Product Description

A season with the toughest soccer team in the county gives a teen the confidence to stand up to his wicked brother. "Smart, adaptable, and anchored by a strong sense of self-worth, Paul makes a memorable protagonist in a cast of vividly drawn characters; multiple yet taut plotlines lead to a series of gripping climaxes and revelations. Readers are going to want more from this author."--Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #605416 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Amazon.com
So what if he's legally blind? Even with his bottle-thick, bug-eyed glasses, Paul Fisher can see better than most people. He can see the lies his parents and brother live out, day after day. No one ever listens to Paul, though--until the family moves to Tangerine. In Tangerine, even a blind, geeky, alien freak can become cool. Who knows? Paul might even become a hero! Edward Bloor's debut novel sparkles with wit, authenticity, unexpected plot twists, and heart. The writing is so fine, the story so triumphant, that you just might stand up and shout when you get to the end. Hooray!

From Publishers Weekly
Living in surreal Tangerine County, Fla., a legally blind boy begins to uncover the ugly truth about his football-hero brother. PW praised Bloor for "wedding athletic heroics to American gothic with a fluid touch and flair for dialogue." Ages 11-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8. Paul starts seventh grade after moving from Houston to a ritzy new development in Tangerine County, FL. Legally blind following some repressed childhood incident, he nonetheless sees familial, environmental, and social anomalies of the local landscape with greater acuity than the adults around him. His intense mother quickly assumes a leadership role in the Homeowner's Association. His civil engineer father is obsessed with his older brother Erik's football career. Lurking beneath their suburban veneer are real dangers that deepen the disquieting atmosphere: smoke from an unquenchable muck fire casts a pall over the area; lightning kills a football player during practice; a sinkhole swallows the school's portable classrooms; and Paul's conflicts with Erik, a truly nasty, probably psychotic kid. Paul is determined to do whatever it takes to make it on the soccer field, in the classroom, and with his peers. The difference between local people with knowledge of the land and ignorant newcomers who are perplexed by it is powerfully portrayed. Equally clear is that class consciousness and racism have built fences through which Paul chooses to blast holes. Mix a sensitive male protagonist reminiscent of Asa in Bruce Brooks's What Hearts (HarperCollins, 1992), ratchet the soccer scenes from Joseph Cottonwood's The Adventures of Boone Barnaby (Scholastic, 1990) up several degrees of intensity, and enjoy this satisfying family/healing, coming-of-age struggle in which everyone takes some licks, but Paul keeps on kicking.?Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
TANGERINE is a surreal novel strong in pacing and character development. From the opening page to the very end, Edward Bloor takes the reader on a breakneck course through one family's conflict with the past and its devastating impact on the present. Paul Fisher's nightmare experiences in the shadow of his older brother come to a climax after the family moves from Houston to Tangerine, Florida, a fallen Eden of sorts. He narrates his experiences in the new community with intensity and passion regarding the problems they face. A tension remains until the very end.

Paul is an outsider from the very beginning. He is the younger brother of teen football legend, Erik Fisher. Their father dotes on Erik, living out his own frustrated athletic dreams in a sad, pathetic manner. Their mother endures their father, holding the family together with equal parts denial, busy-ness, and critical intensity. She is hyper-involved in all of the family's business, a contrast to her husband, who is focused solely on Erik's success on the field. Both deliberately turn a blind eye to Erik's moral failings, which include a propensity for violence and a complete lack of empathy for others. He is a textbook sociopath and the world merely a gaggle of potential victims.

Bloor guides the reader through the novel's 300-plus pages building upon each character with incident upon incident that reveals their true nature and failings. Paul and his parents are forced to face their own cowardice and complicity at several key junctures of the story, particularly during the break-ins and the events that led to the death of Luis Cruz. Facing their failings leaves them broken, but broken for potential rebirth as a better family unit.

The novel's message builds upon itself through the evolution of each character: burying a wrong under a bushel of denial takes a terrible toll.

Highly recommended. 5 Stars!

Reviewed by: Mark Frye, author and reviewer

Good Book
This well writen book was decent. The characters were very well chosed. This is a suspensful book but it leaves you wondering at the end!

Tangerine (fiction)
By: Edward Bloor

Twelve-year-old Paul Fisher is the brother of Erik Fisher, a high school football start. Paul knows Erik has some dangerous secrets and the move to Tangerine, Florida strengthens his theories. But he, himself, has enough on his mind to keep him occupied; a new school, a new house, and the War Eagles. Soon, Paul is having a blast with his new life, but after a horrible incident, Erik is back into Paul's thoughts. Can Erik be as dangerous as he seems or is he just a football start craving for attention?
I enjoyed this fictional book because it's interesting and you never know what's going to happen next.
I recommend this book to anybody who loves a good mystery, interesting facts about fruit trees and a story about the life of a soccer lover.
For grade six and up, for violence and maturity reasons.