Ellen Foster
by Kaye Gibbons | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0375703055 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0375703055 Global Overview for this book
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
3 journalers for this copy...
Donated by Ithaca books when they went out of business.
Amazon.com
Kaye Gibbons is a writer who brings a short story sensibility to her novels. Rather than take advantage of the novel's longer form to paint her visions in broad, sweeping strokes, Gibbons prefers to concentrate on just one corner of the canvas and only a few colors to produce her small masterpieces. In Gibbons's case, her canvas is the American South and her colors are all the shades of gray.
In Ellen Foster, the title character is an 11-year-old orphan who refers to herself as "old Ellen," an appellation that is disturbingly apt. Ellen is an old woman in a child's body; her frail, unhappy mother dies, her abusive father alternately neglects her and makes advances on her, and she is shuttled from one uncaring relative's home to another before she finally takes matters into her own hands and finds herself a place to belong. There is something almost Dickensian about Ellen's tribulations; like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or a host of other literary child heroes, Ellen is at the mercy of predatory adults, with only her own wit and courage — and the occasional kindness of others — to help her through. That she does, in fact, survive her childhood and even rise above it is the book's bittersweet victory.
Copyright date: 1987.
Amazon.com
Kaye Gibbons is a writer who brings a short story sensibility to her novels. Rather than take advantage of the novel's longer form to paint her visions in broad, sweeping strokes, Gibbons prefers to concentrate on just one corner of the canvas and only a few colors to produce her small masterpieces. In Gibbons's case, her canvas is the American South and her colors are all the shades of gray.
In Ellen Foster, the title character is an 11-year-old orphan who refers to herself as "old Ellen," an appellation that is disturbingly apt. Ellen is an old woman in a child's body; her frail, unhappy mother dies, her abusive father alternately neglects her and makes advances on her, and she is shuttled from one uncaring relative's home to another before she finally takes matters into her own hands and finds herself a place to belong. There is something almost Dickensian about Ellen's tribulations; like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or a host of other literary child heroes, Ellen is at the mercy of predatory adults, with only her own wit and courage — and the occasional kindness of others — to help her through. That she does, in fact, survive her childhood and even rise above it is the book's bittersweet victory.
Copyright date: 1987.
Journal Entry 2 by LettersCafe at Sent to an OBCZ in OBCZ, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Released 16 yrs ago (3/5/2008 UTC) at Sent to an OBCZ in OBCZ, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Journal Entry 3 by momofap at Bubbles Laundry - 511 3rd Ave in Sheldon, Iowa USA on Monday, March 31, 2008
Released 16 yrs ago (3/31/2008 UTC) at Bubbles Laundry - 511 3rd Ave in Sheldon, Iowa USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
This book was left on the shelf with the other books.
This book was left on the shelf with the other books.
Journal Entry 5 by BlueJ at Precision Grind Coffee House (E. Franklin Ave & 23rd) in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA on Saturday, October 10, 2015
Released 8 yrs ago (10/10/2015 UTC) at Precision Grind Coffee House (E. Franklin Ave & 23rd) in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Left on the shelf by the door.
