No Alligators in Sight
by Kirsten B. Feldman (Goodreads
Author)
Description: In this coming of age novel, Lettie and Bert
squeak by in a tiny town on Cape Cod, one parent an alcoholic and the other
absent. After a string of bad decisions on Lettie’s part, their father ships
them to their barely remembered mother for the summer, where they will learn
hard lessons about themselves, their family, and their future by way of the
Florida swamp. Throughout Lettie keeps her biting humor flowing, her
razor-sharp pen at the ready, and her eye on her quest for a “normal” life.
My Review: I don’t read very many coming of age stories, but I’m glad I read this one. The story is set in Cape Cod and in the Florida Keys and is told from the perspective of Lettie, a young girl seeking the one thing she’ll never truly have: a normal life.
I really love this book. It asks some difficult questions,
but from the perspective of youth and innocence. Only a single summer is
featured, but for Lettie, it’s a turning point. She’s getting ready to start
highschool, trying to raise both herself and her younger brother despite her
mother having left the family for another man and her father drowning himself
in alcohol. But, she’s still a kid, and as some troubled kids do, she acts out.
Her father, at his wit’s end, decides to let her see for herself why she
shouldn’t want to live with her mom by sending her there for the summer.
She learns many things over the course of the summer, but I
think that the most profound of these is that she doesn’t have to allow someone
else’s mistakes ruin her own life. It’s really a message of taking charge of and
owning your own destiny. A message of acceptance, but not viewing yourself
through the lens of someone else’s opinion of you. It’s a tough lesson for
Lettie.
Overall the story is well-written, well-edited and thought
provoking. The characters are dynamic, realistic and tragic. But this isn’t a
tragedy, this is a success story. A story of personal growth.
The story is told as a narrative and as a journal. Some of
the sections are italicized and some aren’t. I couldn’t really see anything
significantly different between those sections, but I believe the reason is
that grown up Lettie and her daughter are taking turns reading her journal from
that summer. Despite this, the story is a smooth read, though emotionally
riveting. I had trouble putting it down. A good thing, right?
Anyway, I loved this story and would highly recommend it to
folks who like contemporary coming of age books, particularly realistic ones.
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