半年前拿到了书，读了个开头还没进入状况却被其他事情搁浅了，我都忘了它。 前两天又重拾此书，这次倒是一下就被吸引住，一口气就读完了。 "Orphan Train" 有点Young Adult Fiction的味道，主角是前后相差80年的两个女孩子，文笔朴实，故事情节也很简单－－17岁的叛逆少女Molly因缘际会结识了91岁的富孀Vivian，看似南辕北辙的两个人居然发展出一份特殊的友谊，只因她们都是孤儿，尝过像皮球一样被人踢来踢去，颠沛流离的生活。。。
1854年到1929年间，从美国东部出发的“孤儿列车”载着一批批无家可归的孩子们前往中西部，在沿途的车站上，他们像小猫小狗一样任人挑选，只期望能有好心的家庭收留他们。 尽管孤儿列车是以慈善为初衷，但缺乏基本的监督善后制度，不少小孩在寄养家庭被迫做苦工，甚至受虐待，悲惨的待遇跟南方的奴隶相差无几。 长达70多年的孤儿列车把二十多万东部的孤儿安插入地广人稀的中西部地区，最后因为大萧条才终止。
1929年，9岁的Vivian也提心吊胆地坐在孤儿列车上。 两年前满怀着希望，全家从贫穷的爱尔兰搭船来美国，谁知道纽约的日子仍旧是苦哈哈，接着一场大火又夺去了她所有的亲人。 生活的坎坷叫她过早就在忧患中成熟。 但，接下来她的命运又会是如何？
Kline的文笔平和简洁，没有华丽的辞藻，只是温柔、自然地陈述。 以2011年的Molly和1929年的Vivian交叉叙述，作者把切换处理得很巧妙自如，一点儿也不觉得突兀。 Vivian的角色多所着墨，显然是全书的逗哏；而Molly的角色塑造就比较单薄而模式化，好像只是为了牵引和对比Vivian而编排的捧哏。
很感恩读到这本书，藉此了解到美国被忽略的这段历史。 有点可惜的是，故事的发展落入俗套，基本上毫无悬念，Vivian和Molly的遭遇都是电影滥用的桥段；书里其他人物也相当的脸谱化。
好在作者没有百分百照搬好莱坞的公式，叫Happy Ending完全陷入童话世界的甜腻。 那些破碎到完全拼不起来的伤痛，Kline就那么直白地显露在你面前，那么刺眼，经过全书的‘温馨therapy’还是无法痊愈。 被抛弃过那么多次，希望一再破灭，要再鼓起多少勇气才敢去憧憬未来，去爱人，被爱？ 最令我心痛的是Molly和Vivian各自的妈妈，她们之间相差近一个世纪，但同样被现实的困顿逼到绝望，她们的软弱和自私叫女儿陷入无边的恐惧和失落无依。 我现在也是两个孩子的妈妈，看到Vivian和Molly被母亲遗弃的悲痛，实在忍不住流泪。 只是这次我却没有站在道德制高点对她们指手画脚‘哀其不幸，怒其不争’，泡在蜜罐子里的我又有什么资格去论断她们呢？ 透过书页，我好希望能够帮助她们站起来。
读完这本书，我决定给缺少机会的青少年出份心力。 说干就干，今天就找到一个义工组织，填好登记，准备给难民少女做mentor。
节选一些quotes。
“It was pouring earlier, great sheets of rain, and now the clouds outside the window are crystal tipped like mountain peaks in the sky, rays emanating downward like an illustration in a children's bible.”
“I've come to think that's what heaven is—a place in the memory of others where our best selves live on.”
“I feel myself retreating to someplace deep inside. It is a pitiful kind of childhood, to know that no one loves you or is taking care of you, to always be on the outside looking in.”
“I feel a decade older than my years. I know too much; I have seen people at their worst, at their most desperate and selfish, and this knowledge makes me wary. So I'm learning to pretend, to smile and nod, to display empathy I do not feel. I am learning to pass, to look like everyone else, even though I feel broken inside.”
“I have been so alone on this journey, cut off from my past. However hard I try, I will always feel alien and strange. And now I've stumbled on a fellow outsider, one who speaks my language without saying a word.”
"The people who matter in our lives stay with us, haunting our ordinary moments. They're with us in the grocery store, as we turn the corner, chat with a friend. They rise up through the pavement; we absorb them through our soles."
“I learned long ago that loss is not only probably but inevitable. I know what it means to lose everything, to let go of one life and find another. And now I feel, with a strange, deep certainty, that it must be my lot in life to be taught that lesson over and over again.”
“Time constricts and flattens, you know. It's not evenly weighted. Certain moments linger in the mind and others disappear. ”
