Mister Posterior and the Genius Child
2 journalers for this copy...
Received this today, as part of my birthday group exchange. Will return to comment after I have read it.
Mr. Posterior is an often times funny and sometimes disturbing coming of age story that skewers 70’s ‘touchy feely’ I’m okay you’re okay sensibilities.
Vanessa Brick lives with her divorced mom in Cambridge, Mass. She is a very bright 8 year old who attends a free thinking ‘progressive’ new school for children. Vanessa’s Mom, whom she calls Debbie, is also dealing with her own baggage, including 2 perfect parents, a totally absent ex-husband, and myriad trips into the dating pool with a succession of losers.
Jenkins perfectly captures the politics of third grade playgrounds, and the hypocrisy of people who want you to do your own thing, as long as it’s really their thing. The ‘70’s feel is perfectly evoked, and the mood is dead on.
I laughed out loud at many times in the book, especially the storyline of Vanessa writing a play using the words she had learned in her “super-spellers” class; words like receptacle, gestate, homosexual. She writes a hilariously innocent play that makes her the most notorious child in her school.
Interspersed with this story is also the story of an exhibitionist flasher, with some underlying hints of molestation. This is the part of the book that I found a bit disturbing, and handled in a bit of an off handed manner. I liked the author’s writing style, and most probably will read her again; I just thought that if this matter had been eliminated or handled a bit differently the book would have rated a little higher with me.
Vanessa Brick lives with her divorced mom in Cambridge, Mass. She is a very bright 8 year old who attends a free thinking ‘progressive’ new school for children. Vanessa’s Mom, whom she calls Debbie, is also dealing with her own baggage, including 2 perfect parents, a totally absent ex-husband, and myriad trips into the dating pool with a succession of losers.
Jenkins perfectly captures the politics of third grade playgrounds, and the hypocrisy of people who want you to do your own thing, as long as it’s really their thing. The ‘70’s feel is perfectly evoked, and the mood is dead on.
I laughed out loud at many times in the book, especially the storyline of Vanessa writing a play using the words she had learned in her “super-spellers” class; words like receptacle, gestate, homosexual. She writes a hilariously innocent play that makes her the most notorious child in her school.
Interspersed with this story is also the story of an exhibitionist flasher, with some underlying hints of molestation. This is the part of the book that I found a bit disturbing, and handled in a bit of an off handed manner. I liked the author’s writing style, and most probably will read her again; I just thought that if this matter had been eliminated or handled a bit differently the book would have rated a little higher with me.
This book is being mailed to a PBS member in NY
