Valentine
It's hard to know if author Elizabeth Wetmore has a problem with men in general, marriage or whether it's the oil boom in Odessa, Texas that attracts the “scum of the earth” that bothers her.
Three of the women characters want out of their marriage or their pregnancy. Gigi leaves her nine-year-old daughter. The narrator explains that Gigi was one of the women who “made it out alive”. Mary Rose is married with a child. She aborts the second child without telling her husband and gets pregnant again four months later. Karla gets pregnant by an unknown man; she can't handle the obligation, but also can't find a doctor or a clinic to handle the abortion until it's too late. She loves Diane more than she thought was possible. She turns out to be the toughest of them all.
The story starts when fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramirez is raped by one of the oil field roughnecks. She's pretty beat up but she makes it to a nearby house where Mary Rose happens to live. She has her daughter call the cops while she faces down the rapist with a shotgun.
Gloria's mother is an illegal Mexican, although Gloria was born in America. When it comes to a trial she gets little sympathy. Mary Rose receives threatening phone calls. Mary Rose's husband doesn't want her to testify. She has little choice. The girl is only fourteen years old!
A subplot involves Gigi's daughter, Debra Ann, who's a real sweetheart. She notices this little guy who's living in a sewer pipe. She leaves him a note, asking if he needs anything. They become bosom buddies and she helps him get his truck back which has been repossessed by a friend. Debra Ann is the type of girl who has imaginary friends. Corrine, an older lady whose husband has died, is aggravated when Debra Ann tries to talk to her. Her husband, Potter, always talked to Debra Ann as if she was an adult and got quite a kick out of her imaginary friends.
All of these characters eventually relate, mostly because of the rape. Corrine is suicidal because of her husband's death, but in a weird way the rape and the trial save her life. And she tells Debra Ann she can ring her bell anytime, and she'll always answer.
Three of the women characters want out of their marriage or their pregnancy. Gigi leaves her nine-year-old daughter. The narrator explains that Gigi was one of the women who “made it out alive”. Mary Rose is married with a child. She aborts the second child without telling her husband and gets pregnant again four months later. Karla gets pregnant by an unknown man; she can't handle the obligation, but also can't find a doctor or a clinic to handle the abortion until it's too late. She loves Diane more than she thought was possible. She turns out to be the toughest of them all.
The story starts when fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramirez is raped by one of the oil field roughnecks. She's pretty beat up but she makes it to a nearby house where Mary Rose happens to live. She has her daughter call the cops while she faces down the rapist with a shotgun.
Gloria's mother is an illegal Mexican, although Gloria was born in America. When it comes to a trial she gets little sympathy. Mary Rose receives threatening phone calls. Mary Rose's husband doesn't want her to testify. She has little choice. The girl is only fourteen years old!
A subplot involves Gigi's daughter, Debra Ann, who's a real sweetheart. She notices this little guy who's living in a sewer pipe. She leaves him a note, asking if he needs anything. They become bosom buddies and she helps him get his truck back which has been repossessed by a friend. Debra Ann is the type of girl who has imaginary friends. Corrine, an older lady whose husband has died, is aggravated when Debra Ann tries to talk to her. Her husband, Potter, always talked to Debra Ann as if she was an adult and got quite a kick out of her imaginary friends.
All of these characters eventually relate, mostly because of the rape. Corrine is suicidal because of her husband's death, but in a weird way the rape and the trial save her life. And she tells Debra Ann she can ring her bell anytime, and she'll always answer.
No comments have been added yet.
