Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Ellen Foster
Book Review: A heart-warming tale!
Summary: 5 Stars
You love and admire Ellen Foster even though she entertains thoughts of killing her father, " I would figure out this or that way and run it down through my head until it got easy." The author, Kaye Gibbons, writes a heart-warming tale about a spunky, 11-year-old foster child named Ellen who survives the loss of her mother, abuse and the uncertainty of life. Early in the story, her mother takes an overdose of heart pills and slowly dies in her sleep while Ellen naps beside her. Unfortunately, Ellen is blamed for taking part in her mother's death. So her most difficult task is not finding a permanent home but to make peace with God and her family. Life gets tougher as she is abused by her alcoholic father, neglected by her relatives, and taken from foster home to foster home. Her street smarts & courage make her a memorable character. Ellen's father receives an allowance from his mother-in-law and Ellen steals a part of it and saves it for herself. She buys a microscope and studies the euglenas, diatoms, and parameciums and one of her favorite places is the bookmobile. She knows how to buy clothes and she stocks up on frozen dinners, "...but I found the best deal was the plate froze with food already on it. A meat, two vegetables and a dab of desert." Through her distinct, vivid and fluid writing, Kaye Gibbons reveals a young heroin. Ellen's last name, Foster, not only describes her family situation, but the strength that she develops within herself. --Edna Nerona, San Diego, CA, USABook Review: A heart-worming book about an amazing little girl!
Summary: 5 Stars
The book Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons is a heart-worming story about an amazing little girl. Her parents, who were not much of parents anyhow, died and left her an orphan. During her life, she had no one to rely on but herself. She was put down, abused and left without help. Even though, she has a dream about the family she wishes to be part of and makes it past an incredulous struggle to get there. Throughout the story she shows great strength, courage, maturity and even hope and love through it all. All of Ellen's courage and strength is what gave the reader hope for her. After losing everything, she is sent to live with her bitter grandmother. She has courage enough to put up with the cruelness she is shown and the way that her grandmother cannot even stand the sight of her. Still, she has strength to work in the cotton fields where her grandmother placed her. She shows this same courage and strength when she lives with her aunt, and mostly when she walks right up to the Foster's place and asks if she can live there. Ellen shows an amazing amount of maturity in her views of things and in her actions. She takes complete care of her mother until she dies, without ever asking for help from anyone. She comprehends so much for her age that sometimes her ideas seem more reasonable than most adults. When her mother dies, she is the one who does all the shopping, cooking, cleaning and dressing that concerns her. She maturely approaches the deaths in her family, her many moves and all of her side problems. Other than all of this, I think that the most amazing thing about this book and the character in it is the amount of hope and love Ellen is able to give. In every disappointment, she still looks ahead in hopes of a better life. She is very bruised but still has the time to love her friend Starletta. She has been through so much, and in the end, she even says that she thinks Starletta has been through more because she is black. Now that is something to get a person thinking about how much they take the time to think of others. As a quote by Theodore Parker says, "The books that helps you the most are those which make you think the most."Book Review: A inspiring novel about a little girl.
Summary: 3 Stars
Ellen Foster is a small achivement but a achivement just the same. I'm not one who like dramatic books very much but this was an exception . I liked it but did not love it, in the long run it was on the good side of mediocre.Book Review: A modern day classic
Summary: 3 Stars
ELLEN FOSTER by Kaye Gibbons
October 22, 2005
Amazon Rating: 3/5 stars
ELLEN FOSTER is considered a modern day classic. It's been compared to some of the great southern writers such as Faulkner. But for some reason this book did not speak to me. I enjoyed the story, a novella about a girl who grows up in a dysfunctional home and tries to survive. It's told from her viewpoint (she's the narrator) and I think the author did a good job at getting into the head of a pre-teen. Maybe my problem is that I'm not much of a short story or novella fan, and I'm not a Young-Adult book fan either, although I can clearly see why this book is highly touted. I do want to say that I really enjoyed her book VIRTUOUS WOMAN but I couldn't totally get into ELLEN FOSTER, probably because of the audience the author was aiming for.
Ellen's life is one of hardship. Throughout the story she alludes to a father who is abusive, but it's told in bits and pieces so the reader has to figure out exactly what has been going on between Ellen and her father. The reader knows how much she hates her father, and her mother was a person that Ellen loved but was not there for her.
The story is told in flashbacks, with the time line moving randomly back and forth. I can understand how the structure of the story took form the way it did due to the youth of the narrator, so at times things didn't always make obvious sense, because maybe she got a phrase wrong, or used the wrong word. This was the charm of the story, because the narration was done exactly the way Ellen would have been thinking at her age. I did have a hard time trying to figure out when this story took place. I knew Ellen lived in the South, but from the attitude that Ellen and her family and friends had towards black people made me think that the Civil war had just ended, when in fact this story takes place in more contemporary times.
ELLEN FOSTER, while not a favorite of mine, is obviously a classic and I do recommend everyone to read it, to at least experience it. It's a very short book, and while not everyone will agree that it's worth reading, I particularly enjoyed meeting young Ellen. The book as a whole wasn't as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be, but for me it was worth it just to get to know her.
Book Review: A moving story!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was excellent! I read it with my mother and we both cried our eyes out. It deals with so many issues and doesn't avoid anything. The author has a unique style of writing that is very effective in the telling of this story. It is the kind of book that makes you feel sad, proud, frustrated, and wonderful all at the same time! I recommend this book to all. It won't be forgotten!