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Title: Girl in Shades
Author: Allison Baggio
Narrator: Marieve Herington
Format: Unabridged
Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
Language: English
Release date: 12-11-12
Publisher: Audible Studios
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
Sweetly funny and deeply perceptive, this novel follows 11-year-old Maya Devine's search for her mother, her father, and above all, herself, offering a fresh take on what it means to grow up and discover who you really are.
Maya has always seen color around peoples bodies, and can sometimes even hear whats going on inside their heads. These insights make everyone a bit more interesting, but the one person she'll never figure out is her mother. Marigold has never been like the other moms, but still, Maya sometimes feels like she is all she has.
When Marigold is diagnosed with cancer and vows to spend her final days in the tepee shes set up in the backyard, neighbors and strangers, believing the dying Marigold to be a prophet, camp out in front of the familys house. As her father grows ever more distant, Maya finds solace in the music of Corey Hart, but when Marigolds death leaves questions unanswered, she sets off to discover the truth about her family and identity.
Members Reviews:
A Girl In Shades
An outstanding novel by Canadian author Allison Baggio. She gives a fun insight into growing up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan about a girl with some very special gifts.
Poignant coming of age story
Standing by her dying mother's bedside, Maya hears the words inside her mother's head, "It hardly hurts anymore" and while she is pleased her mother is no longer in pain, for Maya the agony of her death seems overwhelming.
At eleven Maya is a bright, mature and resourceful girl who has learnt to adapt to the dysfunctional rhythms of her family. Maya's father is largely emotionally absent even when he is at home but she adores her mother despite Marigold's sometimes bizarre behaviour and frequent debilitating depressions. When Marigold is diagnosed with cancer with just months to live, Maya's fragile world begins to disintegrate.
The use of the first person point of view lends the story an intimacy and immediacy that draws the reader in. Allison Baggio skillfully portrays the childish naivete mixed with world weariness that children from difficult circumstances develop. Maya is resigned to her mothers odd proclivities and her father's detachment but nurtures a secret hope that her mother will 'get better' and with her recovery, her father will be more like the man she knew that bounced her on his knee. The author captures the powerlessness that Maya feels as events spiral out of control, adopting the lyrics of songs by (1980's teen heartthrob) Corey Hart as prayers. Mired in her own self-obsession and a media storm triggered by a family 'friend' Marigold all but ignores her daughter until her death. It's heart breaking to witness Maya's losses as first her mother withdraws mentally and then physically into a teepee she erects in the back yard and then Maya's father effectively abandons her for his lover within weeks of Marigold's death.
The lead up to the death of Marigold, and the immediate aftermath, are the defining moments of Maya's life but the story continues to unfold though in a very compressed time frame. Maya moves to live with her aunt and then at eighteen goes to India looking for answers to the questions she has about her mother. It is two years before she returns to Canada, many of her questions unanswered but spiritually enlightened. I must admit this part of the story didn't really work for me.
