Cole, Brock. The Facts Speak for Themselves. 1997.
This book is narrated by Linda who has just been taken to a home for troubled teens while the police investigate a recent murder. She goes back in time and tells the reader about her mother and their life together. Her mother has made many bad choices, most of them because of men. She seems to be unable to be alone and she goes from one man to another. She becomes pregnant with one man's baby and then leaves it in the care of Linda while she does whatever she wants. Then she marries an elderly man and moves them to Florida, but when he starts to show signs of old age, she splits, leaving Linda there to take care of the man herself. When things go wrong, her mother finally retrieves her and is pregnant with yet another man's child. Things go from bad to worse, with Linda stuck in the middle and trying to be good and take care of everyone.
The reader sympathizes with Linda because she doesn't really seem to know any better and she is making some awful choices herself, but it is because she doesn't know what is right or wrong anymore after watching her mother live a life of bad choices. This isn't a happy story and doesn't end with all of the ends tied up neatly with Linda all cured and happy. Still, readers may enjoy seeing what it is like to be a teenager that has lived a life like this, in her own words.
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1 comment:
For me, your last sentence struck home - in her own words. The guy who wrote the book does not have the true ring of "own words" for a young and troubled woman.
I am a librarian serving 3 middle schools and a high school and have come to know some pretty sad stories. This one has all the elements thrown in - yet some how didn't feel right.
Maybe I feel he just had no right to write this book, from his place in life.
To whom would I recommend this book? I cannot think of anyone I would want to read it...
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