<![CDATA[Ellen Foster]]>

false <![CDATA[Ellen Foster]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223676277m/277397.jpg 277397 23 Oprah Book Club® Selection, October 1997: Kaye Gibbons is a writer who brings a short story sensibility to her novels. Rather than take advantage of the novel's longer form to paint her visions in broad, sweeping strokes, Gibbons prefers to concentrate on just one corner of the canvas and only a few colors to produce her small masterpieces. In Gibbons's case, her canvas is the American South and her colors are all the shades of gray. In Ellen Foster, the title character is an 11-year-old orphan who refers to herself as "old Ellen," an appellation that is disturbingly apt. Ellen is an old woman in a child's body; her frail, unhappy mother dies, her abusive father alternately neglects her and makes advances on her, and she is shuttled from one uncaring relative's home to another before she finally takes matters into her own hands and finds herself a place to belong. There is something almost Dickensian about Ellen's tribulations; like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or a host of other literary child heroes, Ellen is at the mercy of predatory adults, with only her own wit and courage--and the occasional kindness of others--to help her through. That she does, in fact, survive her childhood and even rise above it is the book's bittersweet victory. 1347714 1987 Ellen Foster total:4400|5:937|4:1482|3:1434|2:450|1:97| 4400 15912 5383 391 4 4 false false Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed Jul 11 18:41:45 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 11 18:42:58 -0700 2007 Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons reads: "When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy." Wow! Talk about a powerful hook! Eleven year old Ellen has been through more than any child should experience. Her father is alcoholic and abusive toward Ellen's mother. ...more...]]> 0 1 false false Sun Dec 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 06 18:52:53 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 07 20:26:06 -0800 2008 ...more...]]> 4 1 false true Thu Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 10:40:01 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 28 23:12:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Mar 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 05 17:22:43 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 24 14:28:11 -0700 2008 ISBN 0-7383-0477-8
Kaye Gibbons

“ When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” Ellen foster is not a homicidal girl out to kill her father, but a girl with a troubled past. She has to en...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 1988 Sat Jul 28 18:12:56 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 28 18:31:05 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Apr 30 18:38:52 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 30 18:38:52 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Feb 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 22:09:53 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 09 15:19:27 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Mar 09 14:40:22 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 09 14:44:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false true Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 23:24:29 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 00:29:46 -0700 2009 2
I really didn't like it, but I had it on my reading list, so I forced myself to finish it. The last time I had read it was in high school, and that's where it should have stayed.

Reading it for the second time five years later, I was annoyed b...more...]]> 4 0 false true Fri Apr 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 12:38:36 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 21:51:05 -0700 2009
Some have said that the writing style made it hard to get into. It is different than I am used to, bu...more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Feb 21 17:40:23 -0800 2008 Tue Jun 02 19:42:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Aug 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 15:41:53 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 15:59:04 -0700 2009
...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jul 18 16:38:11 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 16:50:20 -0700 2009 hard for me to get through this book.

Reading this book felt like staring at blank pages; it just felt plotless. I would read on and wait for something worth the wait to happen, and just when i thought som...more...]]> 1 0 false false Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Thu Aug 13 10:32:58 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 10:40:10 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat May 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 23 10:21:09 -0700 2009 Sat May 23 10:22:16 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 1 false false Mon Jan 21 06:25:42 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 06:25:42 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Mon Jan 12 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 13:14:43 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 13:21:17 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 15 07:46:54 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 15 07:50:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jun 08 18:04:22 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 08 18:05:03 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Tue Jul 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 18:06:10 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 18:10:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=277397