Story of a Girl (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Story of a Girl Karen Coats Zarr, Sara Story of a Girl. Little, 2007192p ISBN 0-316-01453-2$16.99 R Gr. 7-10 In a small town like Pacifica, ugly stories have a long shelf life. Three years ago, when Deanna was thirteen, her dad pulled Tommy off of her when he caught them in the back seat of Tommy's Buick, and even though she hasn't even kissed a boy since, she's still known as the school slut. Worse, her father hasn't forgiven her; instead, he's become angry, distant, and disappointed with most everything in his life. Her older brother, Darren, now lives in the basement with his girlfriend and their baby, and Deanna wants nothing more than to make enough money so that the four of them can get a place of their own. Sixteen is the year of Deanna's growing up—she finds herself forced to deal with Tommy again and to come to terms with the way her past has refused to let her go forward, not just because everyone else remembers it, but because she has never let it go herself. Through subtly crafted and utterly credible plotting, Zarr spins out a series of encounters that confront Deanna with the necessity of forgiveness; as she makes another mistake and receives the forgiveness of her best friend, she slowly comes to understand that redemption requires acceptance of forgiveness in order to be complete. She and her brother also realize that the ability to forgive is what will allow them to escape the legacy of pain their father has visited on them. There's nothing canned or artificial about the insights here: Zarr's very real characters speak with either the wisdom or the stubbornness they have chosen to distill from the pain of their past mistakes. Nor do Deanna's epiphanies emerge fearless and fully formed; rather, she is slowly but surely, with faltering steps that many readers will recognize as their own, in the process of becoming someone she can like and trust. Copyright © 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois