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Book Reviewed by:
Erin Lyndal Martin
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Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino tells the story of a precocious girl named Adina. Living with her low-income single mother in Philadelphia, Adina faces all the trials of childhood and coming of age while feeling deeply disconnected from those around her. The story, though, feels secondary to getting to know Adina. Throughout, the narration is an unflinching close third person that never feels inconsistent or forced.
Our reading pleasure is fraught with pangs of sympathy for the extraordinarily sensitive girl. People's mouth sounds aggravate her so much that popcorn eaters in theatres ruin movies for her. "When it was time to decide the official food of movie-watching, human beings did not go for fig Newtons or caramel, foods that are silent, but popcorn, the loudest sound on Earth," she observes. Again and again, her rarity and genius are dismissed because she just can't fit ...
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