Review “The Tender Silver Stars” by Pamela Stockwell

Score: 90/100 (9.0 out of 10)

The Tender Silver Stars Pamela Stockwell is a book about morality, ethics, compassion, justice, and freedom.

Taking place in the early 1970s, the book explores the racism, bigotry, and social justice tensions that were rampant at the time. It particularly highlights discrimination of those of a lower social economic status while emphasizing how white collar crime often gets overlooked or swept under the rug with the attention being on crimes committed by the poor and desperate.

It also shines a light on the changing progressive ideas on what a woman's role in the house (and society) is. The progressive ideals clash with the old-fashioned, traditional, conservative ideals held by the likes of Triss's grandfather and Everlove's ex-fiance.

In this book, you really get to see the clash and transition between people with two very different frames of thinking—those who want things to stay the same and those who want things to change. There are those who want to preserve “traditional” families and those who want to emphasize independence and sovereignty, particularly for women. There are those who want to emphasize businesses and business leaders in hopes of a “trickle down” effect versus those who want there to be more social programs and financial assistance for the poor.

To be perfectly honest, we're somewhere in the middle, which makes us well-equipped to judge this book.

This novel follows Triss Littlefield, a 21-year-old (by our calculations, being six in 1957). Admittedly, we were kinda surprised that she was in her 20s because she acts like she's 14-16 sometimes. Now, it needs to be said that Triss is incredibly idealistic, well-meaning, and well-intentioned. In fact, a big part of her character is that she usually means to do the right thing, but then the right thing leads to a domino-effect of other problems. It's actually quite amusing. She's like a clumsy/klutz-like character, kinda like Jennifer Lopez in Maid in Manhattan. This is demonstrated in the early birthday cake/carpet scene as well as in the inciting incident which results in her turning to theft.

Speaking of inciting incidents, let's talk about that and the central conflict. Triss rebels against her lawyer-grandfather's wishes for her life and career (because she finds them misogynistic, old-fashioned, and wrong), deliberately choosing to work for one of her grandfather's enemy, a man named Horus Haine.

Horus Haine is effectively the main villain of this novel. He can probably be described as a slumlord, though he'd probably prefer “landlord” or “real estate owner.” Haine ruthlessly evicts tenants who are behind on rent or who only make a partial payment. It doesn't help that the majority of his tenants happen to be poor and ethnic minorities (primarily Black) following right on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement.

This deeply upsets Triss, an idealistic social justice warrior (at heart), who begins to see her employer as a ruthless, tyrannical, heartless monster who evicts some of the most vulnerable in society including a mother-of-four named Peach Singleton.

You could probably argue that Haine demanding that Peach be evicted is the straw that broke the camel's back. And, really, we're not sure if it's supposed to be a funny scene because it's played so straight and serious. However, what makes this scene funny to us is that Triss concludes, "You would seriously kick someone named Peach out of their home?”

To this, Haine (the villain), replies that he evicts people who don't pay their rent.

Now, we don't want to get too down and dirty in this argument, but... Haine's argument is actually better than Triss's in this scenario. Think about this: what difference does it make what the tenant's name or nickname is? What difference does it make that their name or nickname sounds cute and cuddly?

Do you know how many people are named Hope or Destiny who are resigned to doing crack on the streets? Do you know how many people are called “Spike” who are actually great, caring, kind people? There are probably a few people named Stella who look like they need a bath, shower, and a haircut. Like, what does it really matter what Peach's name is? That's not even an argument.

What is a decent argument, in Triss's defense, is that Peach was a mother of numerous kids who'd all be homeless if evicted. Now, you could make the counter-argument: well, whose fault is it that Peach has four kids that she can't afford to take care of? Where's the dad? Could she have made better choices in terms of a partner or using contraceptives? You know, latex condoms were available since the 1920s, just saying...

Anyway...

This Triss decides to act on her ill feelings in probably the most misguided and short-sighted way: breaking in and stealing her boss's money to give to others like Peach. That's right, she decides to commit a crime, and not just any crime but a crime against someone who trusts and employs (pays) her. And this creates the big conundrum in the book as she is plagued by guilt and regrets while constantly on the run from people or hiding from people.

Adding some spice to this plot, Triss encounters another woman on the run, a Black woman named Everlove Porter. Everlove's name is kinda ironic because she is actively fleeing a wedding after leaving her husband at the altar. She effectively becomes the deuteragonist of the novel, soon becoming Triss's roommate and close friend.

Their relationship is quite intriguing because it highlights the bigotry that was widespread at the time, especially regarding Black and whites living under the same roof together, even as roommates. Triss and Everlove constantly fear being judged or targeted, compounding the fact that they're already people on the run. Thankfully, they encounter many gracious and open-minded people who are putting aside the old ways. The chief of these is Mrs. McCabe, a funny, spunky 83-year-old woman who struck us (wrongfully) as being suspicious. She just seems overly charming and knowledgeable, often convincing the two flakey-headed, gullible girls to say, do , and admit to things they otherwise wouldn't have.

We can't emphasize enough the Mrs. McCabe has a certain charm about her. For example, she talks about how she used to use her good looks to get out of speeding tickets until her old age forced her to change her strategy. Keep in mind: she is basically admitting to girls who are afraid of her bad driving that she has gotten away with bad driving. The irony!

Yeah, this book is unconventionally funny, even when it seems like it shouldn't be.
It sometimes seems like the two lead characters are kinda morons and idiots, but in a charming, endearing way. Again, it's like how Jennifer Lopez was charming in that one movie in which she was a klutz. Their youth, inexperience, and naivety shine through. However, there's a part of us that found them a bit annoying and irksome too.

In their defense, the college years are a time when you start to slip into ideologies, try out new things, and perhaps say/do things that you regret 10+ years later.

Both characters gradually grow and learn things like personal responsibility and accountability. They also learn that they are their own person, not controlled or determined by anyone else.

Oh, and Triss's brother, Jay, is genuinely hilarious and lovable. For example, he says, “I would love to get to know someone who lives with my sister by choice. “

There's a subplot in which we learn that Jay is actually a soccer coach and happens to teach Everlove's disabled sister, Ruby. He actually knows Ruby as “Pebbles” because she keeps giving him rocks every day. He even keeps them in a special place! What a great guy!

Gosh, can our two goofball lead protagonists be as likable as Jay and Mrs. McCabe?

In terms of villains/antagonists, there's the aforementioned Horus Haine, the slum lord. He is supported by some enforcers including a somewhat annoying, seemingly-superfluous character named Copper Cavanaugh who constantly stalks and harasses the girls, particularly Triss.

He seems kinda out of place considering the otherwise-goofy tone of the book. Copper is a legit criminal who has probably bloodied or even killed a person or two. In his conversations with Haine, we learn that he and Haine are making money via criminal activities including with a moonshiner named Carr and a madame named Jenny Blazey. They use Haine's real estate business as a front and to fund these activities. So, yes, Haine is actually evil and not just heartless businessman.

Now, it is kinda funny and strange that these things just seem caked-on to his initial character, making him seem all the more evil. It almost seems shoehorned-in because someone at a reading group said, “Hey, Haine doesn't seem evil enough.”

So, Copper also seems tacked-on to facilitate this subplot and make it more clear who the bad guy is.

There's also Sheridan Rudd, who helps Copper to enforce Haine's strict edicts and to evict people.

You could also argue that some of the dudes in this book, like Rodney (Everlove's ex-fiance) and Triss's grandfather, are pretty antagonistic in that they're controlling, possessive, and misogynistic by modern standards.

We ultimately enjoyed aspects of this book but felt that it was a mixed bag. There were times when it felt like too much was going on given that the core plot really isn't that complicated. It seemed like there were too many characters just coming out of the wood works to say hello, sometimes literally.
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However, it was a worthwhile read.

Check it out on Amazon!