Story of a Girl
Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr (2007)
Forgetting isn’t enough.
You can paddle away from the memories and think they are gone.
But they will keep floating back, again and again and again.
They circle you, like sharks.
And you are bleeding your fear into the sea,
Until, unless
Something
Someone?
Can do more than just cover the wound.
In poignant first-person narration, Deanna Lambert relates the story of a girl who is thirteen years old when her father catches her with Tommy Weber in the back of Tommy’s Buick. Ever since, the girl has been defined by that moment. Deanna is that girl–her father defines her by that moment, everyone surrounding her defines her by that moment, and she defines herself by that moment.
Now, three years later, Deanna still hears others define her as a total nympho…a psycho…beyond pathetic. In English class, Deanna begins to express her hurt and her feelings in her story of “the girl on the waves.” The story of the girl on the waves helps Deanna to recognize that she has to face others who have hurt her in order to begin to heal herself. She must face Tommy again but also she must face her father.Along the way of coming to terms with her past, Deanna adds other mistakes to her old mistake. She has two friends who have stuck by her, Jason and Lee (who are boyfriend and girlfriend). In the midst of her own pain and confusion, Deanna mistreats them. She also buries her hurt over her father’s ignoring her for three years.
Story of a Girl lays bear human fallibility; the very real characters make mistakes and disappoint each other. Intentionally or unintentionally, we all at times hurt those we love and care about. Story of a Girl exhorts us to face up to our mistakes and old hurts and to patch up those relationships instead of giving up on each other and discarding people along with the hurt. It’s also about being strong enough to define ourselves instead of letting other people define us.
Zarr’s writing style and her protagonist’s issues reminds me of the fiction title of other YA authors such as Sarah Dessen and Laurie Halse Anderson. For those readers who want to read other fiction that pertains to struggles with forgiving and forgiveness, a few possibilities include Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, Whirligig by Paul Fleischman, and A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb.
Author Interviews: Sara Zarr at Big A Little A, Sara Zarr at Cynsations, and an audio interview with Sara Zarr at Mr. Media
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