A review by ms_aprilvincent
Defining Dulcie by Paul Acampora
2.0
Dulcie's dad died, and her mom moves her from Connecticut to California. But after, like, an hour in CA, Dulcie steals the truck and goes back to CT, where she lives with her grandfather, a school janitor, who's sort-of mentoring Roxanne, whose mom abuses her.
This is a short book--you could read it in an hour. I didn't like Dulcie, although I was clearly supposed to empathize with her.
Probably it's because my own mother would never have let me get away with stealing her truck and her credit card and taking a cross-country road trip alone. At age 16.
No, MY mother would have canceled the card and issued an APB. Then after I'd returned, my life would have been MISERABLE. Death row inmates would have more freedom that I would.
But Dulcie's mom seems more passive, like, "Gosh, call me when you get there," or, "Gee, I sure miss you when you're on the other side of the continent." I don't understand that parenting model.
In the end, Dulcie stays in CT with her grandfather and Roxanne moves to CA with Dulcie's mom. Um ... ?!?!?!?
There is some catharsis in the climactic showdown where everybody rescues Roxanne from her looney-tunes mother, but it seemed very Special-Episode-of-Growing-Pains to me.
Though it may sound like I hate this book, I actually found the writing to be good. And I liked Dulcie's emotional journey as she worked through the aftermath of her father's death. There were no trite epiphanies or magical ghostly farewells; she just missed her daddy. That rang true to me.
I think girls ages 11-15 would like this book. Yeah, the ones who love Lurlene McDaniel, they would eat this right up.
This is a short book--you could read it in an hour. I didn't like Dulcie, although I was clearly supposed to empathize with her.
Probably it's because my own mother would never have let me get away with stealing her truck and her credit card and taking a cross-country road trip alone. At age 16.
No, MY mother would have canceled the card and issued an APB. Then after I'd returned, my life would have been MISERABLE. Death row inmates would have more freedom that I would.
But Dulcie's mom seems more passive, like, "Gosh, call me when you get there," or, "Gee, I sure miss you when you're on the other side of the continent." I don't understand that parenting model.
In the end, Dulcie stays in CT with her grandfather and Roxanne moves to CA with Dulcie's mom. Um ... ?!?!?!?
There is some catharsis in the climactic showdown where everybody rescues Roxanne from her looney-tunes mother, but it seemed very Special-Episode-of-Growing-Pains to me.
Though it may sound like I hate this book, I actually found the writing to be good. And I liked Dulcie's emotional journey as she worked through the aftermath of her father's death. There were no trite epiphanies or magical ghostly farewells; she just missed her daddy. That rang true to me.
I think girls ages 11-15 would like this book. Yeah, the ones who love Lurlene McDaniel, they would eat this right up.