Sweet Bells Jangled Out of Tune

by Robin F. Brancato

Fifteen-year-old Ellen Dohrman tries to reach out to her mentally ill grandmother and finds herself confronting the social service authorities and her own mother

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult

182 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 1982

Reviews

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another obscure teen book from the early 80s from my sister's bookshelf growing up XD It was a decent story.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a truly odd story. It takes place over one week and covers Ellen reconnecting with her mentally ill grandmother against her mother's wishes, discovering that she's living in a hoarded house without water or electricity, and what she decides to do about it. This will contain spoilers.

I had a hard time suspending my disbelief a couple times for Ellen's actions, just logically. She keeps leaving and going places on her own without telling anyone (it's 1982 and she just turned 15), and yet is able to make it back on a bus before anyone notices. Like, she goes to the sixth floor of the hospital so the doctor can show her the psychiatric ward, and then she calls her friend and he says, "Come right away, I saw smoke at your grandmother's house." And she takes a cab there. Rather than telling him to call the fire department and then *going downstairs to where her mother is, with her car.* Apparently, her mother stays in the meeting they had both been attending all through this, until Ellen shows back up with her grandmother after taking the bus back to the hospital. That must have been one long meeting... I get that in a YA story the teen protagonist needs to have agency and do big things herself, but this was just really unlikely and, frankly, a strange decision, now that her mother is in the loop. And how come, in the meeting, no one says, "First let's make sure the water and electricity are turned back on while we're deciding on next steps."

And THEN--they go on about how Grandma Eva needs to admit herself voluntarily. Then, when she comes to the ER for an injury, she is sedated without her permission and when she awakens, she is tricked/coaxed into signing the "voluntary" form, while the doctor watches. And they all applaud the teenager for getting Eva to do it?! If this is how things were/are regarding voluntary admission, I don't want to think about it. Ack.

It's not a particularly satisfying story. We don't get to see Eva get the help she needs really, or get her house made safe (She can't live there anymore, so I guess we're supposed to not care), or find out what happened to the checks Ellen put in her pocket... Huh.

[Rants and Bants · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book was okay. It was nothing more than a light summer teen read of the 80s, but I am glad to say that it was far better than some of the shitty older teen books I'd purchased/read a while back. Probably because this one isn't inundated with romance, obnoxiousness, or just silly pointless drama. It was more of a family book--in fact, the two teens don't share their first kiss until the very end. The characters were all quite likeable, and it addresses an important mental issue of hoarding and how sometimes people can put too much emphasis on material things rather than people, relationships, experiences, communications, etc. Important meaningful things. The writing was a bit dry and brittle for me, I couldn't really picture the characters, and the dialogue didn't always work for me. But overall, it was a pretty decent book. I'd like to maybe try to find and read some of this author's other books in the future.

[Joanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in junior high. The girl finds out the that crazy bag lady in town (but I think she has a house too) is her grandmother and she sets out to try and help her but of course the woman is needs much more than the girl can offer.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in Jr. High and loved it!!!