I learned only a couple of weeks ago that Tuck Everlasting is a “classic American novel” that I was probably supposed to have read somewhere along the way. I haven’t even bothered to try to locate the book to read it, I just went to see the movie instead. I may go find the book some other time. See if there’s a little more to it than they were able to put into the movie. In this review I’ll probably give away the entire story, but since it’s a “classic”, you probably already know.
As you may or may not be aware, Tuck Everlasting is a story about the Tuck family who have stumbled upon immortality, and the events surrounding their being found out by the world. Figuring at the center of the story is a young woman named Winnifred who stumbles just as haphazardly into the everlasting lives of the Tuck family as they did into immortality. The Tucks can’t let her just run off; they have to learn that they can trust her not to reveal their secret. In the days and weeks that pass where Winnie is hanging out in the forest, falling in love with a forever 17-year-old, having the time of her life, her family and the townspeople assume the worst and do everything they can to try to find her. Eventually someone does find her, and the Tucks, and the Tuck family has to run off into the night to escape, leaving Winnie with her family. That’s it.
The whole story. Girl is frustrated with her home life, runs off into the woods and spends a couple of weeks with some immortals who teach her the importance of living life and the danger of cheating death, girl returns to her family. I guess I was hoping for something more.
There was a little intrigue with a mischievous character who knew the Tucks’ secret & was trying to track them down so he could make a fortune selling immortality, but very little of it, and it ended weakly. There wasn’t much depth of philosophy about the nature and troubles of immortality, and much of the dialogue was poorly written. The exceptional cast did pretty well, considering what they had to work with. Oh, and plenty of good cinematography, but nothing to write home about.
Perhaps if you loved the book you’ll find more here than I did, because you’ll know the rest of the story. It just seemed a little short and a little empty to me.
