BOOK REVIEW: The Girl Factory

For me, belonging to a book group has so many advantages. I love to hear the different interpretations that are voiced around the room as we each bring ourselves into the story. Maybe even more important for me, is that books are chosen that I would never discover on my own. THE GIRL FACTORY, a memoir by Karen Dietrich is one that I probably would have passed over,

In 1985, Karen is eight-years old and living in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. Her parents work at the local glass factory on different shifts, one going to work as the other parent returns home. Not fitting in at home or at school, Karen explains that there is a factory some place where little girls are made. Some roll off the assembly line, shiny and perfect; others are sent to the scrap heap where the broken pieces are reassembled to make the less than perfect ones. She is the latter.

Karen is a gifted student who is fascinated with learning. She is obsessed with the full meaning of words, the superstitions that help her to keep her world under control, and her own body. Watching the more popular girls as she enters junior high school, she feels that sex must be the answer to popularity. Her first encounter only makes her feel empty and more alone.

We follow Karen through high school and college. We leave her as she sets off to start a new career and a new life. At the end of the book, I was truely wishing her well.

The strength of this book is that we see the family and school friends through Karen’s eyes; we hear only hints of family secrets as she grows. Dietrich gives us enough information, but allows the reader to come to his or her own conclusion about people and events.

The author’s obsession with words as a young girl pays off beautifully in this book. The use of language is precise and poetic. Glass and factory become metaphors to explain how fragile things are and that some people come out flawed.

Karen Dietrich’s family has questioned the veracity of THE GIRL FACTORY. I can not verify their claims, but I can state that the book is an honest portrayal of a misfit teen growing up in the late 1980’s, or maybe any time in history.

I liked THE GIRL FACTORY. Now, I cannot wait until our book group meets to hear what the rest of the ladies have to say.

BOOK REVIEWS: Downsizing

Getting a house ready to sell is hard, especially after 46 years of collecting stuff. To cut down on moving van fees, I am trying to empty the wine rack and the bookshelves. The wine is disappearing very nicely, but I am making slow progress on the books. Here is a brief list of how I am spending my down time.

Donna VanLiere is best known for her warm Christmas stories. Many of them, like The Christmas Shoes, have been specials on the Hallmark channel.  THE ANGELS OF MORGAN HILL, is her typical story of faith and destiny. The year is 1947, Jane Gable is nine years old and the first black person she lays eyes on is at her abusive father’s funeral. Jane is puzzled why so many neighbors hate this new family without knowing them.

THE ANGELS OF MORGAN HILL captures the warmth, humor and pains of growing up in the South during the 1940’s. VanLiere does not shy away from some of the ugliness of racial tension in rural America, but balances the story with many good people. A VanLiere book is meant to make the reader feel good and this one certainly does.

On the other end of the reading scale is Erica Spindler. She is one of my go-to authors when I want a good psychological thriller. SHOCKING PINK did not disappoint.

Andie, Raven and Julie have been friends since early grade school. We meet the girls when they are young teenagers. Julie’s father is a minister who feels that he can beat the sin out of the young girl; Raven is being raised by a single father who wants to keep her his little girl and Andie's father leaves his family for another woman leaving emotional scars on the teenage girl. One night Andie, Raven and Julie discover an abandoned house that is being used for some very dangerous sexual games. The girls return to watch “Mr. and Mrs X” until the night that the body of “Mrs.X” is found hanging in the bedroom.  Fifteen years later the girls have been reunited in their home town and someone does not want them to forget what they had seen in that abandoned house. Spindler once again has given us believable, if somewhat twisted, characters. She stays on my go-to-list.

Most of the books that I have been devouring have been Regency Romances, or as I like to call them, “My Drug of C

hoice”. One is by long time favorite, Mary Jo Putney and the other by, new to me, Melissa Mayhue. The reason that I mention them together is because they both blend my second favorite genre, Fantasy with the Regency time period.

THE MARRIAGE SPELL by Mary Jo Putney takes us to a version of Regency England where all things magical are held in great disgust, especial by the upper “ruling” class. Still, healer,Abby Barton, takes the risk of using her powers to heal Lord Frayne after he is involved in a near fatal hunting accident. What would then become a typical romance story, Ms Putney’s talent for character development turns into a tale of good vs. evil. As can be expected, we do have a happy ending.

Actually, Melissa Mayhue's HIGHLANDER'S CURSE takes us to Medieval Scotland...well in part. HIGHLANDER'S CURSE adds another ingredient, time travel to the plot. In 1296 Colin MacAlister makes the mistake of ticking off the Queen of the Faeries and in the present time. Abigail Porter makes a wish to find her soulmate. The result is that Abby wakes up to find a strange, naked man in her bed. The usual battle between good and evil travels between the two time periods, adding all types of interesting characters, witty dialogue, and fast action sword fights...except for the one guy who happens to have a gun in Scotland in 1296. This did bother me a bit because each incident when  Abby and Colin switched times, they ended up naked. How the bad guy got to take his gun along with him is I guess under the heading of “Voluntary Suspension of Belief”. Melissa Mayhue will now be on my “Drug of Choice” list.

Stay tuned, I still have a lot of bookshelves to empty.