"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. . . ."

   This week I read the book "Jacob Have I loved" by Katherine Paterson. The book is about a girl named Sara Louise Bradshaw as she grows up on a small island in the Chesapeake Bay. Ever since she was a little kid, Louise's twin sister, Caroline, has been the favourite, and not just in the family. Louise tells her story from her late preteen years to adulthood as she attempts to break away from her golden sister's shadow.
   I loved this book. It was sad and bittersweet. Sad because Louise has practically never gotten the many things that she wanted in life, like an everlasting friendship with Call, to be put first in the family just once, to be seen as pretty, and be loved. The bittersweet part was that in the end, Louise not only was loved, but she spread that love around and tried to make better lives for others like her (I shan't spoil the book by telling who she helped). My favourite character was Captain Wallace. Although he did pay attention to Caroline quite a bit, he also made Louise feel special. I bet he owned some kind of Dale Carnegie book (if those existed back then) that helped him help Louise. Or maybe he just had a ton of empathy. Either way, he was a wonderful character who was always sincere. I admire him greatly for that. My least favourite character was Louise's insane grandmother. She was deeply religious (not that that's a bad thing) and used her religious views to hurt others, like when she called Louise's mother a "scarlet woman" and called told the family Louise was evil since she "admired" the Captain (she did, but not in THAT way), and he "liked" her back (not in THAT way).
   All in all, I thought "Jacob Have I Loved" to be a really good book. I recommend reading it. Also, I don't know if this post was supposed to be on The Odyssey or not, but if it is, I'll update it as soon as I know.