“Maybe she has a brother.” “Right. Sure. How do you know she has a brother?” “How do you know she doesn’t have a brother?” “Whatever. She probably doesn’t. Who hugs a brother?” “I bet you she was just really sad. Maybe the Dud still hasn’t called her.” “Whatever. Or she’s a slut.” “How come you don’t like that girl…” […] “Windy, all the girls here are sluts.” “It’s just that that’s kind of… that’s kind of sexist.”
So first off, I don’t’ recommend this book. The only reason it is not 1 star is for the beautiful artwork. It is truly a story-telling masterpiece but the rest is… less than to be desired. I read it because it was listed as ‘if you liked Everything Sad is Untrue, you will like this book.’ False.
Disclaimer: This story has mature story elements of homosexuality, sex, attempted suicide, and strong language.
It’s set up as a classic coming of age story. Rose and her family go to the beach every summer but this summer is a bit different. Rose and her friend Windy get involved in some local love drama and Rose is juggling her own family drama. How does it all resolve?
**Spoilers below**
Reading as a Disciple
“Its because you always have to have everything YOUR way. You’re making everything sad. I bet you’re still trying to have a baby. Dad doesn’t even want one you know.” “Rose that’s not-“ “Dad’s happy with just me. You don’t even want to be happy.”
One of the things that I didn’t like about this book was the insensitive dysfunctional relationship between the parents and their daughter Rose. This conversation proves just that. While some may say “that’s what real life is like, its just showing a real relationship between parents and their soon-to-be teenage daughter,” I don’t believe we need to have more examples of a dysfunctional family, we need stories that show hope for something more. This story leaves one feeling empty and hopeless. While there were many conversations, where I just wanted to say, “talk about it!” “tell her what happened!,” it was easy to see the shame that pervaded their lives and prevented honest conversations. Shame was a dark cloud over the family’s beach vacation that went on into their everyday lives. You feel the tension in Rose as she doesn’t understand and avoids hearing more from her parents. It is painful to see that her confusion and misunderstanding comes out in anger toward her mom and the girl Jenny. Her emotions are misplaced and jumbled up, it is important to keep in mind that God does not shy away from messy emotions and dysfunctional relationships. The Bible clearly shows many dysfunctional families being used for great things.
Reading Communally
“Who’s a slut?’ “No one!” “Bit strange calling someone you don’t even know a slut.” “Oh, well, these guys who knew these girls were calling them sluts.” “Well, how is that okay?”
The story is clear that parenting needs to happen but because Rose’s parents are struggling in their own relationship; they’ve forgotten to care for their daughter. Rose’s mom declares, “I’m a zombie. I have these crazy thoughts. Like, I wish. I wish I was a little kid. So I could just scream and be mad. Its terrible to say, but I wish I could just… disappear.” She’s absent at a critical time in her daughter’s life. Everyone experiences times where they just want to disappear, be like Homer Simpson and melt into the hedge. But life continues on. Thinking communally, we need to be able to help those that are struggling. To come alongside and not be afraid of the cloud of shame that may hang over a person.
Windy was a good friend and was able to communicate to Rose several things but unfortunately, Rose didn’t handle the confrontation well. We need good friends to act as dissenting voices in our lives, people who will speak truth in love, even when we don’t respond in love. Especially as kids are turning into adults, they need someone to love them through their questions and offer gentle course correction.
Final Thoughts
The most frustrating part of this book is that nothing is resolved, there was no hope at the end. Usually a coming of age story includes a lesson that was learned, the protagonist is confronted with their ignorance and manages to gather their self-revelation into a new understanding of life and who they are. That doesn’t happen here. Rose never learns why her mom is emotionally absent and doesn’t want to swim, her and Windy never really make up, and Rose still holds her beliefs about Jenny to be true. The story ends there with Rose simply learning to stuff her emotions, not trust her parents and to drown her sorrows and confusion in R-rated movies. The organization of the story was brilliant though, so many parallels between the Jenny girl and Rose’s mom, the R-rated movies and the story of their lives, it was genius, just terrible content. There are better books out there.
Other books:
I can’t recommend any books by the Tamaki cousins. Based on reading reviews and book overviews, they are full of similar themes.
