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'Fox
in the Box' reviewed
The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, Thursday, May 29,
2003, by Shirley
One has to wonder from time to time how authors and publishers
decide on an appropriate title for a book. Fox in the Box
by Kathleen Stone seems to answer that question in the very
first sentence of the very first paragraph. If “fox” is the
slang term for a lady and “in the box” refers to that which
ensnares, this title is right on the mark.
We are
thrust into the theme as the heroine smashes an aggressive
customer in the face as he forces his attentions on her while
she sells tickets for a carnival attraction.
The book,
about a single mom, uses a carnival as its setting. It moves
quickly depicting the life of a young lady determined to fight
the odds that keep her from the rose-covered cottage with
picket fence lifestyle.
While
wisely refraining from the now popular sex and gore story
telling techniques, the author spins humor and warmth into
the lives of the “carnies.” After we watch Kathy as she makes
her point to the unwelcome attentions bestowed upon her by
a customer, the book settles down to a fascinating story telling
about her and her two daughters, Stephanie and Kelly, and
how they interact with a cast of men and women working grueling
hours with very few amenities. The living conditions include:
no showers, extremely cramped living quarters, very low pay
and many cruel managers willing to take advantage of those
with no alternatives to their lives.
Most every
author to related carnival life paints that life with a touch
of nostalgia, offering the “down on the luck, but kindhearted
and misunderstood” characters to the readers as proof that
there is good in all of us. This author tells it as she saw
that life. There is dishonesty and outright theft but with
a strange honor among those thieves.
Ms. Stone
deals with each major episode in one chapter. This helps move
the read along making the book easy to follow. The ending
doesn’t quite indicate that Kathy found her sought after life
but it doesn’t see her leaving her friends behind completely
either. The reader finishes the book very happy that they
read it and very happy that life didn’t deal them the cards
that played out in Kathy’s life.
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