Girlchild
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Obsessively following the edicts of the Girl Scouts Handbook in spite of her lack of a troop, young Rory longs to escape the Reno trailer park where she lives with her bartender mother, an effort marked by her fastidious collection of diaries, social worker reports and other … More »
Obsessively following the edicts of the Girl Scouts Handbook in spite of her lack of a troop, young Rory longs to escape the Reno trailer park where she lives with her bartender mother, an effort marked by her fastidious collection of diaries, social worker reports and other family records. A first novel.
McMillan Palgrave
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 out from the elementary school library so many times that her name fills all the lines on the card, and she pores over its surreal advice (Uniforms, disposing of outgrown; The Right Use of Your Body; Finding Your Way When Lost) for tips to get off the Calle: that is, the Calle de las Flores, the Reno trailer park where she lives with her mother, Jo, the sweet-faced, hard-luck bartender at the Truck Stop.
Rory’s been told that she is one of the “third-generation bastards surely on the road to whoredom.” But she’s determined to prove the county and her own family wrong. Brash, sassy, vulnerable, wise, and terrified, she struggles with her mother’s habit of trusting the wrong men, and the mixed blessing of being too smart for her own good. From diary entries, social workers’ reports, half-recalled memories, arrest records, family lore, Supreme Court opinions, and her grandmother’s letters, Rory crafts a devastating collage that shows us her world even as she searches for the way out of it.
Tupelo Hassman’s Girlchild is a heart-stopping and original debut.
Baker
& Taylor
Obsessively following the edicts of the Girl Scouts Handbook in spite of her lack of a troop, young Rory longs to escape the Reno trailer park where she lives with her bartender mother.
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Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman Trailer
Rory Dawn Hendrix is in a Girl Scout troop of one. She lives in a trailer park called the Calles de las Flores near Reno. And she's determined to leave, childless, before her sixteenth birthday. Easier said than done.
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Add a CommentMake no mistake, this is not a book about being a Girl Scout. It is a book about grinding poverty and class divisions in America. It is a grim book about nightmares no child should experience. Yet it is not a graphic book. Nor is it entirely without hope. Rory is smart and determined. She recovers from the abuse to return to a normal life, at least normal for The Calle. The reader is left with a sense that maybe, just maybe, she will break the cycle of despair. Girlchild is a book that will have an impact and will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
This wasn't an easy book to read - a lot of things happen to Rory. However, I cared what happened because I just cared so much about her - I wanted her to be successful and find what she needed, and everything else. Plus, this is a stunningly written novel.
At once, innocent and worldly; raw and fluid, Rory's struggle to stay afloat in an environment that is anything but life-saving is a warm and hopeful read, especially for anyone who's struggled with childhood abuse, and the nuanced bitterness and comfort of family love.
This book wasn't what I expected (although I'm not really sure what I expected). If I had nothing else to read, I might have muddled my way through it. As it was, I had other books and couldn't be bothered to finish. And, I was a Girl Scout!