What did you think of this as a coming-of-age story? Did you find the turbulence in Frankie's (or F. Jasmine's) life compellingly realistic, and what did you think of the resolution (the Frankie after the storm)?
I did find her adolescent turbulence realistic. I remember feeling weirdly similar unease when I was about 13. The world seems overwhelmingly large and mysterious at that age, and you don't have a good sense of who you are, something that you never worried about as a small child but now seems extremely important to figure out.
I'm not sure about the resolution. I felt a little disoriented at the end of the story. The transition happened so suddenly, with the introduction of this new Mary character. And there wasn't much story left at that point. We only saw Frankie making sandwiches.
Yeah, the transition did feel kind of sudden. It's like after the wedding obsession passed the author felt like she had to quickly summarize what happened with everyone and end the book. It was somewhat heartening, too, though, I thought, because it evoked that feeling you have as a kid (and even as an adult sometimes) that life is rather static (like Frankie's long, restless summer) and deep in a rut, and then all of the sudden something gives and things change and you feel a sense of renewal, like life can be different and better than you imagined. Frankie was always feeling a "tightness" that wouldn't break, and eventually it did and she could just be a kid again for awhile and have a friend her own age and more down-to-earth concerns.
Yeah, that's a good point. It demonstrates, too, I think how kids can get over things pretty quickly. Something they were obsessing over last month can quickly become irrelevant to them when something else comes along.
I did find her adolescent turbulence realistic. I remember feeling weirdly similar unease when I was about 13. The world seems overwhelmingly large and mysterious at that age, and you don't have a good sense of who you are, something that you never worried about as a small child but now seems extremely important to figure out.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the resolution. I felt a little disoriented at the end of the story. The transition happened so suddenly, with the introduction of this new Mary character. And there wasn't much story left at that point. We only saw Frankie making sandwiches.
Yeah, the transition did feel kind of sudden. It's like after the wedding obsession passed the author felt like she had to quickly summarize what happened with everyone and end the book. It was somewhat heartening, too, though, I thought, because it evoked that feeling you have as a kid (and even as an adult sometimes) that life is rather static (like Frankie's long, restless summer) and deep in a rut, and then all of the sudden something gives and things change and you feel a sense of renewal, like life can be different and better than you imagined. Frankie was always feeling a "tightness" that wouldn't break, and eventually it did and she could just be a kid again for awhile and have a friend her own age and more down-to-earth concerns.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's a good point. It demonstrates, too, I think how kids can get over things pretty quickly. Something they were obsessing over last month can quickly become irrelevant to them when something else comes along.
ReplyDelete