Talk
about books I haven’t read yet – hasn’t this one been out for more than twenty
years?? Well, better late than
never! As a child, I made it through a
few Judy Blume books; the Fudge books were favorites of mine, but I think I
need to revisit and re-read Are You
There, God? It’s Me, Margaret and Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. Perhaps I just did not relate to the title
characters; to be honest, I cannot give a clear answer on why I did not read
more of Judy Blume growing up.
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| Courtesy of Google |
I
really enjoyed Tiger Eyes. It is about Davey, a girl who is coming
to terms with her father’s sudden death.
Her mother moves her and her brother temporarily to stay with relatives
in the Southwest – far away from their home on the East Coast where the tragedy
occurred. Davey finds her aunt and uncle
overbearing, overprotective and overeager to keep Davey preoccupied with
activities and outings in their efforts to help her through her grief. In other words, they’re well-meaning, but Davey
is having none of it. On the one hand,
she is a typical teenager and wishes to assert herself and be more independent
from the adults in her life. She does a
lot of soul-searching and we see her identity develop and grow throughout the
course of the story. On the other hand,
she is dealing with serious trauma, and only she can work herself through
it. No one else can do it for her. She mirrors her mother, who in handling her
own grief becomes self-absorbed and distant from her family.
What struck
me about this book is that the entire time I was reading it, it felt
genuine. There is nothing presumptuous
or contrived about the story or the characters.
The motivations and actions taken by everyone are convincing and natural. The dialogue is not forced. The ongoing pain of loss and the concomitant acceptance
of death are wrenching.
Recommended for teenagers
and adults.
