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tealightfully 's review for:
A Girl Named Zippy
by Haven Kimmel
I thought this book was so innocent and sweet. It is told through very subtly through eyes of very young, very naive "Zippy".
There was one part of the book (pg 117) that just cracked me up because I've seen a similar situation play out when my baby sister was just a toddler. It starts out, "There were so many things I was good at. [...] I was also very good at Interview. What follows is an actually transcript from a tape I made with my mother." (Which, I'm going to paraphrase because it's quite long when transcribed in full!)
Me: "Mom. Mom. Mom. Hey. Let'd do Interview."
Mom: "Not now, sweetheart. Let me just finish this arm. [Note: she was knitting a sweater.]"
Zippy the snorts unhappily into the microphone and shuts off the recorder. After this scene repeats several times, increasing in her young fury and impatience, she starts to sing Bible songs and finally her mother tells her to shush up or they'll never play.
Mom: "Good evening, and welcome to Interview. Let's just go straight to our guest and have her tell us her name. Can you tell us your name, miss?"
Me: "No"
Mom [surprised]: Okay, then, is there something else you'd like to tell our audience?"
Me: "Not today."
Mom: "Well, then. I guess we'll just sign off. Would like to say good-bye?"
Me: "No"
Tape is shut off.
That just had me giggling because it is such a child thing to do and it was adorable.
What I liked the most about this memoir was that it was simple. Not in a demeaning way but in a whimsical way. This child was accident-prone, sensitive, bullish, awkward, honest and slightly strange which made her very likable. This is not a tragic story riddle with addiction, abuse, death or sudden epiphanies - it's the story of a relatively normal and happy childhood in a small town. It's refreshing.
I also thought it was hilarious that her sister told her she was adopted and her quiet, Quaker mother corroborated the story by telling she was traded by the gypsies in exchange for a bottomless green velvet bag and that she had been born with tail. There are several anecdotes similar and each of them is worth reading about.
What I didn't like: Has nothing to do with the writing, but with the Book Club Questions in the back. The editor missed a pretty glaring error in the question:
15. Where the Jarvises poor?
WHAT! What grammatical abomination is that? (Not to mention that at the very beginning of one of the stories, she makes a statement about how none of her brother's teachers like the poor families and therefore gave him a very hard time growing up). But, seriously, "Where the Jarvises poor?" That makes my brain hurt.
Where they poor what?
Where they pour what?
Were the Jarvis' poor? ding, ding, ding.
For being a #1 NY Times Bestseller and Today's Book Club edition, I'm surprised no one reviewed the book club companion hooked it..
Book is excellent, witty and deliciously plain all at the same time.
There was one part of the book (pg 117) that just cracked me up because I've seen a similar situation play out when my baby sister was just a toddler. It starts out, "There were so many things I was good at. [...] I was also very good at Interview. What follows is an actually transcript from a tape I made with my mother." (Which, I'm going to paraphrase because it's quite long when transcribed in full!)
Me: "Mom. Mom. Mom. Hey. Let'd do Interview."
Mom: "Not now, sweetheart. Let me just finish this arm. [Note: she was knitting a sweater.]"
Zippy the snorts unhappily into the microphone and shuts off the recorder. After this scene repeats several times, increasing in her young fury and impatience, she starts to sing Bible songs and finally her mother tells her to shush up or they'll never play.
Mom: "Good evening, and welcome to Interview. Let's just go straight to our guest and have her tell us her name. Can you tell us your name, miss?"
Me: "No"
Mom [surprised]: Okay, then, is there something else you'd like to tell our audience?"
Me: "Not today."
Mom: "Well, then. I guess we'll just sign off. Would like to say good-bye?"
Me: "No"
Tape is shut off.
That just had me giggling because it is such a child thing to do and it was adorable.
What I liked the most about this memoir was that it was simple. Not in a demeaning way but in a whimsical way. This child was accident-prone, sensitive, bullish, awkward, honest and slightly strange which made her very likable. This is not a tragic story riddle with addiction, abuse, death or sudden epiphanies - it's the story of a relatively normal and happy childhood in a small town. It's refreshing.
I also thought it was hilarious that her sister told her she was adopted and her quiet, Quaker mother corroborated the story by telling she was traded by the gypsies in exchange for a bottomless green velvet bag and that she had been born with tail. There are several anecdotes similar and each of them is worth reading about.
What I didn't like: Has nothing to do with the writing, but with the Book Club Questions in the back. The editor missed a pretty glaring error in the question:
15. Where the Jarvises poor?
WHAT! What grammatical abomination is that? (Not to mention that at the very beginning of one of the stories, she makes a statement about how none of her brother's teachers like the poor families and therefore gave him a very hard time growing up). But, seriously, "Where the Jarvises poor?" That makes my brain hurt.
Where they poor what?
Where they pour what?
Were the Jarvis' poor? ding, ding, ding.
For being a #1 NY Times Bestseller and Today's Book Club edition, I'm surprised no one reviewed the book club companion hooked it..
Book is excellent, witty and deliciously plain all at the same time.