The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (2006)

Synopsis

Once, in a house of Egypt Street, there lived in a china rabbit named Edward Tulane. The rabbit was very pleased with himself, and for good reason: he was owned by a girl named Abilene, who adored him completely. And then, one day, he was lost... Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depth of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. Along the way, we are shown a miracle -- that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again.

Review

Edward Tulane is a porcelain rabbit. He is dearly loved by Abilene. But Edward doesn’t love her back. He tolerates her but he doesn’t know what love is. One day Abilene and her family travel by ship across the Atlantic. Some boys are mean and play keep away with Edward. Unfortunately when Abilene tries to get Edward back, he instead flies overboard and sinks to the bottom of the sea. And thus begins the strange miraculous journey of Edward Tulane.

 

This was a very well done story. The idea of our playthings being alive didn’t start with *Toy Story.* This is a fine addition to the genre. Edward’s journey isn’t a short one. He’s called Suzanna and Malone and Bojangles. He learns that people are important and should be held in the heart even when they are gone.

When I started the book I didn’t think that I was going to cry. But I did. Because sometimes life is cruel. People lose things they love. But sometimes life is also kind. Edward’s journey teaches him how to love and in the end, he finds his way back to the arms of a little girl who squeezes him tight and also calls him Edward.

 

Thoughts

 

I think the story struck my heart so much because of how it's a mystical tale that's realistically told. I mean, he's a rabbit that's sentient, has emotions, and is sent on a journey by a witch. But the things that that Edward faces are very real: losing people he cared about, ageism, spending months at the bottom of a hill of garbage, the homeless and how they are treated, domestic abuse, grief and loss, loneliness and coming home. These events are treated with the gravity they deserve, you feel them deeply, but they are experienced as a child would experience them, with an innocence that an adult doesn't have. Some examples:

Edward knew what it was like to say over and over again the names of those you had left behind. He knew what it was like to miss someone. And so he listened. And in his listening, his heart opened wide and then wider still.

This epitomizes this entire segment of Edward's journey and it absolutely gutted me. 

Never in his life had Edward been cradled like a baby. Abilene had not done it. Nor had Nellie. And most certainly Bull had not. It was a singular sensation to be held so gently and yet so fiercely, to be stared down at with so much love. Edward felt the whole of his china body flood with warmth.

The pureness of the love in this section was moving. You felt the fierceness of the love here and the ache when it is lost. And there was this, after Edward has lost and lost and wants to give up letting himself love again: 

“I have already been loved,” said Edward. “I have been loved by a girl named Abilene. I have been loved by a fisherman and his wife and a hobo and his dog. I have been loved by a boy who played the harmonica and by a girl who died. Don’t talk to me about love,” he said. “I have known love.”

“But that’s dreadful,” said the old doll. “There’s no point in going on if you feel that way. No point at all. You must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next... If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless... Open your heart,” she said gently. “Someone will come. Someone will come for you. But first you must open your heart.”

As an adult, I know the deeper meaning of things, the cruelty and heartlessness that is there, but that harsh reality of life doesn't overpower/overtake the story. Instead, the vulnerability and hope of the story calls us to have an open heart, even when it hurts. Even though it ended the way that I hoped it would, it still makes me intensely emotional to think about it.  Especially now, when we have over 170K dead, confirmed cases rising, 1M newly unemployed filing for benefits, the looming threat of evictions and homelessness, an awakening that is fighting to tackle racial injustice in our country, a President actively trying to undermine trusted institutions and plant the seeds of doubt to try to steal an election, a Senate controlled by people who cares more about getting their own way than the suffering of their constituents and then goes on vacation to avoid it all... 

But just like the old doll tells Edward in the story, you must be filled with expectancy. You must be awash in hope. You must wonder who will love you, whom you will love next... If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless...