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    Girlchild: A Novel
    Girlchild: A Novel
    Girlchild: A Novel
    Audiobook5 hours

    Girlchild: A Novel

    Written by Tupelo Hassman

    Narrated by Tupelo Hassman

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Rory Hendrix is the least likely of Girl Scouts. She hasn't got a troop or even a badge to call her own. But she's checked the Handbook out from the elementary school library so many times that her name fills all the lines on the card, and she pores over its surreal advice (Uniforms, disposing of outgrown; The Right Use of Your Body; Finding Your Way When Lost) for tips to get off the Calle: that is, the Calle de las Flores, the Reno trailer park where she lives with her mother, Jo, the sweet-faced, hard-luck bartender at the Truck Stop.Rory's been told that she is one of the "third-generation bastards surely on the road to whoredom." But she's determined to prove the county and her own family wrong. Brash, sassy, vulnerable, wise, and terrified, she struggles with her mother's habit of trusting the wrong men, and the mixed blessing of being too smart for her own good. From diary entries, social workers' reports, half-recalled memories, arrest records, family lore, Supreme Court opinions, and her grandmother's letters, Rory crafts a devastating collage that shows us her world even as she searches for the way out of it.Tupelo Hassman's Girlchild is a heart-stopping and original debut.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMay 28, 2012
    ISBN9781452677491
    Author

    Tupelo Hassman

    Tupelo Hassman’s debut novel, Girlchild, was the recipient of the American Library Association’s Alex Award. Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Harper’s Bazaar, Imaginary Oklahoma, The Independent, Portland Review, and ZYZZYVA, among other publications. She is the recipient of the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame Silver Pen Award and the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award, and is the first American to have won London’s Literary Death Match. She earned her MFA at Columbia University.

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    Reviews for Girlchild

    4/5

    171 ratings30 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Rory Dawn lives in a trailer with her mother who tends bar at a truck stop. Poverty and violence have defined the lives of women in their families for generations. Rory, using the girl scout handbook as her guide, tries to learn how to navigate the world.
    • 4/5


      Powerful, beautiful, wrenching, sad, funny in spots. I'm looking forward to her next book, if she has another one in her.
    • 3/5
      I wasn't going to finish this book because it was so sad but when I read reviews here on Goodreads, I was convinced to continue. It was still a sad read but with a glimmer of hope at the end.
    • 5/5
      Hassman is a powerhouse of a writer with beautiful imagery, description and reflection about the ugly subject of child abuse/molestation. Set in Reno, NV in the 70s, this fictional story is told from Rory D.'s point of view about her white trash upbringing and the legacy of her "feeble-minded" Mama and Grandma who were both children having children in part due to ignorance and in part due to circumstances. Hassman's poetic writing allows for short chapters that can stand alone as essays, much like Cisneros' House on Mango Street but for a more mature audience. The abuse itself isn't as vivid as Mary Karr's memoirs, but the after-effects are chilling and heart-breaking. Tragedy is a fact of life on the Calle (the neighborhood where Rory grows up), but the ending is hopeful and promising.
    • 4/5
      Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman was a difficult read as it is a coming of age story that deals with both sexual abuse and family dysfunction. Rory Dawn Hendrix is growing up in the Calle de Las Flores trailer park on the outskirts of Reno, Nevada where the inhabitants barely make ends meet and the police are regular visitors. Rory’s single mother is a hard drinking bartender at the Truck Stop. While at work Rory is entrusted to teenage babysitter Carol. It soon becomes obvious that Carol’s father has been molesting Carol and has now turned his attentions onto Rory. When his abuse is discovered, he spirits himself and his daughter away while Rory is left to recover as best as she can. Rory takes her inspiration from a battered copy of “The Girl Guides Handbook” and pretty much raises herself. Although Rory scores amazingly well on IQ tests and is an excellent student, she struggles with both low self-esteem and, at times, self-loathing.Girlchild unfolds through diary entries, social worker’s reports, memories, story problems, arrest records and family tales. Although the subject matter is grim, the author adds plenty of dark humor to tell this heartbreaking story of one young American have-not. I found this book to be a powerful and original read.
    • 5/5
      I was attracted to this book by it's cover; remember the old library cards, you could see who had read the book before you....I loved that. This is a first novel by a writer with a distinct voice. The book reads partly as a novel, partly as a scrapbook. Some may find this disjointed or jarring, I found the interspersed math problems, letters and reports allowed me to understand the characters and their circumstances even more. The writing is poetic and brutal, I found myself rereading paragraphs to absorb their beauty.

      "Reno is just like Tahoe, only without anything beautiful, Tahoe but without the fresh air and fir trees, without fathers and sons out for their first fishing trip. Tiptoe up behind Tahoe and put a hand over it's mouth. Bear down slowly until it doesn't fight the developers pawing it's land. That's Reno."

      This is not a happy, or even a hopeful book, but as a reader I was able to admire the multi-dimensional characters even as they failed each other. I read this book as slowly as possible, savouring the writing, knowing I would miss the characters once I was done.
    • 4/5
      This is why I love reading so much; this book is like nothing I've ever read before and it took me to a place I've never been.

      "My name is Rory Dawn Hendrix, feebleminded daughter of a feebleminded daughter, herself the product of feebleminded stock. Welcome to the Calle."

      Rory Dawn comes from a liniage of bad news - both her mother and grandmother were teenage moms, sexually abused, alocholics, gamblers, smokers, and most importanly they have been stuck in Calle de las Flores - the trailer park. While it is clear that history seems to repeat itself, Rory's Grandma instills these expecations into Rory - "Someone’s got to make it and it has to be you.” Does she?

      The writing style of Tupelo Hassman is unique - maybe not for everyone - very short chapters (sometimes in the form of a letter or social worker's report) at times poor grammar and very choppy. However in the end, it creates such a tragic, beautiful and original story. I loved it from the beginning.
    • 4/5
      Like others said, this book is really depressing. It is about a girl growing up in a trailer park outside Reno as she struggles with poverty and sexual abuse. While the story isn't always engaging, the writing is so impressive, I think the book is deserving of four stars. I enjoyed the author's clever way of putting words together to tell the story.
    • 4/5
      Spirited, self-aware narrator that readers will really root for. Difficult and gritty situations handeled beautifully.
    • 4/5
      A well written story, but the subject matter is very intense at times. The story is about Rory Dawn, a young girl growing up with a single mother in a trailer park north of Reno. While the book is funny at times it is mostly sad with a very mature subject matter, and description of multiple generations making bad decisions and lifestyle choices including; alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic violence, poverty, teen pregnancy and child molestation. Heavy themes that are very well written by an excellent author.
    • 4/5
      This is a moving story about a young girl, Rory Dawn, who is bright, curious and empathetic. Growing up with her mother in a trailer park north of Reno, Rory's life is one of sexual abuse, neglect and Social Services. But Rory is a survivor, with a strength that allows her to stay well adjusted through it all. And she dreams of escaping the multigenerational legacy of poverty, teen pregnancy and addiction. Although this book deals with heavy themes, Rory's narration provides humour and insights that lessen the gloom. Until you stop to think. It is a sad commentary on life where a major indicator of your success in life is your address.
    • 2/5
      This story was quite different than what the description gave it. From the description I expected some poor girl who couldn't afford her Girl Scout Dues being sent off on some world wind adventure where she had to live off the land and fight bears to survive. Like a modern day "Hatchet". Instead I got a story about a poor girl who had to fight child abuse, sexual abuse, broken families, and stupid government employees. It was dark. The story also frequently jumps between the "present' and reading old letters, old social work reports etc. It’s hard to follow on the audio book. My guess is that there would be better hints in the actual book, maybe a different font, or intentions or something. I also really found the voice of the reader annoying, which seems frequent when I hear audio books read by women. That may say more about me than about female readers, I’m not certain. Regardless if you are into dark stories about girls fighting sexual abuse by local child care providers, I recommend the actual book, if you aren't into that kind of thing, skip this one.
    • 5/5
      Our hero wants to be the star of her life, but she has to find the rules and her path without much help. Her family is not very functional, her mother means well but isn't all that connected with the world any more. The rest of her family is scattered. Social services checks in but doesn't do much else. So, our girl uses an old edition of the Girl Scout Manual as her guide. Growing up can be very interesting.
    • 3/5
      Not exactly an uplifting book and the 2nd coming of age novel with a young girl narrator I have finished in a week. Despite the ultimately depressing story in Age of Miracles, Girlchild was much more thought-provoking for me and more bleak. I knew a lot of kids who lived in trailer parks when I went to high school and I saw most of those kids, boys and girls, end up exactly as their parents had, just like in this book. Generational poverty is hard to escape and when you throw in early pregnancy, unreliable relationships, and lack of educational attainment, for many in our society, their entire lives are already proscribed.
      I enjoyed this book but I think I will be searching out a less bleak, perhaps happier books for my next choice.
    • 4/5
      Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman is one of those books, that after reading other people’s reviews, I was dying to read. And luckily, this book fell into my hands after a library book sale (those are always the best, aren’t they?).Girlchild is a book about Rory Dawn Hendrix, a girl who lives in the trailer park in Reno with her mother and near her grandmother. Her life is not beautiful, not wonderful, not uplifting in any way at all.But Rory finds a connection with the Girl Scout Handbook, which is her bright shiny way out of the trailer park.For the full review, visit Love at First Book
    • 5/5
      Tupelo Hassman's debut novel, GIRLCHILD, quite simply: Blew. Me. Away.Rory Dawn, or R.D., Hendrix and her hard-luck bartender mom, Johanna, live on the Calle, short for Calle de las Flores, a dead-end trailer park on the fringes of Reno. The fact is the only flowers Rory can depend on are the toilet-paper flowers fashioned for her by one of the regulars at the Truck Stop, the bar where her mother works. The Calle instead brought to mind another street I read of many years ago, STREET WITHOUT JOY, the title of Bernard Fall's landmark history of the Vietnam conflict. Indeed, Hassman's young heroine-narrator describes her street thusly:"And the Calle is a kind of war zone, the enemy is all around us, the enemy is us. We're so pent up we can't even trust ourselves, let alone each other ... there's wounded everywhere, and that's what the bars are for, to house the wounded. Tending bar is a triage all its own."So yeah; there are no real flowers on the Calle, only misery, sexual predators, dashed dreams and ruined lives. R.D.'s own misery is meticulously recorded in short bursts of powerful prose, although some events so painful they can only be described in long lines of blacked-out words, leaving the physical and emotional carnage to the imagination of the reader. But there is hope for Rory. She reads. And sometimes there is salvation in books - a way out. A superior student in a mediocre school system, she stands out, even while she endures unspeakable horrors in her home life.Fatherless and victimized by sexual predators, she takes comfort in TV shows like "Family Ties" ("because the dad's beard is soft like his voice and the mom's teeth are crooked and she smiles sweet anyway...") and "M*A*S*H" ("because of Hawkeye ... Hawkeye doesn't quit. Even when he's up to his elbows in blood and bombs are falling, and the lights won't stay on, he doesn't walk away. Hawkeye will save your life no matter where you come from ..."). Again, you will note that R.D. may be just a kid, but she can obiously relate to war.Her other refuge on this street without joy is her grandmother, who does manage to coax some flowers from the arrid desert soil. And although both Grandma and Mom are fallible - imperfect and beaten down by lives wracked with sexual abuse, poverty and hopelessness - Rory clings desperately to their love, even to the point of shielding them from what is happening to her, afraid they'll be disappointed.She also has her own personal bible, a dog-eared copy of THE GIRL SCOUT HANDBOOK, which, unfortunately offers no chapter with advice on becoming a woman, so she writes her own chapter: "Proficiency Badge: Puberty," which is guaranteed to bring a rueful mix of tears and laughter.It's been a while since I last read such a powerful coming-of-age novel. One I can think of is Alicia Erian's TOWELHEAD. But nah; Hassman's Rory Dawn Hendrix is one-of-a-kind. I could say so much more about this book, but I don't want to spoil it. I will give it my by-now trademark highest praise: "HOLY CRAP THIS IS A GOOD BOOK!" VERY highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      There are many reasons why I pick a book up and this one was brought home because of the praise from Heather O'Neill, whose Lullabies for Little Criminals I read last year, on the front. The fact Ms O'Neill praises it will give you a better idea of what you're in for with this book than the blurb does:"Rory Dawn Hendrix is in a Girl Scout troop of one.She lives in a trailer park called the Calles de las Flores near Reno.And she's determined to leave, childless, before her sixteenth birthday. Easier said than done."Given the events in the book, that blurb is rather distasteful in addition to being wildly inaccurate. This is a book which covers Rory Dawn's life from age 5 through to 16. It is that rare thing: a female book about female lives and the problems and conflicts men - through no fault of their own - do not have to think about, worry about, or even give daily thought to. It is one of the books to hold up when detractors claim women authors are equal these days (look at the Granta list! Why are you still complaining?!). You'll know we've reached literary equality when you can hold a book like this up and somebody in the room has read it.So, yes. I liked it very much and I especially liked the style - short chapters, almost vignettes.
    • 4/5
      While I didn't find this to be mind-blowing book it certainly grabbed at my heart. Rory was just an incredible look at how strong young children can be. Much stronger than they should have to be, but there none the less. For the most part, I really enjoyed Tupelo's writing style,however at times I confess to being rather confused at what was trying to be said. Some of the short chapters I know had meaning beyond the print but, my understanding failed. Very good book though and I would recommend.
    • 5/5
      This was at times hard to read, but it was worth it since it was so beautifully written. Looking forward to seeing more from this author.
    • 4/5
      'Girlchild' is the story of what it means to a little girl when men find boredom in a trailer park near Reno, when all that they can see is the desert. This is told from the point of view of Rory Dawn Hendrix (from her name I envisioned her parents as a Gilmore Girl and a rock star.) Most of the chapters are less than three pages, and some of the story is told through social service reports or pages of a Girl Scout handbook. I was a bit wary when I heard the story was about abuse. It is certainly one of the tougher subjects a book can have, and in no way entertaining -- a quality I usually look for in a book. Thankfully, the abuse doesn't go into too much detail and remains vague and hinted at. Rory's mother unknowingly puts her in harms way while being haunted by her own trauma and trying to keep her daughter away from that, thus giving her less options in raising her daughter. Her harm perpetuates her daughter's harm. Even the most well-meaning parents who try so hard make mistakes. Rory's only guidance in her desolation is her Girl Scouts handbook. Rory is such a sweet innocent voice -- you really want her to make it out of that trailer park and be strong, as her grandma says "someone has to". 'Girlchild' is less mystical and magical than Karen Russell's 'Swamplandia' but also less raw, more delicate than a book by Dorothy Allison. Hassman has some admirable writing skills, I just wish those skills wouldn't go to such a dark place. It seems like every female in this book is abused and you never get to see the happy times of any of the characters, like before Rory has to grow up quick. Rory seems to find an answer, but I don't think it is that easy. Not very fun or escapist, but it is good at what it is supposed to be doing -- telling the story of abuse, when not many people tell that story for themselves.
    • 4/5
      A beautifully-written story, told in vignettes, about a girl growing up in a desert trailer park in the late '70s and early '80s. It's difficult to say that I "enjoyed" this book, as the girl, Rory Dawn, and her single mom experience quite a few devastating and dehumanizing events, but the tale is told through Rory Dawn's eyes, and so we get to see firsthand her resilience and her fight against everything that tries to destroy her.My favorite part about this book is the fact that Rory repeatedly checks out a Girl Scout handbook from her local library and uses it to guide her through the rough parts of her life.
    • 4/5
      Rory Dawn lives in a trailer with her mother who tends bar at a truck stop. Poverty and violence have defined the lives of women in their families for generations. Rory, using the girl scout handbook as her guide, tries to learn how to navigate the world.
    • 5/5
      From Lilac Wolf and StuffThe cover caught my eye. A trailer that looks like it would feel at home in my trailer park but set in the desserts of Nevada.I started reading and it knocked me over to read a story that followed my own childhood eerily close. It didn't hide how common child sexual abuse is, but it didn't go into painful detail either. I think it was the perfect balance on such a difficult topic for so many (too many) women.This story is not an easy read. It deals with those living in poverty for generations as their own counter-culture. I thought it was brilliant because so much of it range true. Especially how anyone from the government (including or and especially police) is not to be trusted.How very hard people work just to get by. During a time when the stereotype of the welfare abusers is running rampant, we see that is stupid because even with welfare, life is hard and lean.I thought this was such a sad read, and so well written I literally couldn't put it down. It's not going to be for everyone. The story is written almost like a diary, with the time-frame and memories jumping all over the place without a lot of hints about where you are currently at in Rory Dawn's life. But I absolutely loved it, the story was completely captivating.
    • 4/5
      Overall a really great story. This was hard to rate because it was very good 95% of the way through, but I felt it fizzled a little at the end. Follows a young girl, Rory Dawn Hendrix, through the difficulties of life in a decrepit trailer park outside Reno, through interweaving the trials of the previous two generations of women throughout the book. Ragged, gritty, and very honest look at the realities of growing up poor and female, and how hard it is NOT to perpetuate the cycles of poverty + violence in these families. The voice was really amazing throughout, until the end when it goes into the aftermath of a particular situation with Rory Dawn's mother (I don't want to spoil it!), I just thought it was kind of anticlimactic and lame. Maybe it was like this purposefully, but I don't think so. I would still totally recommend this book though, the good far outweighs the bad here, and Tupelo Hassman is certainly an author worth keeping an eye on.
    • 4/5
      Rory Dawn Hendrix is growing up poor in a trailer park in Nevada. The women in her family have all moved from early pregnancy to lives of poverty and drudgery. Rory is determined to get away from her trailer park, the Calle. The Calle conforms to every stereotype of lower-class white America. Adults move from mindless jobs to bars and casinos where they drown themselves in alcohol and dreams. Little is expected of children and little attention is paid to them. Sexual, physical, and emotional abuse are the norm. Rory's guide to life is her Girl Scout Handbook. With this she sets about tasks of survival and discovering what information county officials are harboring about her family. Undoubtedly this is an unusual book. It is written as Rory's diary, from childhood through her teenage years. Her youthful observations give voice to the desperation of poverty, and the sense of futility that pervade the Calle. The book is intriguing, it is also depressing.
    • 4/5
      The character of Rory quite quickly won me over and I found myself just wanting to grab her and get her out of there. She is also the narrator and tells her story in a matter of fact tone of voice in relatively short musings. Parts of this were hard to read but I just found myself wanting something good to happen for her. The writing is unique as is this first book by a new author. Can't wait to see what she does next.
    • 2/5
      Widely praised, this debut novel reads like a cross between Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina and "J.T. Leroy's" Sarah. If you've read a lot of misery lit, especially coming-of-age misery lit, you won't find anything new here. Trailer park, sexual abuse, addiction, check check check.
    • 4/5
      Rory isn't your typical Girl Scout. For one thing, she belongs to a troop of one. She always "does her best", but in fact, the Girl Scout Handbook is not of much help to Rory in dealing with the issues life throws her way. Living in the high desert just outside Reno, Rory's home is a double-wide in a trailer park in a neighborhood that locals call The Calle. Her mom works the bar at the truck stop across the street, and Rory is left to do much of her growing up on her own--or with the help of careless babysitters who unwittingly leave her in dangerous situations from which she may never recover. Told in her own voice (with the help of letters from Grandma and documents from an unseen social worker, Rory's story is by turns hysterical and heart-breaking. First novelist Tupelo Hassman has created an unforgettable heroine in Rory Dawn Hendrix, strong as steel, delicate as a lace doily--this reader won't be forgetting her soon! A wonderful debut!
    • 4/5
      What a heartbreaking, and beautifully told debut novel.Narrated by Rory Dawn Hendrix, the child of a single mom, who lives on a trailer park called the Calle in Reno, NV. She tells the story of her life through self-narrated diary-like entries, SAT-like questions, sections of the Girl Scout Handbook, and transcriptions of her mom's past Welfare reports (which she stole). Rory lives on the wild-west like, rule free Calle and attends school where she is so intelligent, the spelling bee is her ticket out of there. Her mom works at the local truck stop bar and she is cared for by the Hardware Store Man, his daughter Carol, and her grandmother.Tupelo transforms us to this world in her direct, heartwretching descriptions of life that is hard to survive, and even harder to get out of.
    • 4/5
      Creatively written, the story is at times funny, realistic, and yet horrifying in its tragedy. The story is told in short chapters in a wide variety of styles, tied together loosely by Rory, the girl, reading from the Girl Scout Handbook and trying to model her life through the outdated and often irrelevant advice she reads there. There are also letters, parts of files from the state, pages that are mostly blacked out words and more - enough style that at times it overwhelms the plot, though for the most part I think the unique style was what carried the story. The reader gets a real sense of Rory and her life, from childhood through adolescence. There is a plot but the book is almost more about human resilience, the character of a family and a town and the nature of intelligence than it is about the story itself. I found the book sad and I didn't find the end uplifting in the same way as many other reviewers, but I did think the author managed to wrap up the tragic story with a little bit of hope.