A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson is a
story of mothers and daughters. Ginny,
also known as Big, had her daughter Liza when she was a teenager. Liza, in turn, became a teenage mother to Mosey. This story takes place in Mosey’s fifteenth
year, the year her mother suffers a stroke, and the year in which a handyman
uncovers Liza’s box with baby bones in their backyard. It’s no mystery to Big and Mosey that Liza’s
biological daughter died, but the mystery is who Mosey is.
Like just about every book I’ve read recently, this book
alternates narration from character to character: the supremely motherly Ginny, the
recovering-addict-and-recovering-stroke-victim Liza, and the angst-ridden
Mosey, who embarks on a search for her real parents. Jackson captures the voices incredibly well, from the Big, the
struggling Liza, and the confused Mosey.
What I very much appreciated about the characters is that they weren’t
quirky for the sake of being quirky, which I sometimes feel when I read
contemporary Southern novels.
The actual plot or actual mystery is not the main draw of
this book: this book is not about
suspense about Mosey’s actual parents or about Liza and her deceased
daughter. This book is about the
characters, how they care for each other, and how they help each other through
the incredibly rough patches they are going through. Jackson is very good at capturing the voices of her three main
characters, especially Big and Mosey.
The main villain is not so fleshed-out, but that’s not a hindrance to
the story. Another thing I loved about
this story is that the side characters like Mosey’s friends were well-rounded
characters, not just wisecracking sidekicks.
That’s not to say that this story or its characters are humorless: there’s plenty of humor throughout the book
that keeps it from being relentlessly bleak.
I’d recommend this book most to people who like smart,
teen-angst-tinged stories, be they books, movies or TV shows.
A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY by Joshilyn Jackson
Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:
January 25, 2012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
I agree with you. What I liked about Jackson's tone in this book was her balance of the dark issues with the lightness of the characters' optimism and humor. You don't want to say it's fun exactly, but you also don't want to say it's gloomy. It's just a good drama, right? The mix of light and dark.
ReplyDeleteGood drama is the perfect way to describe it-- and it's tricky to pull off, I think.
ReplyDelete