Tuesday, February 19, 2013

2013 read #26: Our Father Who Art in a Tree by Judy Pascoe.

Our Father Who Art in a Tree by Judy Pascoe
200 pages
Published 2002
Read February 19
Rating: ★★★½ out of 5

The white trash child, forced by unreliable parentage to be wise beyond her years, is one of my favorite narrative voices. My very first published story used that voice, and I've kept on toying with it in various ways. The promise of seeing such a voice employed in a published literary novel prompted me to pick up this little volume. (Yes, I've read To Kill a Mockingbird. It was great.) As I was brought into this book because of the narrative voice, it was one of the main things I evaluated as I read. I felt that, while adequate, it wasn't especially consistent overall. The line "Christ hanging from what appears to be like a great plus sign" is too naive by far for a girl only months away from confirmation. But that was only the most egregious of small quibbles. The emotional heart of this story was strong and clearly expressed. All in all, a brief but worthwhile read.

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