christinehiller 's review for:

Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman

3.0

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I know that people lead very sad and difficult lives, and that many children suffer horrible abuse, but I guess I don't enjoy reading about it discussed oh so casually. I tried to see the hope in Hassman's story, and I know that there was a measure of it running throughout Rory's life(and I loved that the relationships between the three generations of Hendrix women were ultimately celebrated despite all their flawed ways of loving and trying to protect one another), but ultimately I found that this story was just too heartbreaking for me to say I truly enjoyed. I also struggled with some of the choices the author made in telling the story. While I generally enjoy stories told in alternative or unique narrative styles, I found some of the chapters in this story clunky and felt they gummed up the story a bit instead of helping it flow forward. In the end, something about this story kept me at an arms length emotionally, which is saying something if I don't cry over a life as tragic as Rory's!