Elizabeth Stories - Softcover

Huggan, Isabel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140101993 ISBN 13: 9780140101997

Publisher: Penguin Group USA, 1988

Synopsis

This collection of eight interconnected stories about the pleasures and pains of growing up focuses on Elizabeth, and awkward child who is always on the brink of being laughed at, teased, or ignored

About this title

From Library Journal:

These eight related stories, which follow Elizabeth through childhood and adolescence, examine the chasm between the private and public selves: by design or gaucherie, Elizabeth often humiliates her mother by abandoning public propriety to display her private feelings. Thus, in "Celia Behind Me," nine-year-old Elizabeth passionately loathes a diabetic schoolmate, Celia. Elizabeth's mother insists that she be kind to Celia and threatens a public spanking if she is not. Nevertheless, Elizabeth loses her temper, attacks Celia, and is then forced to confront the secret darkness in herself. Ultimately, we see that Elizabeth's failure to be a good daughter is matched by her parents' failure as parents. Huggan's voice is spare, clear, unsentimental, never acrimonious. And she is often funny. An engaging collection, beautifully written and highly recommended.Marcia Tager, Tenafly, N.J.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

YA Elizabeth's memories of her youth are hardly idyllic. In a confessional tone, she recounts episodes such as her demeaning role as Jack in a ballet recital; her crush on a high-school teacher who is later imprisoned for wife-beating; and psuedo-sexual encounters in childhood, at a girls' camp, and later with a teenage boy. Huggan's descriptive prose combines with her protagonist's honest, although sometimes whining, voice to paint detailed, lively portraits of her remote, suspicious parents; empty-headed peers; and the superficial, narrow confines of small-town life. Elizabeth's perspective on the lot of her homemaker mother is particularly probed. Young adults impatient with their mundane lives will especially enjoy Elizabeth. Alice Conlon, University of Houston
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Group USA
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0140101993
• ISBN 13: 9780140101997
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192