Because of Winn-Dixie Unit |
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What's the story?
Reviewed by Matt Berman
When
lonely India Opal Buloni takes home a stray dog she finds at the
supermarket, her whole life changes in ways she couldn't have imagined.
This soothing, poignant first novel, filled with the atmosphere of a
dusty Southern town, is one of the best around. India Opal Buloni
has just moved to the small town of Naomi, Florida, with her father, a
preacher who "reminded me of a turtle hiding inside its shell." Her
mother abandoned them years before, and Opal feels alone and abandoned
in her new town. At the supermarket she rescues a stray dog who
looks "like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in
the rain," and names him Winn-Dixie, after the market. She soon
discovers that he is great at making friends, and because of
Winn-Dixie, Opal is learning to see beyond people's surfaces. The
ex-con who runs the pet shop plays music that mesmerizes animals. An
woman rumored to be a witch is just an old lady who is half-blind, but
can see with her heart. A pinched-faced girl harbors a tragic secret.
And all are soon her friends.
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