A Girl in Parts [Paperback]

Jasmine Paul (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 8, 2003

A first novel of adolescence that introduces a voice so fresh, so original, so pitch-perfect it seems destined to become a classic in the literature of coming of age. In the early 1980s in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Dorothy lives with her bartending mother, her bar-attending stepfather, and her sweetly precocious little brother. Dottie is nine, plagued by insomnia, asthma, earaches, and bad teeth. She is lonely and insecure, but her intelligence and keen perception enable her to see every vivid detail of her impoverished rural surroundings and the strange characters around her. When her family moves to eastern Washington State, Dottie--confused, petulant, feeling more alone than ever, and furious at her changing body--battles her way through junior high, where she finds some success and recognition in sports and academics. Her hard-won victories are tempered by her troubled family and friends and she finds solace and distraction in alcohol, cigarettes, and acting out. Dottie--nicknamed Utah by her teammates from the Colville Indian Reservation--becomes a star basketball player, falls in and out of love, and confronts a new, devastating emotional setback. But Dottie is indomitable: She emerges triumphant, as a young woman with unlimited confidence and limitless dreams in an uncertain world. Gritty and realistic, A Girl, In Parts is never sentimental about either poverty or childhood. Dorothy is a tough and winning character, a true-to-life heroine for the twenty-first century. First-time novelist Jasmine Paul has crafted an elegant story in ninety-seven perfectly told vignettes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This quiet gem of a debut novel projects sincerity through its tightly focused vignettes and unsentimental depiction of a challenging though in many ways ordinary five years in the life of one girl. In 97 short sections, Paul captures the convincing voice of Dorothy, at the start of the novel a nine-year-old growing up in the 1980s in Martinsburg, W.Va. Dorothy lives with her bartending mother; her stepfather, Lyle; and her baby brother, Gabe, in a tumbledown house in a town she despises; she wishes it would burn to the ground so she could go live in Cleveland with her father. The family contends with working-class poverty and illness (Dorothy has chronic asthma and survives a bout with tuberculosis; her brother contracts ringworm and is slow to walk and talk). When life takes a turn for the better they move to eastern Washington State Dorothy is subjected to the humiliating experience of having to wear braces and headgear to correct a jaw deformity. But these harsh details, delivered unsparingly and without self-pity from Dorothy's point of view, are merely the backdrop for the timeworn adolescent rites of passage of friendships, crushes and the search for identity. While she gains acceptance by excelling on the basketball team with a group of Indian girls and becomes close friends with the beautiful and rebellious Dawn, Dorothy must also face the realities of the tensions within her family. Paul's sure grasp of her narrator's voice and keen observations make both the ordinary and unusual aspects of one childhood shine.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In her first novel, Paul creates a child of nine who lives with her mother, stepfather, and small half-brother in rural West Virginia poverty. Dottie hates her life, but she prefers it to the unknown that awaits her in Washington State, where the family moves. However, she is pleasantly surprised by her new living conditions and social possibilities. As a gifted child, she intellectualizes the changes that adolescence brings and finds it difficult to cope socially and emotionally. She determines to overcome her physical shortcomings to win a spot on the girl's basketball team. In doing so, she wins the respect of the Native American girls on the team, who honor her with the nickname Utah. Although Dottie looks for trouble, she finds very little of it and begins to like her life. Just as things begin to click, her family plans to move again, but Dottie will no doubt do well. Paul captures the pain and confusion of adolescence, the struggles of poverty, the psychological impact of abuse, and the small rebellions that make "coming of age" a true passage to a new state. Her prose is realistic, her vignettes illustrative. Recommended. Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (July 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582432856
• ISBN-13: 978-1582432854
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,241,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Writer, on Fire, August 17, 2002

By 

Ted Brewer (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Girl, in Parts: A Novel (Hardcover)

In the first few paragraphs of A GIRL, IN PARTS, Dottie the narrator describes a fire that she imagines will consume the home in which she lives with her family. It is perhaps one of the most passionately rendered openings of a novel I have read in years. And the voice remains as such to the very end--charged with conviction, anger, humor, but most of all, a mammoth sense of love that is liable to pierce even the hardest coats of cynicism. Amazingly, Jasmine Paul holds true the voice of a nine year old throughout the novel, but manages also to infuse that voice with an irresistable charm and wisdom, and with a knowing that at times radiates from the page like the words of a sage. Dottie speaks like a child, but in the inventive and intense rhythm and tempo of Paul's prose, Dottie transcends her age without ever leaving it. At worst, the prose is fluid, at best, on fire.

The structure of the novel, 97 self-contained vignettes constituting a wickedly florescent whole, is perhaps one of the greatest achievements of A GIRL, IN PARTS. I felt compelled to read the novel slowly, sometimes one or two vignettes at a time, resisting the urge to consume the book at one go. I did so because each vignette stands so resolutely and independently on its own, inviting the reader to savor the parts like beautifully crafted songs. I even went back and reread a number of the vignettes before continuing on to the next. I wanted to extend the experience of reading the book.

What also makes this novel powerful is Paul's uncanny ability to strip memory of nostalgia and evoke an age in a girl's life with such undaunted honesty. Paul's novel thankfully never romanticizes childhood; it opts instead for creating a time that is necessarily and realistically messy, and definitely more dynamic, true, and breathtaking as a result.

I can't recommend this novel enough. I can't wait for Jasmine Paul to write another.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Searing and endearing --, April 27, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Girl in Parts (Paperback)

This book took me by surprise - I couldn't put it down. Narrator sounds like a real teenager who ages convincingly chapter by chapter. Both funny and heartbreaking. if you liked this book, you'll probably like "Feeling Sorry for Celia (J. Moriarty)," "Shadow Baby (A. McGhee)," and "Durable Goods (E. Berg)."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Underrated piece of work!, January 27, 2003

By 

CoffeeGurl - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Girl, in Parts: A Novel (Hardcover)

I cannot believe that this book hasn't gotten the attention that it deserves. A Girl, In Parts is one of the most impressive debuts I've ever read. Jasmine Paul uses (apparently) simple language when she chronicles Dottie's growing pains. The realistic situations Dottie encounters -- sibling rivalry, hatred toward parents, crushes, experimentation -- as she grows from a precocious nine-year-old to an insecure adolescent are beautiful and poignant. I savored the final pages of this novel like fine wine -- I hated to see it end. I cannot recommend this novel enough. Book clubs would marvel at the excellent prose and sharp dialogue. A Girl, In Parts deserves a spot in every reader's library...