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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Stories of precocious, neglected, abused children are only slightly less abundant than actual children who fall into that category. The perverse challenge, then, is to make the terror fresh (and/or sad, redemptive, sparkling, etc.). Tupelo Hassman's novel-in-vignettes hasn't succeeded to the extent that the blurbs on the back and the review I heard on NPR would have you believe. The voice of Rory Dawn Hendrix--the daughter and granddaughter of "feebleminded" women who got pregnant young and stayed poor and addicted--is overly precious (not to mention punny and tangled) at times, and doesn't seem to grow as the character does. The apparent inspirations that distinguish the novel--the Girl Scout Handbook and Buck v. Bell, a Supreme Court case granting institutions the right to sterilize mentally disabled women--get a little bit lost, surfacing without a lot of purpose.
But it's also that lost-ness that makes the story feel true. The telling does sparkle, riffing on everything from the Girl Scout Handbook to standardized tests to the prayer on the back of St. Jude candle, as if it say "This is what the world has handed us. This is what we must work with, even though it's never enough." Also, god bless any novel that believes neglectful, addicted mothers might still love their children, and that their children might not be so crazy to love them back. I'm really responsive to any story that unwraps that mother-child ache, and suggests that motherhood shouldn't be off limits to even the most feebleminded among us.
But it's also that lost-ness that makes the story feel true. The telling does sparkle, riffing on everything from the Girl Scout Handbook to standardized tests to the prayer on the back of St. Jude candle, as if it say "This is what the world has handed us. This is what we must work with, even though it's never enough." Also, god bless any novel that believes neglectful, addicted mothers might still love their children, and that their children might not be so crazy to love them back. I'm really responsive to any story that unwraps that mother-child ache, and suggests that motherhood shouldn't be off limits to even the most feebleminded among us.
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol
I had checked this book as "want to read" some time ago and promptly forgot about it. I am sorry that I forgot about this book as this is truly a treasure. It is the story of Rory Dawn, a girl living in a trailer park in Reno, Nevada with her mother and grandmother. Even though the book is set entirely in Nevada, I would still classify it as southern fiction for its distinctive voice. The story is told from Rory's point of view, as she grows from a first grader to a teenager, via diary entries, encyclopedia entries, social welfare reports, and entries from the Girl Scouts Manual which becomes the most important book in Rory's young life. The chapters are very short; some of them are less than a page, and the longest is I think five pages, making this a quick book to read. Even though this book is relatively short, I found myself lingering over the chapters and re-reading them just for the pleasure of it as this is a very well-written book that I found myself closely identifying with. Read this book, and share it with others. This is a real literary treat.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
wine relaxation and my kindle book review
http://drwrnmk.blogspot.com/2013/01/girlchild-by-tupelo-hassman-book-review.html
https://www.facebook.com/WineRelaxationAndMyKindle?filter=3
http://drwrnmk.blogspot.com/2013/01/girlchild-by-tupelo-hassman-book-review.html
https://www.facebook.com/WineRelaxationAndMyKindle?filter=3
Outstanding. A beautifully written look at the pain, beauty, and disaster of American poverty. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for a trailer park age.
I did not like this book at all. It was difficult to follow and seemed to have no point other than the misery of the main character and her family. The best thing I can say about this book is that the chapters are short and it is a quick and "easy" read. All of the characters and the book itself seem to be totally without hope. The theme is best summed up with "life sucks, then you die."