Michael’s Letter Essay #3: “Tangerine”

11/23/15 – I have just read the book Tangerine, a 294 paged fiction novel written by Edward Bloor. This book was originally published in 1997. Edward Bloor has also written books like “Taken”, and “A Plague Year.” I choose this book because it was a recommendation from a friend.

Paul Fisher is the main character in the novel. Paul’s family just moved from Houston Texas to Tangerine Florida. Paul’s family relocated to Florida with his Mom and Dad working for the public in town and in their home complex. Paul’s older brother Erik is a senior at Lake Windsor High School and was a football legend in Houston. Erik can almost choose whatever college he’d like to play at in the south east. Erik and Paul don’t seem to get along throughout the book, and there are very few times were both brothers can’t even sustain a conversation. Paul always had a passion for soccer, and being a goalkeeper. When Paul was younger, his vision was severely affected after staring into a solar eclipse for nearly an hour. Lake Windsor Middle isn’t like most middle schools in the country. The school consist of pods, each making up one classroom spread out through a field. Paul was most excited for the new soccer program at Lake Windsor, but Paul’s coach, Coach Walski, stated that Paul’s vision and IEP wasn’t acceptable for the team. In Florida, September is part of the wet season, and one day during a rainstorm, Lake Windsor Middle had massive sinkhole that made national news and forced the shutdown of the middle school for a month. In the school relocation plan, students had an option to squeeze into small classrooms at Lake Windsor or join the schedule at Tangerine Middle School on the other side of town. Paul decides to move to Tangerine Middle School. Upon arrival, Paul met Theresa who guided Paul to his classes. Theresa is the sister of Tino and Luis. Paul tries again and decides to join the Tangerine Middle soccer team. Paul is accepted, but he knows he will not be a starting player. Victor is the War Eagle’s soccer team captain, and accepts Paul as a valuable player after taking over Victor’s position for a game and scoring a goal. Paul ends up enjoying his new school and participating on the soccer team after several wins. The whole story ends with a sudden death of one of Paul’s close friends, and the suspect may be someone Paul knows very well . . .

In the novel I noticed how the author divided up the book in a day at a time. I thought that this method really helped visualize what was happening, as this book was hard at times to follow. The structure of this book was very strong, and had an un-usual plot that fit it’s genre of fiction. The ending of the novel didn’t end how I would have liked it. Overall I would rate this book a 7/10. I gave the book this score because like I stated earlier, the story was a little hard to follow in between certain scenes.

Quoted Passage:

“Dad had to take Erik down to the police station this morning to talk to Sergeant Rojas. They were there from 7:30 to 10:30. When they got back, Erik went straight up to his room. Dad came into the kitchen and told Mom and me, “Arthur Bauer is trying to blame Erik. He’s saying that Erik put him up to it. Erik denies it. He says Arthur misunderstood him. It’s a big mess.” He poured himself a cup of coffee and added, “The police will sort it out, it’s their job, not mine.” – Page: 290.

I choose this passage because this page almost closes out the book and it gives you an idea of how the writer (Edward Bloor) tied up the loose ends of the novel.

– Michael Farnen

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

2 thoughts on “Michael’s Letter Essay #3: “Tangerine”

  1. Dear Michael,
    Your memoir was very good. I liked how you left it off with a cliff hanger about the person that killed Paul’s friend. The only thing you need to work on is starting your sentences off without using a name. You kept on repeating the same starters.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *