Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
Story of a Girl
by Sara Zarr
(Audio)
I selected this book because the back cover looked interesting and it was a NBA Finalist. It was good, but not life-changing.
The story is of Deanna Lambert, a teenager who was goung by her father years before in the backseat of her brother's friend's car. She was branded the "school slut" and has since had a hard time leaving it behind her. She has two good friends she loves; the problem is, they're dating each other. She has a father who won't even look at her now and can't talk about his emotions (typical dad). She has a brother whose wife and newborn live in their parents' basement and desperately want to get out. And she gets a job at a local pizza dive; who works there? The guy who took advantage of her when she was 13 and he as 17. Oh boy. What a summer for poor Deanna.
The author did a good job of making Deanna's terrible situation feel realistic to me. All her bad decisions, all her good ones, they were all believable. I like that the book stayed in her perspective the whole time, because we got only bits and pieces of what was going on with the characters around her--it was enough for the reader to figure things out but not enough for it to seem like Deanna was in everyone's business all the time. She had her plans, she had her moments, and we got to share in her recovery.
There were a lot of moments where I wanted to just hug Deanna. She had a rough time of it. But it was great watching her come to terms with what really happened and figure out what she needed to move on. And, of course, it's not completely under her control, but she's the one who goes for it when others might have retreated and kept retreating. And the end definitely made me smile.
I think this is a book I'll be thinking about for a while. I definitely read it at the right time, too. Sadly, however, this book was an example of why authors should not read their own books for audio. She wasn't bad, but it could have been better and more professional-sounding.