I enjoyed this book about a quirky, unique and odd little girl who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome in the 1950s before anyone understood what it was. That is, until the last 25 pages. Up until that point I would give the book 4 stars. But the ending felt force and rushed, and the religiosity felt judgmental and negative. I hated it. I live near a religious "college" that teaches faith healing. They actually believe that they can heal anyone of anything through prayer, and will grab hold of me when they see me in public and pray on me without asking whether I want to be touched or prayed for. It is an arrogant view of prayer: "I am holier than you and my prayers have more weight than yours." This is what the ending of the book felt like. Ugh. That ending spoiled the entire book for me. I was no longer charmed. I just felt manipulated.

3.5 STARS

"Icy Sparks is the sad, funny and transcendent tale of a young girl growing up in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky during the 1950’s. Gwyn Hyman Rubio’s beautifully written first novel revolves around Icy Sparks, an unforgettable heroine in the tradition of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird or Will Treed in Cold Sassy Tree. At the age of ten, Icy, a bright, curious child orphaned as a baby but raised by adoring grandparents, begins to have strange experiences. Try as she might, her "secrets"—verbal croaks, groans, and physical spasms—keep afflicting her. As an adult, she will find out she has Tourette’s Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, but for years her behavior is the source of mystery, confusion, and deep humiliation.

Narrated by a grown up Icy, the book chronicles a difficult, but ultimately hilarious and heartwarming journey, from her first spasms to her self-acceptance as a young woman. Curious about life beyond the hills, talented, and energetic, Icy learns to cut through all barriers—physical, mental, and spiritual—in order to find community and acceptance." (From Amazon)

I enjoyed this novel as it did remind me of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. A very well-written book.

Icy was nervous about starting 4th grade. She'd been a good student all through those first few years, but she'd heard scary stuff at the 4th grade teacher, and she wondered how she could manage the outbursts that took her down to the basement on a regular basis. More and more, it seemed, she just had to get to a place all by herself and croak and tic and pop her eyes. Once she took care of those things, she could be "normal." If she didn't, well....it could prove embarrassing.
4th grade doesn't work out so well. The teacher is mean, the kids make fun of her, and her outbursts get more and more obvious, more and more overwhelming.
She spends time in a mental hospital and, on her return, isolates herself from the world.
The story of this journey is the basis for Icy Sparks; however, it's also the story of living simply in the mountains, with only a few people, all of whom have their own burdens. It's the story of love and grief, the story of trying to be good and right.
Toward the end, there is the most beautiful and sensitive explanation of faith I have ever read.
Good book.

It was good, but then it got super religious at the end. Which is fine. Just not my wheelhouse. I enjoyed the rest of the book, though.

Lots of different emotions transpired in the pages of this book, I learned about Tourette Syndrome also. Icy Sparks is a special girl.

i read this in high school and used it as part of my research for a paper on tourette's. "but anna," you may be thinking, "this book has a publication date of 2001, and you are 26 years old. that math doesn't compute."

yeah, well, books exist before oprah gets her hands on them. TAKE THAT, OPRAH! WHO SCOOPED YOU NOW, HUH??!?!? you think you're SOOOOOO cool with your show and your book club and your free iPods? well GUESS WHO READ THIS BOOK before you?????

anyway, i remember liking it.

It could have been better. The build up of characters and plot was going well at the beginning. It started to decline and get all muddled up when Icy was at the institution. The characters, events, and relationships became so weak and confusing. There was no clear explanation as to what finally made them decide to send Icy home, no clear diagnosis or even a prognosis of what Icy had, and there was no resolution to Wilma's case. (The revelation of the Tourette Syndrome came at the epilogue.) The last part became even worse, with the idea of religion too injected that it was like bringing all its readers into some fanatic devotion meeting of some sort.

I wonder what happened to the author?! It could have been a good story. She had good characters to work on, her writing style was potential, with natural humor ... but something seemed to have gone amiss along the way. Could she have been in a hurry to wrap up the book and turn it in to the publisher without giving it a second read? Or did she get bored with Icy that she wanted to just end it and start a new writing project?

Can anybody tell me how this book got Oprah Book Club label?

As the mother of a child that has Tourette's Syndrome, I was appalled by the stereotypical portrayal of the main character. Complex vocal and motor tics, such as those described in this book, are the rarest symptoms of this disorder and yet I've heard it called "The Cussing Disease" because it is always shown at the absolute worst end of the spectrum in print and media.
Believe me, if my son starts spewing out cuss words then it isn't because of his Tourette's.

Good read. For the most part, this book was a very enthralling and entertaining read. The story itself and the writing both very fine. It's not a book, though, that's going to go down in history as one of my favorites, despite the fact I really did enjoy it.

The main problem I had with the book was the characters themselves. They were likeable enough, but with the exceptional of Icy, most everyone she encountered seemed 2Demensional at most, they weren't flushed out enough for my taste. I'm not saying every character that appears on page needs to have a full history and story going on, but there were characters that played a huge part in Icy's life that didn't have enough to them. I didn't see it with Miss Emily or Icy's grandparents. Those three were central figures in Icy's life.

Also the antagonists Icy encountered throughout her journey, like her teacher in the beginning and the one nurse at the hospital... they were just mean, there was nothing behind them pushing this meanness. Perhaps it was Rubio's way of letting us see this from young Icy's point of view. Adults don't need a reason to be mean, they just are mean! But if you're going to write in the perspective of a ten-year-old, keep it consistent.

At times I felt Icy was not thinking nor acting her age, her views became suddenly too adult, her attitude to adult. When we jump forward a couple of years I at first thought Icy was 16 or 17, not 13. It's hard to write from the perspective of younger people, so I give Rubio major props for being able to capture any of those ages.

So, basically, it was character that gave the book it's biggest flaws. But while reading it I really didn't mind. I was very interested in the subject matter, what was going on with Icy and what was going to happen. I was drawn to Icy and concerned for her a lot. Even though I knew what kind of disease Icy had, I wanted to hear the answers just as badly as she and her family did.

I would recommend this book to read. Forget what I said about characters until after you read it, don't let it cloud a very entertaining read for you.

Ordinarily, I hate all literature, fiction, or story-telling about Appalachia. HATE. And I mean that as forcefully as the all caps implies. Silas House? So twee and building stereotypes that some of us would rather not have to fight against on a daily basis. Jesse Stuart? Please spare me.

But this book, while set in eastern Kentucky, isn't really about Appalachia. It's about a girl who happens to grow up in an isolated community, surrounded by mountains. But she's a special girl -- and she's got a secret. Her secret makes her good at keeping the secrets of others, even when it's to her detriment. Not only is she special, but she's special in a way that makes her alone. No one understands her and she doesn't even understand herself. Who in this world hasn't felt like he or she has been on the outside looking in? Gwyn Rubio does a good job of creating a sympathetic character without pretensions. Icy may suffer from Tourette Syndrome in an age before it was really understood, but this book is a work of fiction, well-written and entertaining, without the seeming agenda of educating the audience. How refreshing!

If you want a fast read about a smart kid who is a misfit and doesn't really understand what's wrong with her, this book is a good option. If you teach high school, I can easily see this being on a reading list where kids get to choose what they read.

I really enjoyed this story, set in the 1950s, of a young girl with Tourette's. Of course, at that time not much was known about the syndrome and her grandparents, who were raising her, and her school officials were at at a loss to know what to do.

Narrated by the girl, Icy, she doesn't have a clue what is going on and in spite of all her efforts finds she is increasingly unable to control her actions and speech.

This story reminded me so much of an author I know who had similar experiences growing up in the 1970s. Jonathan Friesen managed to become a school teacher and now writes amazing award-winning books, including "Jerk, Cailifornia." That book was the ALA Schnieder Family award winner for best book of the year with a character with a disability.

Back to Icy Sparks, what I most appreciated about this book is the fact that instead of the usual tragedy of mean-spirited and horrible treatment of someone who is "different," Icy, at least from the adults in her life, is treated with kindness and undying attempts to help her and find a solution for her problems. Through an odd sort of characters, including another obeses "outcast," Icy continues to be loved and educated and even treated in a mental facility. That is so unusual in most of these types of stories, in my experience.

I also feel that this would be a good book for an older teen, if the can handle the language. It's not particually bad and is always used in conjunction with Tourette's, but the themes and hopeful outlook would be positive influences in most anyone's life.

Once you read this book, you will never forget it. Whenever I see a person reading this, I tell them how good & wonderful it is. It is so,so good.