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Guardian
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Plot Summary of Guardian
"

Ace, Dec 2002, 22.95, 240 pp.
ISBN 0441009778

She was only a child when the civil war started but her parents were wise enough to send her up North to relatives when it looked like the south would lose. She stayed at a boarding school until she went to Wellestey College where she met and later married Edward Tolliver, a rich and powerful man. The marriage wasn't a happy one but when Rosa saw her husband sodomize their son Daniel, she knew it was time to leave.

Rosa and Daniel traveled to Dodge City where they had many happy year together until a Pinkerton agent hired by Edward arrived on the scene to take Daniel back to his father. Daniel conked the agent over the head, allowing them to escape and they decide to see if they could get rich in Alaska. While Daniel is in the field panning for gold, a drunken miner kills him and Rosa decides to kill herself until a spirit guide named Raven takes her around the universe. When Rosa returns, her actions change the course of history and save millions of lives.

Award winning author Joe Haldeman has written a very simple story about a woman's fight to survive and triumph. What is not so simple is the way the protagonist has to learn those lessons but what would defeat another person doesn't even phase Rose. She takes what she learns and applies it to her everyday life and in doing so makes the world a better place.

Harriet Klausner
"

Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Guardian
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10%




Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy story on current Earth
Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes
Plotlets: - dimension travel
Romance Yes
Romance plotlets: - destined love (dream or prediction)
Inner Struggle Yes
Plotlet: - coping with mental/magical powers
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Profession/status: - champion of justice
Age: - 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Setting
Earth setting: - near future (later in 21st century)
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Joe Haldeman Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:
  
Kevin Dole  

SCHOLARS:
Gavin J. Carr  Kelly Affannato  


Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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