Although she’s clearly intelligent, Lydia’s first-person narrative often seems more like the voice of an adult than a young teen. Gentle, fully fleshed characters (most seemingly white) are lovingly drawn in this long tale of healing, but the pacing is sometimes frustratingly slow. Similarly, Lydia slowly learns to cope with her grief, sometimes aided by spending time with “the goddesses”-artistic collages of strong women that she and her mother crafted. Background plotlines (an angry neighbor who hates Guffer, Lydia’s absent father, and the cause of Guffer’s anxieties) all gradually evolve. Secrets, like who could have been responsible for maiming two baby goats or why Brat is secretly caring for them at a neighbor’s farm, complicate life. Previously home-schooled, Lydia’s not quite ready for the friend thing. So is trying to be cordial-but not too friendly-with her 12 eighth grade classmates.
The unfortunate animal isn’t even housebroken, and Lydia’s most decidedly not a dog person, so caring for Guffer is challenging. After her mother succumbs to heart disease, 13-year-old Lydia goes to live with her mother’s older sister, Aunt Brat, and her wife, Eileen, in their small Connecticut town.Īlmost immediately the loving couple adopts a large rescue dog that becomes mostly Lydia’s responsibility.
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