A Frog'S-Eye View - Hardcover

Busselle, Rebecca

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0531059073 ISBN 13: 9780531059074

Publisher: Orchard Books, 1990

Synopsis

Neela's aged aunt helps her to deal with her feelings of jealousy and self-destructiveness when her idyllic summer with boy friend Nick is spoiled when he gets a day job and acquires a female singer for his band

About this title

From School Library Journal:

The summer before her senior year is barely underway when Neela feels the ominous undercurrents of change. First there is the dreaded process of applying to college, then reclusive Aunt Amelia moves into the family's third floor, and, finally, the wonderful summer that Neela has envisioned with her boyfriend Nick is threatened by his new job and his interest in someone else. Consumed with jealousy, Neela can turn neither to her best friend Penelope, who is going away to camp, nor her parents, who are emotionally aloof. Aunt Amelia's apartment and photography skills gradually become Neela's refuge as she and her aunt forge a somewhat reluctant friendship. Neela's new skills in photography become the instrument of her own undoing, however, as she surreptitiously begins a self-punishing quest to prove that Nick is involved in a relationship with his band's vocalist. In one final and pathetic incident of photographic spying, Neela is able to release herself from her own destructive behavior. As in Bathing Ugly (Orchard, 1989), Busselle writes perceptively and intuitively about a female protagonist whose unusual behavior ends in moral victory. Although this is primarily Nick and Neela's story, the other characterizations add important elements to the book. Although faulted by a slow start, the story moves compellingly thereafter to its unpredictable conclusion. An involving novel. --Sylvia V. Meisner, Allen Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Neela feels as if everything is on the verge of changing. She'll be a senior in the fall, but right now the summer stretches ahead of her like a desert. The apparent danger posed by the neighborhood drunk points up her parents' drinking problem, her best friend is away at camp and her boyfriend Nick seems distant and preoccupied. It's the changes in Nick that upset Neela most, and when he breaks up with her, she embarks on a period of obsessive behavior reminiscent of Fatal Attraction --she follows Nick, telephones him anonymously and secretly takes photos of him. Busselle ( Bathing Ugly ) depicts Neela's emotions and actions in a way that sagely suggests the half nightmare/half farce possible only with adolescent love. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0531059073
• ISBN 13: 9780531059074
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 191