Little Girl Gone

It's a good thing I knew where I was walking while I was reading this book, because I walked three miles without picking up my nose from the pages. This is a powerful book about relationships and what people put themselves through to maintain them. It wasn't your standard "abusive boyfriend" story. It was much more than that. The first thing that I should note is that it is not the standard YA novel that takes place exclusively from the point of view of a sixteen- to eighteen-year-old. The main character is 23, but we also read through the lenses of a twelve-year-old boy, and forty-one-year-old woman, and even the twenty-something antagonist. Nothing about this book is what you would expect, and that's what made me love it.

The focus of this book is the characters. There is Madora, the 23-yr-old girlfriend who is aiding her boyfriend, ex-military Willis, as he holds a pregnant teenage girl hostage in a trailer behind their house. Oddly enough, the hostage is the most unlikeable character in the book, probably because she's one of the few characters from whose perspective we never get to see things. There is also Django, the genius 12-yr-old son of a recently deceased rock legend, and Robin, Django's 41-yr-old stifling aunt on his mother's side. None of theses character seem like they'd ever fit together, but they do, and beautifully. Campbell's characterization is the strongest part of her writing, though her settings are equally as lovely. I really connected with all of the characters just as I suspect the author intended. None of their choices or actions seemed contrived, even as their actions may have been unthinkable to the reader. On a side note, I became pretty excited when I read that Willis had once lived in Buffalo, New York, not far from where I reside (Buffalo is one of those cities that doesn't pop up much in books).

The pacing of the book was excellent, and the events were real and raw. Warning to readers: the book contains drug use, violence, and strong language (including the F-bomb). Such things can be really upsetting to readers, and normally I do not approve of them, but Drusilla Campbell uses them with purpose to move her story forward. She does not add these things explicitly for shock value. Nevertheless, these elements are present, and if they bother you, this book might be one for you to pass up (even as I am on my knees begging you to reconsider and read it anyway). For everyone else, I will shove this book in your hands and stand there and watch awkwardly as you read it. Well ... not really. But you get my point.