Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Burning Girl
Claire Messud
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Burning Girl
Claire Messud
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Burning Girl by Claire Messud is the story of two girls, Julia and Cassie, who have been friends since nursery school. When Cassie crushes her hand and can’t play the games she did before, the friends wander their small town to find adventure. Author Messud takes us on a trip through town so we can; really see it, feel it, smell it; the deserted playground, the old buildings, the variety stores with bins filled with stuffed animals. Julia tells the story and brings up ghosts when they go to the quarry. The ghost of Cassie’s father who was killed in an auto accident is too real as Cassie feels he is with her, even though he died when she was four months old.
When they break into the old mansion that was the asylum, they feel it is their destiny. Here again, Messud describes perfectly the vision the girls make of the huge room, in their minds, filled with young boys and girls, prisoners in that place. They picture elegant people descending the winding staircase, and silver trays of canapés and crystal glasses of champagne lined up on long buffet tables. They make up stories and play the parts as actors. One day, someone buys the mansion and the property, and their pretending is over. Later, Julia wonders if it ever happened.
As Julia grows older she realizes that being a girl means learning to be afraid. She sees terrible things happen to women on TV. She feels they could happen to her. Cassie’s mom, Bev, is with Ander Shute, the doctor who fixed Cassie’s arm, and he moves into her house. They tell Cassie they are married in the eyes of God. Cassie feels they are trying to control her; her skirts are too short, they check her closets, her posters must come off the walls. Shute is always watching her. When Julia gives a talk on environment and climate change, she interviews Rudy, an old friend of her father’s. He’s an old character who lives in a shack in the woods. He will add the personal touch her professor says she needs. It will be the ideal combination of the personal and the scientific. Julia sees Cassie’s old boyfriend, Peter, and they talk about poetry and music.
Shute makes Cassie leave her own home for no good reason. She Google’s her fathers name and finds someone who is a close fit to him in Bangor, Maine. Does Julia help her friend go to Maine? Is this what close friends do? Will they always be close friends? When friends disappear, how much does it hurt? Author Messud shows us the pain and pleasure of young friendships. Find this compelling book on the new fiction shelf of your community library.
When they break into the old mansion that was the asylum, they feel it is their destiny. Here again, Messud describes perfectly the vision the girls make of the huge room, in their minds, filled with young boys and girls, prisoners in that place. They picture elegant people descending the winding staircase, and silver trays of canapés and crystal glasses of champagne lined up on long buffet tables. They make up stories and play the parts as actors. One day, someone buys the mansion and the property, and their pretending is over. Later, Julia wonders if it ever happened.
As Julia grows older she realizes that being a girl means learning to be afraid. She sees terrible things happen to women on TV. She feels they could happen to her. Cassie’s mom, Bev, is with Ander Shute, the doctor who fixed Cassie’s arm, and he moves into her house. They tell Cassie they are married in the eyes of God. Cassie feels they are trying to control her; her skirts are too short, they check her closets, her posters must come off the walls. Shute is always watching her. When Julia gives a talk on environment and climate change, she interviews Rudy, an old friend of her father’s. He’s an old character who lives in a shack in the woods. He will add the personal touch her professor says she needs. It will be the ideal combination of the personal and the scientific. Julia sees Cassie’s old boyfriend, Peter, and they talk about poetry and music.
Shute makes Cassie leave her own home for no good reason. She Google’s her fathers name and finds someone who is a close fit to him in Bangor, Maine. Does Julia help her friend go to Maine? Is this what close friends do? Will they always be close friends? When friends disappear, how much does it hurt? Author Messud shows us the pain and pleasure of young friendships. Find this compelling book on the new fiction shelf of your community library.