A review by sdoncolo
Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman

5.0

I really really liked this book. I am waffling between 4 and 5 stars (5 being reserved for SUPER WOWs in my book), and I'm going to err on the up side. Hassman's novel is impressionistic and collage-style, yet still readable as a straight-through narrative. It truly takes the reader inside the heart of the young girl narrator, including her self-awareness and lack of self-awareness, the blind spots she has about her mother because (a) she loves her, (b) that's all she knows, and (c) she needs her mother to take care of her ... for now. And the parts that are redacted ring so true with growing up -- the things we want to tell but can't, the things we start to tell but stop ourselves for our own safety or peace of mind. The book somewhat skirts over issues like sexual abuse, but it's not a book ABOUT sexual abuse -- it's a book about growing up as the youngest child of a family mired in poverty and lack of options, and the abuse she witnesses and experiences are simply part of the milieu that this narrator happens to be steeped in.

My one critique was that the Girl Scout Handbook aspect feels like it is important, but it's a bit uneven throughout the book -- I wish it had been deployed more evenly throughout the story.

I was happy that R.D. found some hope at the end -- and that it was a believable kind of hope. My heart hurt for this character, and since I began the book I've been wondering what happened to R.D. later, which is a sure sign of a believable character. I'm glad I met her.