Girl, Hero

Girl, Hero by Carrie Jones published by Flux, 2008.

I feel like I'm a little behind in reading this book. I started to read it back in January when I attended my first residency at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Carrie Jones was one of the awesome graduate assistants who helped guide us during our stay in Montpelier. Well, during the course of the semester, I got sidetracked by reading all those mysteries. My primary creative project for the past year falls into the mystery genre, so I've tried to read as many of those as I can. And, unfortunately, Girl, Hero fell to the bottom of my reading list.

Now, I can't tell you how awful I feel about that.

Especially because, reading it could've really helped me with what I've been working on. It's not a mystery, but it does feature a girl who is trying to figure out who she is and also deal with Dad issues. Except, this girl-hero has multiple men filling that father figure position – talk about upping the ante! This book is great. It deals with about a dozen issues in a real life way (not like in a talk show, to quote Lily, the protagonist.) It is also incredibly creative. Throughout the book, Lily writes letters to John Wayne. Yes, that John Wayne. Lily's late step-father watched John Wayne movies with her. I think writing these letters helps her feel closer to the dad she's lost. But you should read the book and draw your own conclusions.