Scan barcode
A review by maree_k
Girl Next Door by Alyssa Brugman
4.0
I've read a few books by Alyssa Brugman in the past and think she is a fantastic writer. Girl Next Door seemed to me to be a bit of a departure from some of her other novels I've read, and the character of Jenna Belle took me a bit of getting used to. She's a little immature, a little annoying at times, and often confused but by the end of the novel I really empathised with her situation. The 'riches to rags' story is an interesting one, as Jenna Belle tries to navigate not only her family falling apart but the slow realisation that her once pampered life where she got everything she wanted has gone, never to return.
The novel raises some interesting questions about class (in the supposedly classless Australian society) and how those without access to even the most basic of life's necessities can be ground down by the experience. A turning point for the character of Jenna Belle in her maturity was her ability to understand, if not forgive, the violent actions of the teenaged guys at the caravan park (where Jenna Belle, her mother and brother end up staying along their descent into homelessness).
The development of Jenna Belle's character, the way she matures from annoying, self-absorbed teen into a girl who is able to look beyond the surface of things and get real insight into the way the world works, was the best part of this book for me. Brugman has a real talent for looking inside issues in a non-didactic way. This novel, like her other work, is entertaining as well as thought provoking, and the questions it raises resonate after the final sentence has been read.
Highly recommended.
The novel raises some interesting questions about class (in the supposedly classless Australian society) and how those without access to even the most basic of life's necessities can be ground down by the experience. A turning point for the character of Jenna Belle in her maturity was her ability to understand, if not forgive, the violent actions of the teenaged guys at the caravan park (where Jenna Belle, her mother and brother end up staying along their descent into homelessness).
The development of Jenna Belle's character, the way she matures from annoying, self-absorbed teen into a girl who is able to look beyond the surface of things and get real insight into the way the world works, was the best part of this book for me. Brugman has a real talent for looking inside issues in a non-didactic way. This novel, like her other work, is entertaining as well as thought provoking, and the questions it raises resonate after the final sentence has been read.
Highly recommended.