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Title: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons ISBN: 0375703055 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: November, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.09
Rating: 5
Summary: Ellen Foster
Comment: This is a wonderful piece of autobiographical fiction. Ellen comes from the dysfunctional home of a too-sick mother and a drunken, abusive father. She has learned early to take care, rather than be cared for. Ellen encounters other relatives as well, who should be her champions but are not. There are also many characters who give Ellen a glimpse at a better life: the librarian who helps her find books "of some account". Julia, the art teacher, who takes her into her happy but unconventional home, the mother of her black friend (in a very prejudiced South), and the foster mother, who understands the need for order and accepting love. All of these folks help Ellen to see a different, more desirable side to life.
Through the first person narrative approach Gibbon's gives readers a good look at the life of an 11 year old girl. While confusing for some, the book is written in a style (vernacular, often without punctuation and quotation marks) that makes readers understand Ellen's story from her unique point of view. Gibbon's is successful in leading the reader to examine old themes, such as prejudice, from a very fresh perspective.
Rating: 4
Summary: Short but impressive
Comment: This is a short but engaging book that can easily be read in one sitting. Ellen Foster, the main character and narrator, is an 11 year old girl who has experienced more death and dysfunction than most people do in a lifetime. Her mother dies, her father is terribly abusive, and the remainder of the story chronicles her jostling from one relative's house to another- until she finally finds a home where she is truly cared for.
Kaye Gibbons writes in choppy, incomplete sentences as one can imagine the grounded and brutually-honest Ellen might speak. The book flashes back from past to present, but Ellen's child-like yet suprisingly mature tone remains the same throughout. She is a strong and lovable character. Her relationship with a "colored" girl Starletta is another high point of the book, and Gibbons manages to hit on the subjects of society's "rules" and racial prejudice without seeming redundant. This book alerted me to not only Ellen's plight but the plight of all children who fall subject to the court, social services, and the foster care system.
Rating: 5
Summary: Ellen Foster: A Humbling Tale of Determination
Comment: We have all heard or read stories about characters from extremely disfunctional families struggling to survive in and out of their broken homes. However, it is a very rare occasion when such a story is portrayed through the eyes of a child, which is what Kaye Gibbons successfully managed to do with this coming of age fiction. Because this story is in first person point of view, the reader truly gets to experience it as if the main character is sitting right in front of them and explaining herself. In fact, the entire novel is written in a childlike form, as seen in everything from Ellen's thoughts and mannerisms to the dialect and lack of punctuation in the book. This can be somewhat confusing at times but, nevertheless, does not take away from the story's essence at all. Aside from the unique writing style used by Gibbons in this account, the story focuses on a young girl, Ellen, who has been exposed to poverty, abuse, neglect, death, drugs, and alcohol. It describes in debth the hardships she faces on the road to happiness and deals with very sensitive issues such as racism, material worth, and the real meaning of family. Due to the irresistable plot of Ellen Foster, it is definately one of the most intriguing and emotional fictions I have ever read. I immediately fell in love with Ellen's mature matter-of-fact attitude towards life along with her strenth, compassion, and determination. This book has helped me to realize how many things I take for granted in life and forced me to look at the world from a different point of view. I strongly recommend anyone to buy, borrow, or checkout this endearing novel.
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Title: A Virtuous Woman (Oprah's Book Club) by Kaye Gibbons ISBN: 0375703063 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: November, 1997 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Black and Blue: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) by Anna Quindlen ISBN: 0440226104 Publisher: Dell Pub Co Pub. Date: 02 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds ISBN: 0425162443 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage ISBN: 038079487X Publisher: Avon Books (Pap Trd) Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton ISBN: 0385265700 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: January, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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