Me and Emma written by Elizabeth Flock, is a heart wrenching tale told in the eyes of eight year old Caroline/Carrie Parker. After the death of her father, Caroline lives in the town of Toast, North Carolina with her six year old sister Emma, mother Libby, and abusive step father, Richard. The story touches on many different aspects as it talks about the constant daily abuse from Richard, the neglect from their emotionally absent mother, and the special relationship between Caroline and Emma. The book is also narrated in a southern accent, as the characters are from North Carolina, but is also told with the purity of an eight year old mind, which makes the characters in this book seem even more real than they already are. As if all these reasons aren’t enough to make one want to pick up this book, author Elizabeth Flock has even added a surprise twist towards the end of this book, making readers want to read it all over again.
“The first time Richard hit me I saw stars in front of my eyes like they do in cartoons.”
Caroline, Emma, and their mother suffer from the never ending abuse of Richard, and the haunting thought of “How are they going to escape Richard?” becomes an instantaneous question within the first chapter of the book. This question becomes the main conflict and carries on throughout the course of the book, making readers anticipate when the suffering of our protagonist is going to end. As Caroline and Emma go through with the abuse on a daily basis, Caroline also takes us into her past, where she often thinks about situations that happened with her father, whom it becomes obvious she misses terribly. These flashbacks into the past are tear provoking and incredibly sorrowful as it makes the reader see how happy her situation was compared to the present.
Due to the constant abuse, Emma becomes Caroline’s salvation, her only ray of light in the dark that consumes her present. Being constantly bullied at school and abused at home, Emma, with a character and appearance that is completely contrasting to Caroline’s, helps her through all the daily obstacles she faces. Protecting her younger sister Emma becomes a task that Caroline carries out with her everyday as she states “A big sister’s got to protect her baby sister”. Their relationship makes the book all the more enjoyable as readers are warm with emotions that only Caroline and Emma can conjure into our hearts.
Apart from the appealing characters and suspenseful plot, Elizabeth Flock’s writing style is also an added bonus to this lovely book. The way Elizabeth Flock describes every scene through the eyes of Caroline is an amazing achievement. Not only can the reader visualize everything that happens, we can see it from Caroline’s perspective; when Caroline is sad, we’re sad with her, when Caroline is happy, we’re screaming for joy as well.
“The blood’s spreading out from her head like a spilled coffee cup. One arm is bent like it’s been pulled out of the socket. “
The way Elizabeth Flock describes every little detail creates a very vivid image in the readers minds which leaves us in horror most of the times, as the miserable life of Caroline and Emma is engraved into our heads.
Overall, I think that Me & Emma is a strikingly beautiful piece of work. This book takes us into the lives of two innocent children and makes our hearts ache whenever something unpleasant happens to them. The diction is amazingly descriptive, the characters incredibly lovable or incredibly despicable, and the plot at times unendurable due to the amount of misery the two characters go through. The twist at the end will leave readers in shock and tears as we close the books with heavy hearts, only to be left with the thought of opening the book and reading it all over again.