Gingerbread

Cyd Charisse, the almost anti-heroine of Gingerbread, has been tossed out of boarding school and thrust back into the bosom of her family the last place she'd like to be. Family, in Cyd's case, means her mother (a very society conscious woman determined to keep up with the Jones'), Sid-Dad (her bio dad, Frank, lives on the other side of the country in New York), and her half-sibs.

Her constant companion is Gingerbread, a doll that her bio-dad gave her a long time ago. She's seen him only once or twice because she was the result of an affair her mother had with Frank a long time ago and Frank has an entirely separate family. But there's a whole in Cyd's life that is dad-shaped and she really wants to get to know him.

The two people she actually cares most about are Sugar Pie, an older woman in an old folk's home, and Shrimp, her hot surfer boyfriend. Shrimp, of course, seems like trouble waiting to happen to her mother and when Cyd stays out too much and too late with him, she finally decides that maybe it is time for Cyd to spend some time with her biological father.

So Cyd is shipped off to stay with Frank and meet her half-sibs on that side (who are much older). She hits it off immediately with Danny, her half-brother, but it takes a little longer to get used to Lisbeth, her half-sister, who isn't quite as accepting of her dad's secret love child.

But everything isn't exactly like Cyd thought it would be. [warning: a somewhat spoiler coming] Spending time with Frank isn't exactly magical. New York doesn't completely bowl her over. And then, towards the end of her visit, she runs into Justin. Justin is the reason she was expelled from boarding school. He's also the father of the baby that Cyd wound up having aborted. No one, other than bio-dad, knows her secret. And he only knows indirectly because she had to ask him for money to cover the operation, which she had to arrange and go to on her own because Justin chickened out.

Cyd returns home soon after and finds that her mom can actually be good for some things. Things are starting to look up for Cyd as she starts to loosen up.

I recommend this book for ages 14 and up. Told in Cyd's sarcastic but engaging voice, the novel is just a wonderful read. Cohn has created a truly memorable heroine.

Gingerbread tells the story of a girl whose parents divorced when she was young. She has only one memory of her father: meeting him in an airport, where he gave her gingerbread and bough her a doll. She promptly named the doll Gingerbread and has carried it around ever since.

Now a teenager, she still has the doll, as well as the yearning to see her father. Her mother has remarried, and though she gets along well enough with her stepfather and adores her younger half-siblings, she feels out of place - and feels the need to get out of that place.

She finally gets the chance to visit her father, going across the continent to the other coast, only to find that she doesn't quite fit there either. Her father is distant and their relationship is awkward. She has half-siblings on her father's side, but they are older, grown, which pushes her into the unfamiliar role of the younger sister. Luckily, she hits it off with one of them: her half-brother Danny, who is extremely lovable and easily my favorite character in the book.

The book moves along at a good pace, giving you more and more insight into the characters as it goes along. Secrets are revealed, bonds are made, promises are broken, but always in a realistic fashion. In other words, this book is not sappy nor melodramatic. It reminds us that just because you are related does not make you automatic friends, but it does not have to make you enemies either.

I am looking forward to Shrimp, the sequel to Gingerbread, released in 2005. I also greatly enjoyed Rachel Cohn's juvenile novel The Steps, which also dealt with extended and estranged families, but with a younger protagonist and a touch more comedy.