Tag: coming of age

Girl in Landscape

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Lethem, Jonathan. Girl in Landscape. New York: Double Day, 1998

Girl in Landscape has been compared to Nabokov’s Lolita which I have never read. As a result of my ignorance I was able to read Girl in Landscape without preconceived notions of what it was about. I’m glad I did. This was great in an extremely strange way. When you first meet old-for-her-age thirteen year old Pella Marsh and her family they are getting ready to go to the beach in what you or I would consider ordinary Brooklyn Heights, New York. Only planet Earth has become a post-apoplectic wasteland where exposure to the sun has become too dangerous without complicated protective gear. It has been decided the Marsh family will leave Earth for the Planet of the Arch-builders. Before they can leave Pella’s mother is stricken with a brain tumor and quickly dies. Pella, her father and two brothers must travel to the Planet of the Arch-builders without her. This is where things go from odd to downright bizarre. The Planet of the Arch-builders is sparsely populated with a few earthlings, a smattering of Arch-builder aliens and an overabundance of a creature called household deer. Pella’s father, a failed politician, has hopes of creating a lawful society on the Planet of the Arch-builders but soon discovers there is an ominous rift between the humans and the aliens. The plot gets darker and darker the deeper into the story you go.

The very first line to strike a nerve with me was in the first few pages, “Pella decided not to laugh today” (p 3). Another fatalistic thought, “She imagined slashing the tires” (p 87).

Postscript~ This is one of those books that annoyed me and it wasn’t the author’s fault. I have a real pet peeve when it comes to glowing reviews on the back of a different book. It’s obnoxious. It’s as if to say, “fukc the book you are reading now. This one is much better.” Yes, I will be reading As She Crawled Across the Table. Glowing review or not it is on my list. I’ll get to it just not right now. I’m reading Girl in Landscape now. I’m holding it in my hands. What do you have to say about it?

Reason read: Lethem was born in February.

Author fact: Jonathan Lethem has a website here.

Book trivia: Many people have said Girl in Landscape is dark and dreary but more people have said “go read it.” I agree with the latter.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Jonathan Lethem: Too Good To Miss” (p 145).

Little Town on the Prairie

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Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little Town on the Prairie. New York: Harper Trophy, 1971.

At this point in the “Little House” series Ma, Pa and the four daughters, Mary, Laura, Carrie and Grace, have moved to town so that Pa can finish the homestead. This is their second year in De Smet and the little homestead is growing. Pa’s farming abilities are increasing with the addition of chickens, corn, and a bigger garden. The town is growing as well. A church has been built and the community is getting together for Friday Literary nights at the school where games like spelling bees, charades and debates are held. At this time Mary is sent away to a college for the blind and Laura is nearly sixteen years old. She is on her way to becoming a school teacher. Her focus is on studying hard so that she will be ready for the career when she turns sixteen. Another step towards adulthood is the growing, albeit confused, attraction to Almanzo Wilder. His courtship is odd to her because she thinks of him as “old” and more of a friend of her father’s than hers.

Interesting quote: “A grown-up person must never let feelings be shown by voice or manner” (p 228).

When I was little I thought it would be amazing to live like Laura Ingalls. There was something so simple and so pure about her era. Although life during that time was harder, less convenient, there was more emphasis placed on doing the right thing, using resources to their fullest, not wasting a single thing. Another aspect of the time was the fashion. Everything was so structured around age! Carrie had to wear her hair in braids down her back (which caught on the buttons running down the back of her dress) while Laura, approaching adulthood could wear her braids on top of her head. She was proud of the weight on her head.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Great Plains (the Dakotas)” (p 107).

Miss Timmins’ School for Girls

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Currimbhoy, Nayana. Miss Timmins’ School for Girls: a Novel. New York: Harper, 2011.

Disclaimer: When I first saw this was a Harper publication I balked. Not because I personally have a problem with the “26 e-book renewal” drama, but rather because, as a librarian, I should be standing with my fellow librarians and sharing in their boycott efforts. I’m not because this isn’t an e-book, I didn’t borrow it, and as far as I know, it won’t self destruct after 26 reads. But, I digress. Onto the review:

Miss Timmins’ School for Girls is intense! It’s a complicated romance ensnared with a murder (suicide?) scandal. Churu a new teacher at Miss Timmins’ School. Outwardly, she tries to fit in with the other missionaries. She wears her clothes properly and has civilized tea. After dark Charu finds drugs and friendship with a troubled, misfit teacher named Moira Prince. When Moira is murdered the school community is a whirlwind of chaos. After some time witnesses put Charu with Moira right before her death. Did she do it? When a shocking love affair is revealed the story becomes more complicated. When a birth mother is revealed the story takes another twist. It keeps twisting until the very end.

In all honesty, every time I put Miss Timmins’ School for Girls down I found it difficult to pick it back up. The story dragged on and on. In places I felt certain scenes weren’t necessary and I questioned why they were included. None of the scenes were overkill, they just added more to the story that really wasn’t necessary. Charu’s own personal conflict with her mother could have been a book in and of itself. Her relationships with Merch and Prince could have been another book. Combining this with the murder at Miss Timmins’ School for Girls made the book tedious.

Goodbye, Columbus

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Roth, Philip. “Goodbye, Columbus.” Novels and Stories. 1959 – 1962. Ed. Ross Miller. New York: The Library of America, 2005. 7 – 108.

Neil Klugman is a 23 year old man living with his self martyred aunt and uncle in Newark, New Jersey while his asthmatic parents convalesce in Arizona. “Goodbye, Columbus” is told from his point of view and could be seen as a Jewish American coming-of-age story about Neil’s summer romance with wealthy, snobbish Brenda Patimkins. It is closer to the truth to say “Goodbye, Columbus” is a commentary on class. Neil and Brenda’s socioeconomic differences create subtle tensions between the couple until they discover their relationship is built on lust rather than love. This is most apparent when Neil says, “Actually we did not have the feelings we said we had until we spoke them – at least I didn’t, to phrase them was to invent them and own them” (p 19). I have to admit it took me a while to figure out where the title of the story came from. Turns out, Brenda’s brother would listen to what Neil referred to as the “Columbus record” before bed – a recording of his Ohio State sports career. Neil could hear a moaning of the words, “Goodbye, Columbus” over and over again.

Favorite lines: “…it was disturbing to Aunt Gladys to think that anything she served might pass through a gullet, stomach, and bowel just for the pleasure of the trip” (p 9)., and “Ther proposed toasts…Brenda smiled at them with her eyeteeth and I brought up a cheery look from some fraudulent auricle of my heart” (p 88).

Author fact: Philip Roth is so popular that in Texas there is an organization called the Philip Roth Society and it for the scholarly study and general appreciation of Roth’s work.

Book Trivia: Goodbye Columbus was made into a movie starring Richard Benjamin and Ali MacGraw. I was stunned by how many different actresses turned down the role of Brenda before Ali came along. Yet again, another movie I haven’t seen.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in two different chapters. First, in the chapter called “Jersey Guys and Dolls” (p 130), then in the chapter called “You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover” (p 238). This last admission cracks me up because MY cover of “Goodbye, Columbus” is a photograph of Philip Roth’s face!

Crazy in Alabama

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Childress, Mark. Crazy in Alabama. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1993.

Talk about crazy! This book drove me there! I called Made in America a book of multiple personalities. If that’s the case, Crazy in Alabama is a book of split personalities. Set in the 1960s, one half of the narration is dedicated to Lucille’s escapades in California. She’s seeking fame and fortune as a wannabe actress while on the run from the law with her husband’s decapitated head in a Tupperware container. The other half of the narration is from the perspective of Lucille’s nephew Peter Joseph (Peejoe). He’s in racially torn Alabama witnessing violence and civil unrest at its worst. While Lucille’s side of the story is insanely surreal, Peejoe’s is intensely serious. The disconnect between the two voices created a divide almost too big to ignore. Luckily, Childress pulls them together and makes the entire plot work…somehow.

Favorite lines: “She would miss her children but she had Chester’s head to keep her company” (p 37). Of course! Another favorite line, “My eye was the price I’d had to pay for seeing too much” (p 229). See the difference between Lucille and Peejoe’s worlds?

Author Fact: Mark Childress is also the author of three picture books for children.

Book Trivia: Crazy in Alabama was made into a movie starring Melanie Griffith in 1999. Haven’t seen it.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called Southern-Fried Fiction: Alabama (p 207).

Perma Red

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Earling, Debra Magpie. Perma Red. New York: BlueHen Books, 2002.

Perma Red takes place in the 1940s on a Wyoming Indian Reservation where ancient customs prevail and old secrets hang heavy. Louise White Elk is a contradictory girl. Independent yet needy. Brave yet frightened. An orphan with family. Louise is also has attention of many men. The list of attendees is long: trouble maker Baptiste Yellow Knife; cousin Charlie Kicking Woman (Perma’s Tribal police officer); rich man Harvey Stoner; and mystery man Jules Bart. They all want something from her whether it be under the guise to own her or protect her. They all end up using her or abusing her. At one time or another they all get their way. It is a ruthless existence. Yet, Louise welcomes it in her own strange way. She perpetuates the vicious cycle of running away at the same time as being drawn to violent and needy men. What keeps Perma Red magical is its descriptive language. The landscape is as wild and as beautiful as untamed Louise White Elk.
Ages are vague. Charlie is at least seven or eight years older than Louise and Bapstiste is older by three years or so. The reader never gets a sense of how old Louise is supposed to be when her experiences are described as coming of age and womanly all at once.

Favorite sentences, “Louise sat down at the bar long enough so no one would recognize her broken heart” (p 43), “together their thinness made them appear stingy and dangerous” (p 64), and “I felt heavy with marriage” (p 114).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “American Indian Literature” (p 23).

Strange observation – the author’s name is a footnote on every even page. I’ve never seen that before so it seems a little hubris to me.

A Separate Peace

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Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1959.

I freaking love this book! I have always compared Gene’s preparatory boarding school to the one I attended when I was of the same age. It wasn’t just that both schools are New England based and have similar landscapes. Knowles describes the culture of a private school set in the middle of a northeastern community really, really well.  The imposing brick and ivy buildings. The sprawling athletic fields. The massive trees that line the campus, the air of academia…I could go on.

I first read this book when I was 14. Fresh meat in a Freshman English class. We read A Separate Peace as an introduction to literature. Funny how it’s the only book I remember in detail from the course. It’s the only book I don’t mind rereading on a regular basis. Mr. Hill guided us through what we were supposed to get out of it. I know because all the important parts are underlined. Four years later and Mr. Hill was still having his students read the same book. I know because my sister used my copy (why buy a new one?) and had highlighted the all same sections. I’ve never forgotten those sections, especially the words, “I jounced the limb.” I. Jounced. The. Limb. To this day it is the most profound confession of wrongdoing I have ever read. Nothing else compares.

Okay. So. To review the book- A Separate Peace is about a friendship between two opposites. Gene is smart, Phineas is athletic. Gene is sensitive, Phineas is carefree. Gene is reserved and cautious, Phineas is bold and daring. The one thing they have in common is being roommates at Devon, a prep school for boys. Throughout the entire story Gene is constantly in a mental tug-of-war with his feelings towards Finny. He is resentful of the way everything comes so easily to his athletic roommate (like when Phineas broke a long standing swimming record without even trying). It’s as if Gene has to forcefully remind himself everyday they are best of friends. He tags along, a willing participant in Finny’s daily adventures but he has to convince himself he is having fun. When Finny starts a secret society where members must jump from a tree into a river on school property Gene goes along with that as well, hating each and every jump. But, when Phineas falls out of the tree, missing the river completely things get complicated. Did Gene make his best friend and roommate fall? The psychological struggle of doubt that ensues is the central theme of the entire story.

Favorite lines (bear with me for there are a few), “Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even death by violence” (p 6), “Everyone has a moment in history which belongs to him” (p 32) and ” ‘the only real swimming is in the ocean’ ” (p 37).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Boys Coming of Age” (p 45).

All-Girl Football Team

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Nordan, Lewis. The All-Girl Football Team. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1989.

At first I didn’t know what to make of the collection of short stories within The All-Girl Football Team. Most of the stories take place in Arrow Catcher, Mississippi and Sugar Mecklin is almost always the central character. Sugar is a typical young boy looking for ways to grow up fast in a stranger than strange household. Mama is obsessed with drama and tinged with mental illness and Daddy is an alcoholic with a thing for rock ‘n roll. All of the stories are laced with an off-kilter humor that alternately made me want to laugh and cry. The very first short story called, “Sugar Among the Chickens” tells the tale of eleven year old Sugar literally fishing (with a pole, hook and all) for the chickens in the front yard. Since his parents won’t let him go to the local watering hole chickens are his substitute for fish and fresh kernels of corn serve as bait…However, the third story, “Sugar, the Eunuchs and Big G.B” wasn’t nearly as funny as it was dark. In it Sugar tries to shoot his father. You’ll begin to notice Nordan has a things for guns, especially loaded ones. Probably the hardest story to read was “Wild Dog.” If you have a thing for animals read it with one eye shut tight.

Favorite section, “I threw a cat into the chicken yard…The rooster killed the cat, but it didn’t take a hook. Too bad about the cat. You’re not going to catch a rooster without making a sacrifice or two” (p 9).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, ” Lewis Nordan: Too Good To Miss” (p 173). Here is what I find interesting. “Off-kilter humor that alternately made me want to laugh and cry” was how I described Nordan’s autobiography, Boy With a Loaded Gun. Truth is stranger than fiction.

July ’10 was…

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July was the great escape. I was able to go home twice. Each trip was for a very different purpose and as a result each was a very different experience, but I was homehome just the same. Got the tan I didn’t need. July was also a double shot of Natalie music. Again, two very different experience, but amazing nonetheless. Blogs about both shows coming soon. An absolutely fantastic Rebecca Correia show rounded out the month, musically. She performed with Jypsi at the Bennett Farm. A really great night.
All in all, July was so many different things and unfortunately, reading wasn’t a big part of it. I stole time where I could (often in cars driven by other people):

  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ~ something small and short to read on the cliffs of Monhegan
  • Firewall by Henning Mankell ~ a murder/police procedural mystery set in Sweden; something to read in the tent!
  • The Eyes of the Amaryllis by Natalie Babbitt ~ a great book for kids about living by the ocean. Another great book to read on the cliffs of Monhegan.
  • Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume ~ a blast from the past! Read this on the couch…
  • The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference ~ read in honor of job fair month & added because I gave up on the Richard Rhodes book (see below)
  • Love of a Good Woman: Stories by Alice Munro ~ read in honor of Munro’s birth month
  • In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country by Kim Barnes ~ in honor of July being the month Idaho became a state

If you notice I focused on stuff for young adults – kind of like easy listening for the brain.

Attempted, but did not finish:

  • The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes ~ see, I told you so! I added it back on the list for another time…

For LibraryThing and the Early Review Program:

  • My Formerly Hot Life by Stephanie Dolgoff ~ a really fun book.
  • What is a Mother (in-law) To Do by Jane Angelich ~ unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this very much.

I guess nine books is a decent “read quota” for the month. At least five of them were extremely easy to read, though…

Are You There God?

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Blume, Judy. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. New York: Dell, 1970.

What woman in her 40s or even 50s doesn’t remember reading Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret? Seriously. If you were anything like me, all you could focus on were the parts of the story related to sex and the human body. I remember being insanely embarrassed by “the cotton ball” incident. So much so that I didn’t even attempt it myself (although I was tempted, being so flat-chested and all). What I don’t remember is being that anxious to grow up. Maybe because in some ways when I was Margaret’s age I was already way ahead of her when it came to certain life experiences.

Margaret Simon is a well-rounded eleven year old who has just moved from Manhattan to suburbia New Jersey. She quickly makes friends with three other girls her age. All four of them are in a hurry to have breasts, get their periods, and kiss boys. Margaret learns about all these things by keen observation, but what she really wants to know in detail is religion. With her mother’s side of the family being Christian and her father’s side Jewish, Margaret doesn’t know what to be. She has been raised without a religion which her friends think is cool but Margaret disagrees. She is so desperate to fit in she feels she needs to decide on religion to be like everyone else. The irony is every night Margaret talks to “God” about her hopes and fears without really knowing who she’s talking to.

BookLust Twist: From  More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Best For Boys and Girls” (p 21). Yes, I double-dipped from the same chapter in one month.

Okay – since this book was (and still is) so freaking popular I am very surprised it hasn’t been made into a movie…something for the Oxygen or Lifetime channel. An after school special? Think about it – it covers sex, puberty, religion, interfaith marriages, morals, social class distinction…

Truth & Bright Water

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King, Thomas. Truth & Bright Water. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999.

The title of this book fascinates me. Here’s why: I’m reading the book in honor of April being National Dog Month (indeed there is a dog named Soldier in the book), yet the story is about two coming-of-age Native boys. The title comes from the geography. Truth is an American town on one side of a river and Bright Water is a reserve on the Canadian side of the same river. Truth and Bright Water are sister cities, or tiny towns to be exact.

Truth & Bright Water is more about a Native teenage boy named Tecumseh than it is about the small towns of Truth and Bright Water which he calls home. Tecumseh is fifteen and life for him consists of keeping peace with his separated parents, keeping his abused cousin company, learning how to drive, trying to find a job, understanding what it means to be Indian during tourist season, unraveling the mysteries surrounding his aunt, and finding things like a baby’s skull with his dog, Soldier. While Tecumseh is an average kid his community is anything but. Truth & Bright Water opens with Tecumseh and his cousin, Lum, spying on a woman who not only empties a suitcase over a cliff, but appears to have jumped off after it. Was it suicide? Then there is Monroe Swimmer, a famous artist returned home, who lives in a church and has big plans to make said church disappear. And what of the baby’s skull found with a ribbon threaded through its eye holes?

There are several quotes that I liked. Here’s one, “…maybe ground squirrels… are just like people. some are lucky, and some aren’t. Some get to drive nice cars, and some end up by the side of the road” (p 91).

There are several scenes that I also liked. I thought the dialogue between Tecumseh and any adult was amusingly accurate. Tecumseh would ask a question and to avoid answering it the adult would ask a different question over it or simply ignore his question completely. In several instances Tecumseh and the adult are having two different conversations that only converge if the subject isn’t sensitive. Here’s an example of a conversation between Tecumseh and his mother who has been gone on vacation:
“So, how was Waterton?”
“”You need to put your sleeping bag away,” says my mother.
“Did you stay at that fancy hotel?”
“And you forgot to knock all the mud off your shoes.”
“I suppose you took the bus out to the lake” (p 203).

Tecumseh wants information about where his mother went and she is clearly ignoring the questions. Tecumseh sums it up later by saying, “Sometimes the best way to get my mother talking about a particular topic is to change the subject and then work your way back to where you wanted to be” (p 204). Classic. The whole book is full of scenes like this. I liked King’s writing so much that I’m definitely adding him as a favorite author on LibraryThing.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in two different chapters. First, in “American Indian Literature” (p 23) and again in “Great Dogs of Fiction” (p 104).

Queen’s Gambit

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Tevis, Walter. The Queen’s Gambit. New York: Random House, 1983.

This was speed reading at its best. I read this in one day. Elizabeth “Beth” Harmon started as an orphan after her mother is killed in a car accident. Having lived a sheltered life she is scared of everything. Having no friends and no security she finds comfort in institution-issued tranquilizers and learning to play chess with the janitor in the basement. As a 12-year-old she is adopted by a strangely distant couple, Mr. & Mrs. Wheatley. I was disappointed by the lack of character development for Beth’s adoptive parents. Their actions throughout the story are confusing and I found myself second-guessing their intentions, especially Mr. Wheatley. But, The Queen’s Gambit is not about Mr. or Mrs. Wheatley. It’s about Beth’s rise to fame as a top notch chess player in a male dominated world. With Mrs. Wheatley’s support Beth gets involved in the tournament scene and starts her catapult to the top, beating out the best of them. Only the Russians stand in her way of claiming world champion and the only thing holding her back is her troubled past. She never loses the addictions she found at the orphanage. As she struggles to keep sober she learns valuable lessons about what it means to need people.

The lines that sums up Beth the best: “She was alone, and she liked it. It was the way she had learned everything important in her life” (p 113).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Child Prodigies” (p 43). contrary to what I said before, I read this in honor of October being “Special Child Month.”

As an aside ~ this weekend I went home for a family reunion. We all stayed at this gorgeous, huge house right on the bay. In one corner of the living room there was a chess board set up, ready for a game. After reading The Queen’s Gambit I was curious about the pieces; because there is a scene where Beth is describing the “cheapness” of someone’s set – plastic pieces on a warped board.

Speak

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Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Scholastic, 2003.

You have to admire Melinda. From day one of school she is harrassed and hated. She storms through the first marking period of high school, gnashing her teeth and muttering to herself. She has no friends and is openly tormented by everyone from peers to parents. Melinda has a secret that not only eats away at her little at a time, but by the end of the third marking period, steals away her voice until she is practically mute. While she puts on a good act of wit and sarcastic humor on the outside, inside she is a girl trapped by confusion and fear. As her grades plummet and her family life slowly falls apart, Melinda struggles to keep her sanity. Speak took me only a few hours to read. Anderson does an amazing job capturing the voice of a tormented teen. She portrays the relationships every young adult has to endure: teachers, principals, parents, ex-best friends…with such honesty I found myself cringing…

Favorite funny parts: “Our boys are unbeatable as long as they are the only team on the floor” (p 76). “We are reading The Scarlet Letter one sentence at a time, tearing it up and chewing on its bones” (p 100). And one sad line: “I stuff my mouth with old fabric and scream until there are no soulds left under my skin” (p 162).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter “Best for Teens” (p 23).

Great Expectations

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Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Believe it or not, I had never read this before. Not in high school, not in college, not in fun. Go figure. It’s a classic which translated (back in the day) into the assumption of being boring. It was written in 1861 which translated into practically a foreign language (ekerval?). All that translated into me being narrow minded. Great Expectations is wonderful. It opens with Pip (our young main character) encountering an escaped convict in a field. The convict threatens bodily harm if Pip can’t produce some food and, of course, a file. Why was Pip targeted? His brother-in-law is a blacksmith. Of course he is going to have instruments strong enough to tackle something like…leg irons. So, it starts out pretty exciting and not at all unrealizable.

Here are some of my (early) favorite quotes from Pip’s life with his sister and her husband, Joe:
“She concluded by throwing me – I often served as a connubial missle- at Joe, who, glad to get hold of me on any terms, passed me onto the chimney and quietly fenced me up there with his great leg” (p 7).
“My sister having much to do, was going to church vicariously; that is to say, Joe and I were going” (p 20). While Pip’s sister is seen as cruel I cannot help but find humor in both these passages.
After Pip decides to become a gentleman he makes an observation that struck me: “So, throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people whom we most despise” (p 206). Estrella, his love interest, has another observation akin to Pip’s: “I’ll tell you what real love is…It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter…! (p 227).

The LibraryThing review:
“A classic from Charles Dickens. All of the characters are so well developed that the reader cannot help but drawn into their individual plots. From Pip, the blacksmith apprentice turned gentleman in the making (and the hero of our story) to Miss Havisham, a wealthy woman locked away in self-induced seclusion. “

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust and the chapter “A Dickens of a Tale” (p 72). It’s funny that Pearl laments about Dickens having to be a high school mandatory read that students had to “choke down” because many of the reviews I have read recently about Great Expectations mention having to read it in this manner.

Allegra Maud Goldman

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AllegraKonecky, Edith. Allegra Maud Goldman. New York: The Feminist Press, 1990.

This was another one of those “kid books” – about a kid coming of age, I should say. I enjoyed this much better than the Angus book. Both have witty, sarcastic, growing up girl narratives only Allegra is Jewish instead of Catholic and lives in Brooklyn, New York instead of England. She isn’t afraid to use her mind, or speak it. A few of my favorite quotes:

“Just thinking about that whole library filled with ideas, things to mull over , all sorts of new people to get to know, boggled my mind.” (p88)

“”You’ll never be really happy as a woman,” Sonia said “until you have your own sweet baby at your breast.” I recognized this as something her mother was always saying to her, but I refrained from throwing up.” (p145)

I enjoyed this book a great deal. Allegra Maud Goldman is my kind of kid. Her sense of humor stands up and takes a bow in the face if that audience called insecurity that only growing up can produce.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter appropriately called, “Girls Growing up” (p 101). Pearl liked Allegra as much as I did saying, “…Konecky manages to write from a child’s point of view  without ending up sounding silly, condescending or false.” (p 102)