Title: Girl: a Novel
Author: Bart Bare
Publisher: Canterbury House
Year: 2010
# Pages: 180
Category: Required
Genre: Contemporary "realistic"
My Summary & Critique:
At the outset of this novel, Loren Creek is a fourteen-year-old girl facing a judge who will decide her fate as her mother’s sickness threatens to leave Loren without a parent. With two failed foster home placements in her past and a history of taking care of herself, Loren isn’t anxious to fall into foster care again. After exhausting her efforts to take care of herself and remain in the home she loved, she escapes the foster care system of Tennessee and moves to the mountains of North Carolina. There, she evades detection by the authorities by altering her appearance and identity, posing as a boy, known as Lorne Land. With help from a few friends, including a new-found grandfather figure, Loren finds a home, enrolls in school, and lives her life with a new identity, on her own terms. Although she is able to blend in well and make friends, she finds that living as a boy is not as easy as she had hoped.
I have learned a lot about myself by reading this book. Namely, I have realized how important it is for me as a reader to connect with the characters and believe in them. I struggled to read this book because time after time, I found myself in utter disbelief. I wanted to like this book because it takes place in the mountains of North Carolina, my neck of the woods. I wanted to like it because its author, Bart Bare seems like such a nice, grandfatherly man, from his bio. I wanted to like it, but the truth is that I just couldn’t bring myself to BELIEVE in the story or the characters. There were too many clichés, too many virtues and skills of the main character, Loren. She was only fourteen, yet she could take care of herself, her farm, her animals, she could stand up to authority figures, fix a car, dance like a gymnast, excel at athletics and academics, be the role model of the century. . . She was just too good to be true; she needed more flaws. Her one flaw, according to the author, was her stubborn will to be independent. It was not only Loren’s character that was unbelievable, the events of the story were also completely unrealistic. Many elements of the plot were just not true to life. My first clue to this was the professional dance studio in the barn, which might have been excused if there weren’t so many other unbelievable aspects of the story:
- The judge discussing the specifics of Loren’s case with her daughters (illegal!!!)
- the judge’s offer for Loren to stay with her family
- the judge’s overly enthusiastic daughters becoming the ringleaders in Loren’s escape and her BFF’s
- Loren’s magical ability to make everyone love her and pledge their devotion—boys, girls, old, young, dogs
- The old man who knows her secrets and has a stash of quality, antique furniture in his attic
- her immediate rise to football hero
- names like Field, Council, Lorne Land, Gent
- survivor of rape attempt that pities and helps to save her attacker, turning his life around
- the dog that survives a knife attack
- the grandpa figure who reunites with and marries his lost love
- Mr. Herms startling turnaround, going from stalker to savior
- The enigmatic father showing up at the end and marrying the judge
There are good bones to this story; the premise is good and I believe that many teen readers could relate to Loren’s situation. However, there are just too many factors that undermine this story’s credibility for me to give this book a good review. I believe young readers in North Carolina will appreciate the local references and teens who have been through the foster care system could enjoy reading about a character who rises above the system and survives successfully on her own terms. Unfortunately, I don’t believe I would recommend this book to anyone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment