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A review by k8s
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
4.0
What I really like: Paterson never takes the easy way out and it doesn't have a traditional 'happy ending.' There are things to be happy about in the end - Gilly has grown up and she learns to accept some emotional attachments. And she is smart.
I can see where some stuffy readers wouldn't like Gilly's behavior. She's a foul-mouthed brat at the beginning of the book. She's damaged; she's been passed around several foster homes and, after an early disappointment, tries to sabotage each placement that follows. She's a racist. Well, she definitely is at the beginning of the book. She learns to accept Mr. Randolph, but we never learn if she has had some sort of "conversion." Which is probably a good thing - life's a whole lot more complicated than a now-I-see-the-light story.
As I said, there isn't a traditional happy ending, but readers get the feeling that Gilly will be ok. And she seems to have learned a sense of grace - at least, in public. Her inner thoughts still mirror the girl we meet at the start of the story. But, she seems to learn how to control the impulse to act, having learned that acting in these ways doesn't always bring the desired consequences.
I'm not sure how I would have read this as a kid, but I'm happy I've read such a wonderfully complicated story. (Full Disclosure: Paterson's Bridge to Terebithia was the first book to ever leave me in tears.)
I can see where some stuffy readers wouldn't like Gilly's behavior. She's a foul-mouthed brat at the beginning of the book. She's damaged; she's been passed around several foster homes and, after an early disappointment, tries to sabotage each placement that follows. She's a racist. Well, she definitely is at the beginning of the book. She learns to accept Mr. Randolph, but we never learn if she has had some sort of "conversion." Which is probably a good thing - life's a whole lot more complicated than a now-I-see-the-light story.
As I said, there isn't a traditional happy ending, but readers get the feeling that Gilly will be ok. And she seems to have learned a sense of grace - at least, in public. Her inner thoughts still mirror the girl we meet at the start of the story. But, she seems to learn how to control the impulse to act, having learned that acting in these ways doesn't always bring the desired consequences.
I'm not sure how I would have read this as a kid, but I'm happy I've read such a wonderfully complicated story. (Full Disclosure: Paterson's Bridge to Terebithia was the first book to ever leave me in tears.)