Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman

Pub Date: Feb 2012

Fiction (Adult)

288 pgs.

What makes something a “good book?”  There are many factors to consider—plot, setting, atmosphere, characters, wordplay and language, to name just a few examples.  For me, the number-one requirement for a piece of literature to gain my admiration is originality.  Girlchild, the debut novel by Tupelo Hassman, exhibits originality in spades.  Hassman has created an atmospheric and engaging book unlike other things I’ve read.

Girlchild is the story of Rory Dawn Hendrix, whom we follow from childhood to her late teens.  Rory is growing up in La Calle De Las Flores, a trailer park in Reno, Nevada, and is descended from a long line of trailer-park dwellers.  The plot, admittedly, is well-traveled—adolescent girl learns tough lessons growing up in a trailer among drunks and vagabonds—but it’s the story’s structure that stands out. Rory tells us her story through a collection of her own narration, social workers’ reports on her ne’er-do-well family, and chapters from her well-worn Girl Scout Handbook.  Rory is consumed with the Girl Scouts and after checking the Girl Scout Handbook out from her school library time after time, has developed a Handbook unlike any other.

The narration of the book is only partially Rory’s–Hassman lets us see Rory and her world through outsiders like the family’s formal, austere social worker as well as family members who know her well, like her feisty grandmother.  Of the parts Rory narrates herself, some of the narration is straightforward, while other parts of the narration read more like dreams or uncertain memories.  In a touch perhaps too stylized for some readers, occasionally lines of some chapters are blacked out, signalling memories too painful for Rory to recall. Through it all, though, Hassman retains a powerful and poetic command of prose that is quite impressive. At once gritty and dreamlike, I would recommend this novel to open-minded readers looking for their next great read.

-Becky

Happy New Year!

~2011~

New Year, new changes to this blog! Starting with a slight format change. The good news is there will now be more contributors! Since more staff members are coming forward to write about the books they just can’t stop thinking about, we’ll start signing each entry with the name of the post author, so you don’t have to read through so much “introduction” each time.  Also, keep checking the Contributors page, as there should be more bios soon. We’ve got a lot coming up for you to enjoy, so happy reading!

-Becky