Heinemann, will target her or her little sister, Troo, next. Sally's mom is in the hospital, while her big sister, Nell, is distracted by love and her stepdad, Hall, by the bottle, so who can save her if the killer is, as she suspects, her neighbor, David Rasmussen, a popular cop who has a photo of Junie hanging in his house? Though the mystery elements are sketchy, Kagen sharply depicts the vulnerability of children of any era. Sally, "a girl who wouldn't break a promise even if her life depended on it," makes an enchanting protagonist.
Publishers Weekly

No matter what horrible things happen...you have to go on with your life with all the stick-to-itiveness that you can muster up. In just one summer, ten-year-old Sally and her sister Troo endure the arrest of their stepfather for murder, the mysterious illness that keeps their mother hospitalized for months, and the revelation that the man Sally loved as her Daddy, who was killed in a car accident, was not her real father. Sally's biological father is a policeman, whom she suspected of being the molester/murderer of two young girls and of having her on his hit list before learning the truth. When she finally realizes the identity of the killer, Sally almost becomes his victim. Kagen presents an authentic, endearing portrayal of life in a small 1950s, multicultural neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else's business—almost. Bullies are punished and kindness is rewarded. Sally is, at times, incredibly naive and at other times loyal and understanding beyond her ten years. The characters of the children are unique and crafted with care but most adults are standard types who are either sympathetic or tough as the story line requires. Readers wanting to understand Sally and Troo's mother are given a vague personality whose questionable choices have a hurtful effect on her daughters. First-time author Kagen crams almost too much into this busy tale, as if feeling a need to include every plot thread possible. An insightful question-and-answer conversation with her is included as an epilogue. —Pam Carlson
VOYA

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Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Whistling in the Dark:

1. Sally combines childish innocence with a surprisingly mature discernment of life. You might talk about those opposite qualities—the ways in which they evidence themselves in the book. In fact, just talk about Sally as a character.

2. Do you find the adult characters as interesting—or as well drawn—as Sally and her sister? What about the girls parents and sister, as well as the community of neighbors who surround the girls?

3. West blends humor with suspense in this story. How does he achieve his humor? At what parts did you find yourself laughing?

4. How might the fact we see the story through the eyes of a 10-year-old affect the way we read, or understand, the events in the novel?

5. You might talk about Kagen's portrayal of a 1950's close-knit neighborhood—the kind of community we yearn for as offering a safe haven for growing up. Yet, in Whistling, beneath the surface lurks a darker world. For those who grew up in that era, it seemed a safer world . . . or is that being innocent, naive, like Sally?

6. Were you surprised by the ending? Or had you figured out who the murderer was? Where there clues along the way?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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