Customer Reviews

The Geography of Girlhood

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Penny was abandoned by her mother at a young age. She is dealing with a complicated family life, relationships, friendships and all the rest of those awkward situations that teenagers have to endure.

With each turn of the page is a new poem to let the reader in on the trials and tribulations of Penny. Her words flow and sing the highs and lows of young womanhood.

Kirsten Smith will have readers laughing and crying within a few pages with her very raw and real character. This is a must read for anyone who has ever been young, confused or in need of a wonderfully fresh read.

Young girls will relate to the emotional overload that Penny goes through. Boys, love, life and friends are only a small part of this fresh and beautiful story.

The Geography of Girlhood is a powerful novel completely written in poetic verse. Smith takes it straight on and writes in a no-holds-barred style that readers will appreciate.

This is the story of Penny Morrow, who, like so many others at any given time, is in the process of growing up and leaving childhood behind.

Penny is ready for this. There have been things in her life, in the past, that Penny has not been ready for--like losing her mother. She wants to grow up and live outside of her home and family now. Outside of the house, she goes to parties and meets a boy. Inside it, she gets a new stepmother and stepbrother. Penny is growing up and her life is changing, and there's no turning back the clock.

The Geography of Girlhood is a great story told in wonderful free-verse poetry that flows nicely and is easily understood. It's easy to follow the story and appreciate the poetry at the same time.

Kristen Smith has written various popular movies and her poetry has appeared many places, so it is not surprising that she has chosen a verse novel to write; combining two things she knows best, good stories and great poetry.

Kirsten Smith has told a brilliant story that is even more brilliant because of the form in which it is told, in verse. Even people who do not believe that they like poetry will be pulled into this story, with its lifelike characters and a plot that can be understood by anyone who has been through or is going through the often painful process of growing up--that is to say, all of us.

Armchair Interviews says: Nice, nice read.

My thoughts:
Positive:

* This went with my my theme of reading novels written in poetry.
* It reminded me of how I was in high school. I was kinda lost and floating through friends. Although, I never ran away.
* It's much like a movie.

Negative:

* It's extremely sad with no real ending.
* I think that she doesn't ever realize how much she was taken advantage of and that would have been a strong lesson to learn.
* It can be a little bit too like a movie and not completely believable.

WOW!!!! This novel-in-poems rendered me speechless; it is so poignant and moving and the author's poetry is breathtakingly beautiful. The story is so compelling, and the character of Penny is so vivid and real, she just jumps right off the page! It's unlike anything I have ever read before, and it is incredibly beautiful and gripping. I could not put it down, I read it all in one sitting. The author, Kirsten Smith, has created the most REAL teenager ever. Penny is so much like me and my friends. This is a teenager that girls can relate to now and forever. Throughout the book, I was constantly blown away by Smith's gorgeous writing, and relating so well to Penny's feelings and experiences. This book made me cry and laugh countless times. Smith is brilliant and the book is brilliant. This is a must-read for ALL girls out there!!

Absolutely amazing prose. A MUST for All GIRLS (teens, and girls-at-heart). Captivating from beginning to end.

Novels told in verse usually fall into two categories: those that simply tell a story with poetry, and those that manage to capture a life so eloquently in verse that you fall headfirst into the story. THE GEOGRAPHY OF GIRLHOOD, thankfully, falls into the latter category. Kirsten Smith has managed to pen, through verse, the story of fourteen-year old Penny Marrow, a girl you will laugh with, cry with, and get to know very, very well within the pages of this book.

Penny's older sister, Tara, was blessed with the beauty, and the ability to cut her sister down with only a glance. Her father's hope is simply that his daughters will have listened to him enough to stay away from bad boys and make a place for themselves in the world. And as for her mother? She left when Penny was six, and the only thing Penny has to remind her of her mom is a snow globe. Now she has a stepmother, and a younger stepbrother, and a family life that can be summed up with "don't be like your sister."

For Penny, life is confusing, with the fights her friends have regularly and the first kiss that makes her faint and the huge infatuation she has on her sister's boyfriend. But behind it all is the wish that her mother would just come home, would be returned by the aliens who abducted her or whatever, and make everything better. For Penny, watching her father change and her sister change and herself change is too much to take without a mother. But years pass, and when she finally gets one thing that she wants--which is Bobby--it's not at all like she expected, and she loses friends and gains new acquaintances and still, in the back of her mind, she wants her mother.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF GIRLHOOD is sweet and bitter, a poignant story filled with joy and heartbreak about growing up and learning to let go and first love. Thankfully, this is a book told in verse that you won't soon forget, a definite recommended read.

The thing about the Geography of Girlhood is that it feels so completely real. The author writes beautiful, non-cheesy prose poetry that has true depth, but it's the story that made me want to devour page after page. I read it more than once and am giving it to my best friend as a gift!

This book is about a fourteen girl who wants to experience something big and dangerous. Her life is changing for getting new stepmother and new stepbrother. She is being jealous of her sister for inherited the beauty from the mom and she is not. Her mother left her when she was six and her relationship with friends is not all that close. In a way I really do like this book for Penny is changing like any other teenage girls are going through and the book reflect the ways of the girls' life and thinking. I would recommend to high school girls that are undergoing a change in their life and the same experience as Penny the main character in the book. Also to the teenagers who are really not like reading the novel that are too long and boring, I would recommend it because the book is in poetry format, but it really telling the story. This book is really kept me going for a long period of time without being tire or bore. The book has a flow that made the reader wants to continue until they finish the book.

I really connected with Kirsten Smith's style. I loved how she could take something you thought was predictable and twist it in a different way. As far as verse novels go, I really thought this one was artistic, creative, and fresh.

She deals with some very real issues, like mental illness and running away. And I can really see how the latter makes sense in a teen girl's head. The voice was great, even if there were a few spots where the author sounded a bit too much like an adult, like in the poem titled: The Hand of Kentucky, which I thought was just a bit erotic for a teen book, but which as an adult I could appreciate.

The Geography of Girlhood is simply about a girl growing up, becoming a young adult, without certain "guides". At a young age, Penny's mother left her and her family, leaving her, her sister and her father behind. Just like most sister relationships, Penny secretly looks up to her older sister while the two bicker and fight all the time. Penny struggles with all the little and large aspects in growing up as she starts high school.

Kirsten Smith's use of Free-Verse offers a new point of view and way of relating to a teenage girl coming of age. Her clever use of geography images and symbolizes defines the truth that most girls (and women) are not as clearly defined as one may think. Just like Geography and Nature, a girl's emotions, thoughts, and adventures are anything but simple and normal.

While there were a few times when it was unclear what Kirsten Smith was trying to say, through her use of over done symbols and imagery, one message beyond "geography" rang true in this Verse Novel: Mother. As Penny maps out her life without the guide (a key so to speak) of a mother she learns that does not need to be reliant on such a key and finds her own way to create her own individualistic "map".

Overall, The Geography of Girlhood was a nice quick read that the entire female gender can relate to in one way or another - whether that be the many "loves" we go through, the "it's the end of the world" attitude about things, and even the realizations that come with growing up. For me the use of symbolisms was a bit overdone. It did get confusing at times - for example, how exactly did Penny's best friend become crazy and why? Certain aspects such as this would have contributed to making the novel better if more detail was given. But again, poetry and verse are not always apparent and push us to read between the lines. In the end, Smith's novel was a very nice read and recommended for everyone.