Review: Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman

Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have had Girlchild on my TBR for awhile - it sounded like something right up my alley and that cover just drew me in! Add in the Girl Scout mentions in the description and I'm hooked! If only the reading of this novel lived up to my expectations!

I did not love this one and almost put it down halfway through the novel but forced myself to finish it in case there would be something at the end that would pull it all together for me and redeem all the time I spent reading it! Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

For a book about poverty, abuse and the dark side of life, I found myself not caring one bit about any of the characters or their experiences. I didn't find their stories compelling or their experiences interesting. I really wanted to like Rory (the main character) but I just never 'got her.' She seemed so far removed from the story that I just didn't connect with her or her experiences.

The style of the book is definitely unusual - a series of vignettes that are almost stream of consciousness at times. Ultimately, I found the vignette style to be a bit choppy. Not at all cohesive, which was disorienting to me. Perhaps that is exactly what the author wanted given the subject matter, etc. Either way, I didn't love that aspect of the book.

All in all, the book was ok but I didn't find it to be as interesting or compelling as I expected! But, many others have loved this book so perhaps it just wasn't the book for me!

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