Eyes in the Fishbowl

Eyes in the Fishbowl

Author	Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Illustrator	Alton Raible
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Speculative fiction
Publisher	Atheneum
Publication date	1968
Media type	Print
Pages	168
ISBN	9780440400608

Eyes in the Fishbowl is a 1968 adolescent novel by author Zilpha Keatley Snyder, illustrated by Alton Raible.

Plot

Eyes in the Fishbowl is the story of Dion James, a 15-year-old guitar player, former member of the A-group at Randolph high school, a big dreamer and a boy who just wants to succeed in life. He lives with his father in an old Victorian house, part of which is rented by the Grover's family and students who don't pay their rent - Matt, Phil and Duncan. Dion is raised by his father, Arnold Valentine James, and he doesn't remember his mother. Arnold Valentine James is a music teacher and philosopher of the neighborhood. Moreover, he is the worst business man and a famous "soft touch" in the town. His father has all the opportunities to live a good life but parents of students he teaches privately fool him and don't pay. Therefore, Dion is not satisfied by the style of life his father leads. Dion suspects that that is the reason for his mother's leaving. Moreover, Dion works and usually buys food. Thus, he feeds not only his dad, but also the students who rent the attic of their house.

When Dion is eight he starts his shoe shining business right across Alcott Simpson's mall, and his florist friend, Jose, let him settle right next to his flower cart. By the time the main character grows his business, he makes a lot of contacts, so he starts to have pretty rich costumers who only go to Dion. Also, he loves Alcott-Simpson's Mall and on cold days goes inside of the store just to warm up. Therefore, when all troubles started at Alcott-Simpson's he was right there and saw everything with his own eyes. Being permanently around the mall he had met Madam Stregovitch, a clerk in cosmetics who becomes his old friend over the years. She has supernatural powers, but in the beginning of the story Dion doesn't know about it. Madame is also providing Dion with articles about Alcott-Simpson's Mall for his scrapbook. Thus, one day she gives him a page of the newspaper where there is an Alcott-Simpson's advertisement, but on the other side there is an article about a foreign country where kids is in famine and a picture of eyes that somehow attract Dion.

It is in the month of January when he encounters Sara for the first time in Alcott-Simpson's mall. She is a beautiful girl with big black eyes and long black hair. Sara is chased by a security guard because she wear a sweater that has price tag on it. However, before that, Jose tells a rumor to Dion about a group of vandals at Alcott-Simpson's. From this time Dion starts to pay attention to what is going on at Alcott-Simpson's. Couple of days later Dion visits Alcott-Simpson's just to verify the atmosphere in the store when suddenly he hears a scream in the mezzanine. Being curious by nature and having the rumors in mind, that Jose has told him, Dion tries to find out what is going on in there. Unable to see anything and afraid of being caught by security he goes to the sixth floor in order to use the elevator and leave the store quietly. He is afraid to get caught because of his suspicious appearance and constantly being check by guards when he is young. Waiting for the elevator a long time, Dion hears some sounds and thinks about hiding somewhere in the mall. Therefore, he runs to the furniture department and hides under a bed. Later on when the store closes and everything calms down, Dion plans imperceptibly to leave the store. Nevertheless, Sara finds him, and saves him from the detectives and the securities of the store.

Sara is taciturn but her smile and appearance charm Dion. Both teenagers admit that they like each other. Later on it turns out that Sara lives at Alcott- Simpson's. Furthermore, she is not the only person who stays there but there are also the Others who are Sara's younger siblings. However, Dion has never seen anyone except Sara. Now Dion has many questions and he is looking for answers to everything. He wants to know how Sara and the Others appear at Alcott- Simpson's. However, Sara doesn't want to answer his questions in order to not disappoint him. Everything is strange to Dion, yet, in order to meet with Sara and learn more about happenings in the mall he often goes there and spends time with her.Dion thinks that Sara is a daughter of one of the executives of Alcott- Simpson's because he is unable to explain to himself her permanent residence there. Unable to find reasonable justification to what she is doing at Alcott-Simpson's, Dion leaves it as it is. Living in the mall Sara wear everything she wants and her siblings plays in different departments of the mall. Nevertheless, some days later Dion learns form Myrna about very strange happenings at the store, that last for weeks. Myrna, shares that “They” let the canaries and parakeets out of the Pet Shop. Moreover, “They” have made other animals out and that causes screaming of the costumers. She admits that other clerks also hear sounds of running feet and laughter, and toys that moves by themselves.

Later on it turns out that the Others are those kids form a foreign country where there is a famine and Madame Stregovitch using her supernatural power brings them to Alcott-Simpson's. It is the Others get the animals out of the Pet Shop, and those screams is because of costumer who finds a lizard at the fitting-room. Step by step Dion joins all pieces of puzzle and gets the whole picture of happening at the Alcott-Simpson's. Madame Stregovitch asks him not to go to the store until she gets everything done. However, it has been long time that Dion haven't seen Sara. Therefore, Dion goes there and hides under the bad, as he does the first time and wait until Sara comes. When she finally comes Dion asks Sara to stay with him, and leave the Others alone but Sara says that the Others are her younger siblings and she cannot be without them. When Dion tries to leave the mall he meets Madam Stregovitch. She sends the Others back to their homeland. After couple of days Dion learns from a newspaper about closing of Alcott-Simpson's mall. Madame asks Dion to forgive her, because all those troubles are because she uses her physic power to benefit the kids but she does not expect that Dion to be involve in this situation. Madame Stregovitch explains that the eyes from the piece of newspaper which attracts Dion is Sara's. After this happening Dion feels abandoned, but continues his life.

Characters

Dion "Di" James -- 15 years old, the main character of the story, unlike his father he is a good entrepreneur, possessing a shoe shine business, plays guitar and is a former of music band ( Group - A) in his high school.

Sara -- exact age not specified, but according to Dion, Sara is almost the same age as he is, Sara is a girl who lives at Alcott-Simpson's mall.

Madame Stregovitch -- exact age not specified, a clerk in Cosmetics at Alcott-Simpson's, possess a supernatural power. She is a good friend of Dion. She planned to bring kids to the mall using her physics power.

Arnold Valentine "Val" James -- exact age not specified, Dion's father, music teacher, philosopher, the worst businessman and just a soft-touch, usually prefers to get a piece of useless junk rather than money for his private music lessons that he gives to his students, he also known as Prince Val.

Myrna -- exact age not specified, a clerk in the Pet Shop at Alcott-Simpson's, she tells Dion about the mysteries at Alcott-Simpson's, therefore Dion gets full understanding of what exactly is going on in the mall.

José -- exact age not specified, florist who works right across Alcott-Simpson's, a friend of Dion, the first person who tells Dion about problems that happened in the Mall.

Grover's family -- rent the first floor of Dion's father's house, they have three noisy kids, they don't play a significant role in the story just a second plan characters but they influence Dion's mood.

Matt Ralston -- 23 or 24 years old, undergraduate student of sociology, lives in attic of Dion's house for years, according to the main character Matt look just like Abraham Lincoln but he has curly blond beard.

Phil -- 19 years old, is a college student, he also lives in the attic of Dion's house, shares the attic with Matt and Duncan, a second plan character.

Duncan --19 years old, is a college student, studying art at the university, he also lives in the attic of Dion's house, a second plan character.

Critical reception

Reviewing Snyder's book, The New York Times describes the author as "nimble-fingered craftswoman". However, Jane Langton calls Snyder's style of writing "sober" and states that there are many loose ends in the book that a reader could build "a bird's nest out of them."^[1] Alice Fleming editor for the New York Times found Eyes in the Fishbowl interesting but, with limited vocabulary. Fleming said that, "The story is told from Dion's point of view and suffers from the limits of a 14- year-old's vocabulary and descriptive powers."^[2] Moreover, Tom Burns editor for American Library Association, tells that the book has "the puzzling blend of the real and supernatural" which might be confusing to some young readers, and "the first-person narrative is an unusual contemporary story enriched with subtle but discerning commentary on human values."^[3] Ruth Hill Viguers writes in The Horn Book Magazine that Eyes in the Fishbowl is strange and unresolved, some young readers may like it but it also may disappoint others. Viguers also considers characterization of Dion very interesting.^[4] In Official Internet Footprint one of the editor says that "the very realistic story is wrapped up with a supernatural explanation which is the case with most Keatley Snyder books."^[5]

References