Me & Emma
by Elizabeth Flock
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Book Summary Information
Author: Elizabeth FlockEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-01-01
ISBN: 0778327337
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Mira
Book Reviews of Me & Emma
Book Review: A Few Problems, but a Terrific Punch
Summary: 4 Stars
This book comes close to being one of the most powerful I have ever read. It does fall short a bit, but I love it anyway and will treasure it.
The eight-year-old narrator, Carrie, tells the story of how her family's life got out of control, and of what the major characters did to try to get it back in control again. Kids learn by example. That's all I can say about the plotline without giving too many secrets away. Trust me, I haven't made it sound nearly as gripping as it in fact is!
Let's get the shortcomings out of the way first, and then get to the good stuff.
Problems:
1. A lot of the narrator's language is unconvincing for an eight-year-old. In other words, the author has not quite remembered what her own vocabulary must have been like at that age. So every now and then the sophistication knocks you right out of the page.
2. Some of the minor characters are so two-dimensional that they seem like direct ripoffs from the movie 'Deliverance.'
3. The author's efforts to keep from revealing the time setting of the book backfires. It doesn't become timeless. It becomes Lost in Time. There's a difference!
4. The convoluted manner in which the twisted surprise ending is revealed could have been simplified greatly without ruining the shock value, and the book would have been stronger for it.
OK, now for the good stuff!
1. You will fall in love with Carrie and her struggle to maintain some sort of innocence in the face of incredible evil.
2. You will be appalled at what kids have to endure sometimes, and amazed that they can manage to survive anyway.
3. You will root for the all too few 'good guys' in spite of their weaknesses, and you will boo and hiss at the villains, of which there are far too many when push comes to shove, in spite of their human-ness.
4. If you're anything like me, you will be shocked to the bottom of your soul by the surprise ending, even though the author manages to leave clues lying around like breadcrumbs after a picnic. But then you will sit there thinking, Yes, I can see how that's how it was. And you'll be deeply satisfied with the resolution to the primary and secondary plotlines.
5. You will never ever forget either Carrie or her sister Emma, no matter how long you live.
On balance, four stars. I really really wanted to give it five, for the chance to meet a wonderfully believable character dealing with an unbelievably bad situation. But the problems are just a little too heavy.
Read it anyway!
Summary of Me & Emma
In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old?playing make-believe, dreading school, dreaming of faraway places.But even her imagination can't shut out the realities of her impoverished North Carolina home or help her protect her younger sister, Emma.
As the big sister, Carrie is determined to do anything to keep Emma safe from a life of neglect and abuse at the hands of their drunken stepfather, Richard?abuse their momma can't seem to see, let alone stop.
But after the sisters' plan to run away from home unravels, their world takes a shocking turn?and one shattering moment ultimately reveals a truth that leaves everyone reeling.
The title characters in Me & Emma are very nearly photographic opposites--8-year-old Carrie, the raven-haired narrator, is timid and introverted, while her little sister Emma is a tow-headed powerhouse with no sense of fear. The girls live in a terrible situation: they depend on an unstable mother that has never recovered from her husband?s murder, their stepfather beats them regularly, and they must forage on their own for food.
Stop here and you have a story told many times before, as fiction and nonfiction in tales like Ellen Foster, or I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings --stories in which a young girl reveals the horrors of her childhood. Me & Emma differentiates itself with a spectacular finish, shocking the reader and turning the entire story on its head. Through several twists and turns the reader learns that things are not quite the way our narrator led us to believe and everything crescendos in a way that (like all good thrillers) immediately makes you want to go back and read the whole book again from the start. --Victoria Griffith
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