And last but not least, my thanks to all the people in distribution, the book reps and buyers, the bookstore owners and librarians. These are the people who are responsible for getting my book into the hands of the reading people. A most important job, and I am very grateful.
-- Meg Tilly, Acknowledgments for Porcupine
Late night television is a bit thin these days, particularly after 12:35. Not quite when Conan, or even Dave (ancient history!) were options. And, a few years after Dave moved up, we had Tom Synder. Older viewers will remember him from before, but I know him from the few years when he followed Dave. He was an interesting, a bit off kilter, sort of interviewer, and seemed like a throwback. My favorite guest was Jennifer Tilly, who comes off as a bit of a nut. You know, in a good way.
Her sister* Meg Tilly was also a film actress, but was a much quieter sort -- no Bride of Chucky or lesbian vamp for her. Both sisters are half-Asian, both taking their mother's maiden name. You can sort of see this if you look at them, but it is an example of ethnicity adding a taste without us thinking about it so much. For instance, it took me a bit to realize (yeah, her name is a flag!) that Cameron Diaz has Hispanic in her background (her dad is Cuban). Anyway, Meg retired from acting in the mid-90s to raise her family and write.
She has a nice website and blog, the latter also points the way to her daughter's blog, currently about some project she has letting people control her days such as using a wheelchair all day. Meg started by writing a book that was in effect about her own childhood, which involved child sexual abuse. A follow-up also addressed such a subject as she discussed here. Not quite young adult fare, though some could handle it (I have the books on reserve), but when she was given the chance to go that route, she wrote wrote Porcupine. It has some of her childhood in it as well, one where books played an important role:
They gave me windows into other peoples lives, showed me there were other ways of doing things, other people who survived hardships and how they coped. They showed me what was possible. Or there were the comforting books of normal everyday life with a mother and a father and warm cookies after school. I also loved the historical books that would take dried up, dusty old history and make it real, tangible, engrossing. There were magical books that filled my heart with hopes and dreams, of fairy tales and escape and maybe someday it would happen to me. The library and the books it supplied was a great source of comfort to me as a child and young adult.
She notes that the book is particularly geared to young adults but is really for readers of all ages. I agree -- many good young adult fare can be enjoyed by people like myself, just as some books targeted to adults can be enjoyed by teens. Porcupine concerns a twelve year old tomboy from Newfoundland (Meg grew up in Canada, so the local flavor is written from experience) who moves with her younger brother and sister(after her dad dies in Afghanistan, her mom not able to handle it) in with her great-grandmother in much different Alberta. Jack (Jacqueline**) has lots to handle, including money problems, the stress of abandonment, her brother having a learning disability, and so forth.
This is all shown through her point of view, using a first person narrator. And, she is no all knowing sort -- she is a twelve year old girl, with her own strengths, limitations, insights, and has things to learn. We are on her side throughout, including a couple downright exciting moments -- the time when she kills a snake threatening the family dog might be a highlight. The countdown to a scary meeting with a school official, one that doesn't quite go as planned, also was a nice touch -- flashbacks to school! As with all good fiction, the supporting characters also are drawn well, again we obviously see them through her eyes.
BTW, a few people (if Amazon is a judge) were turned off by the bad language. The mother curses in some stressful situations as does Jack (her attachment to her dad and desire to be "tough" might suggest why she uses such "manly" language), but overall she is not just some little potty mouth. Her great-grandmother scolds her for saying a dinner was "damn good" after all! Still, such criticism is interesting -- I got in some debates online about how the teenage daughter on Army Wives dealt with the murder of her sister, for instance.
Recommended.
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* I would say "younger" sister [and Meg Tilly speaks of another sister being her "little sister" in the dedication to the book referenced here], but there is a dispute as to Jennifer's birthday.
** Tomboy or not, her inner beauty is apparent when we recall that all Jacquelines are beautiful. At least, that is one reason why my sis chose that name for my niece.