The Talk Funny Girl

I read The Talk Funny Girl by Roland Merullo over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I thought it was fitting, because the story takes place in New England, and that is where I was when I read most of it.  It is about a teenage girl who has been raised by two strange and cruel parents in rural New Hampshire.  Her family is so isolated and so cut off from the rest of civilization that they speak a strange dialect that no one else but their immediate family speaks.  "I don't for why know I'm afraid," is an example of something Marjorie, the protagonist, says.  She and everyone in their community is afraid because a killer is on the loose in their area.  Every six months or so, for the past several years, a young girl has been kidnapped and murdered.  Her parents seem to live in fear too - fear of the rest of the world.  They rarely leave home except to attend church, and her father refuses to drive on the highway because of a fear of the world that that highway leads to.  Despite her strange way of speaking and the fact that she was kept out of school until she was nine-years-old (when someone reported that fact to social services), Marjorie is bright and talented.  When she turns seventeen and has to get a job to support her family (neither of her parents work), she begins working for a man who has moved into town to rebuild a "cathedral" out of the ruins of an old church.  Her relationships with her boss and with her step-aunt Elaine turn out to be the saving grace in Marjorie's life.  After her parents strange and brutal forms of "penance" for perceived indiscretions on Marjorie's part go too far, she finds safety and solace with Elaine and her boss. 

This is an inspiring and unexpected story, unlike anything I have ever read.  It did continue with the theme of overcoming difficult upbringings - particularly overcoming bad parenting - that I have noticed in several of the books I chose this semester.  Other books that could be a part of this thematic unit would be The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and Burned by Ellen Hopkins. 

The ending of The Talk Funny Girl really took me by surprise.  After I finished the book, I had to go back and review several sections to check for clues that I may have missed.  I think this would be an excellent book for teaching the skill of prediction.