[NQ5]∎ Download Girlchild A Novel Tupelo Hassman 9780374162573 Books

Girlchild A Novel Tupelo Hassman 9780374162573 Books

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Girlchild A Novel Tupelo Hassman 9780374162573 Books

Not every book is worth reading closely. This book is. Girlchild chronicles a side of life that most of us will thankfully never experience. The fact that many children do experience this life, daily, is the only reason necessary for me to recommend this novel to you. If you have ever wanted to help a child less fortunate, if you've ever wondered where they come from, who their parents are, what factors shape their daily decisions, you'll never find a better beginning. This is one of the best novels I have ever read. I have recommended it to friends, coworkers, even casual acquaintances. This is a novel with far more to say than can fit on any page. The wonder of this book, and the genius of the author, is that it succeeds.

As a teacher, I have taught children coming from these social situation, homeless or living in trailer parks, never a chance to be a child. This book opens this subculture to us entirely. Told as a series of sketches, journal entries, poems and reflections, this book puts us squarely in the life of Rory Dawn Hendrix. And it is a life full of all the wonderfulness and awfulness and bizarre or cruel twists of fate anyone could imagine. It is a real life, writ large on every page. It will make you cringe, as well it should.

And a final note about the other reviews... sometimes a book can hit a little too close to home. If you find yourself wondering about the reviews about "Structure" or "Style" or "Devices..." Stick with it. This is a book with a huge heart, there on every page, well written and wonderfully told. If you trust this author, she will bring you along to a place you never expected to be, and would never consider leaving.


Tags : Girlchild: A Novel [Tupelo Hassman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Rory Hendrix is the least likely of Girl Scouts. She hasn't got a troop or even a badge to call her own. But she's checked the Handbook </i>out from the elementary school library so many times that her name fills all the lines on the card,Tupelo Hassman,Girlchild: A Novel,Farrar, Straus and Giroux,0374162573,Humorous,Girls;Fiction.,Mothers and daughters;Fiction.,Trailer camps;Fiction.,AMERICAN FIRST NOVELISTS,Coming of Age,FICTION Coming of Age,FICTION Humorous General,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction Literary,Fiction-Coming of Age,GENERAL,General Adult,Girls,Literary,Mothers and daughters,Reno, Nevada,Trailer camps,United States

Girlchild A Novel Tupelo Hassman 9780374162573 Books Reviews

Well done, Tupelo, very well done.
While hard to read at times due to the painstakingly brutal, yet sadly feasible, moments of depravity; without those moments, the storyline would've lost its message of survival.
The way Girlchild took the lessons found in the discount-bin Girl Scout Handbook to heart was so endearing. Anyone who ever spent a lot of their childhood lost in books could relate 100%.
Whether it be an electric fence, a tattered lace collar or a lightbulb chain too high to reach, you drew me right there into the moment. Granted I wanted to cover my eyes at times but, thankfully, you wouldn't let that fly.
Rory Dawn is a character that I won't ever forget. She's smart, strong, and she doesn't ever give up. Tupelo Hassman's style of writing is like nothing I've ever read before, but that doesn't mean it's bad. It's brilliantly unconventional. If you like light, cheerful, easy reads this is not the book for you. It deals with child abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and the complete failure of America's social service system. It takes a hard, realistic look at things too many people just want to turn away from, not willing to admit that these could exist in the same country they live in. For that very reason, I think this should be required reading in every high school. I really liked Rory Dawn (you'd have to have a stone instead of a heart not to like her) and I look forward to more books from Tupelo Hassman.
I will admit that this was a very difficult book to wade through; Rory Hendrix’s life in a Reno trailer park with a mother who tries to do her best is disturbing. As we see this awful history through Rory’s eyes, through letters from her grandmother, files from the county social worker, her mother’s arrest records, and memories and lies she learns as she grows up; there definitely will be many troubles and hurt for Rory because we find out early on that comes from a family with a very bad history. This is a story about what it is like to live a dead-end life as trailer park trash; to be smart and live with alcoholics, gamblers, and bad decision makers. Rory is strong and determined like her mother and grandmother; will she break the cycle of abuse, and poverty and make it in a world that seems destined to go nowhere?
Tupelo Hassman has a winner here.....not easy to write with humor about tragic events, and she does this well. Also difficult to capture the voice and nuances of a little kid's speech and thought patterns, and she's nailed that too. We end up liking and caring about Rory Dawn, and want to hear more from her and about her. True, this is not the saga of three generations and it only details a chunk of her life, but it is well-crafted and absorbing. Other reviewers seem divided on whether the quirky writing style adds to the story; I think it does. it's wonderfully clever, and as this is the story of a very clever girl who's good with words, it fits perfectly. Oh, and the Girl Scout handbook thing is not really the central part of the story that the description would have you believe, it's just a connecting thread that runs through. If there were one thing I'd have changed, it would be adding a bit more in the story of Rory interacting with her peers. She went to school every day, surely there must have been something more to tell about her relationships with her schoolmates. In 10 years of story, we get a brief vignette of one friend who's gone before long, one kiss with a neighborhood boy, and a pair of snotty girls who won't interact with Rory.

There's plenty of room for a sequel here. Rory the teenager is just as interesting and appealing as Rory the child.
I won't waste your time explaining the story others have done that already. Hassman had me hooked from the 1st page. Her writing is so natural & unpretentious & wise, I found times when I simply had to put it down & go have a good cry. I hope she writes another 10 or 20 books so I can read he'd prose over & over again.
Not every book is worth reading closely. This book is. Girlchild chronicles a side of life that most of us will thankfully never experience. The fact that many children do experience this life, daily, is the only reason necessary for me to recommend this novel to you. If you have ever wanted to help a child less fortunate, if you've ever wondered where they come from, who their parents are, what factors shape their daily decisions, you'll never find a better beginning. This is one of the best novels I have ever read. I have recommended it to friends, coworkers, even casual acquaintances. This is a novel with far more to say than can fit on any page. The wonder of this book, and the genius of the author, is that it succeeds.

As a teacher, I have taught children coming from these social situation, homeless or living in trailer parks, never a chance to be a child. This book opens this subculture to us entirely. Told as a series of sketches, journal entries, poems and reflections, this book puts us squarely in the life of Rory Dawn Hendrix. And it is a life full of all the wonderfulness and awfulness and bizarre or cruel twists of fate anyone could imagine. It is a real life, writ large on every page. It will make you cringe, as well it should.

And a final note about the other reviews... sometimes a book can hit a little too close to home. If you find yourself wondering about the reviews about "Structure" or "Style" or "Devices..." Stick with it. This is a book with a huge heart, there on every page, well written and wonderfully told. If you trust this author, she will bring you along to a place you never expected to be, and would never consider leaving.