Customer Reviews

Plenty Porter

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

 

 

As Plenty Porter enters her teenage years in Galesburg, Illinois, she realizes that her large family does not actually know one another. Being the youngest of eleven, no one expects much of her yet she is usually aware of everything that goes on around her. When she befriends the motherless Ed Prindergast, the young son of their wealthy neighbor, she does not realize that she needs his friendship as much as he needs hers. Although Plenty narrates, the story actually revolves around her older sister Marcie and her problems. Plenty knows there is something going on but doesn't know if she can find out what's going on with, Mr. Darcey, her estranged grandfather, Mr. Prindergast, her parents, and her sibligs who each have interwoven lives that seem to leave Plenty, who was plenty, out.

Brandon Noonan relates a novel in which the reader really does not see the end coming. Although the story is narrated by Plenty, the reader wants to know what is going on with Marcie, why her hair falls out. I enjoyed the structure of this novel, which is told in two parts, as well as many chapters. Because the ending was a complete surprise to me, I enjoyed it and it made the novel worth reading. I don't think Plenty Porter is bound to recieive high acclaim, but it is definitely a good read for history lovers and those interested in personal growth in a character or multiple characters.

Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews
www.flamingnet.com
Preteen, teen, and young adult book reviews and recommendations.

Plenty Porter by Brandon Noonan is a nicely scripted coming-of-age novel about the youngest daughter a poor sharecropping family from rural Illinois. Plenty is the youngest of eleven children and has trouble "fitting in", all of which is further complicated with her meeting a boy named Ed who is the son of a rich landowner. The two of them begin a relationship that has Penny discovering the true meaning of family and an intimacy she had never before experienced. Documenting Brandon Noonan as a skillfully original novelist, Plenty Porter is very highly recommended reading for those who appreciate the combination of deft authorship and timeless values.

The style and substance of today's literature has lowered the standard for teens. With Plenty Porter, we finally have a cleverly written novel with substance to spare. The exposition is conveniently and artistically placed within the intellectual thoughts of our protagonist and come systematically throughout the novel informing us of significant information at just the right moment. This continues through the end of the novel and leaves us wanting to read Plenty more of her stories. The booklist reviewer incorrectly refers to a tragic denouement. He/she obviously doesn't know the definition of tragic or denouement. The climax is thrilling and reads much like a mystery novel. Here again is testament to the clever exposition as I did not expect/suspect the conclusion. The reviewer also referred to two characters who were not 'fleshed out'. Sure, these characters begged questions and not ALL of them were answered in SPELLED OUT form. Personally, I'm a fan of this style and prefer to not know everything about every character. That's part of the fun, and in my opinion, part of the meaning/intent of the novel itself. If you crave intelligent and clever writing and a wonderfully honest story, then this book is for you.

I never expect much from "young adult" or "teen" fiction but fluff. This well-crafted novel was not long, and I read it in one sitting. But the writing was powerful, and the ending (while not unexpected for me) was also powerful.

Plenty Porter deals with being the youngest of a large family. She struggles to understand her place in the family as well as herself and in her world. She manages to stumble into her parents' and sibling's secrets, worries, and lives in bits and pieces without ever quite fully forming a whole. Through her eyes we also catch peeks into these other people crowded into the home and into the town.

Bit by bit, just like Plenty, we come to be aware of what lies beneath these people and how Plenty will handle it and the new knowledge.

For instance, when the teacher slaps her in school, it comes as a shock. Plenty wants to go home crying when her brother finds her and wants to go right to the teacher and demand an explanation. They arrive to see their father leaving a tearful teacher who called him. Then we come to find it happened because she's upset over the death of her soldier brother and lost control. At the funeral Plenty tells her teacher that "it didn't hurt at all." Plenty has forgiven her and sees beyond her own initial pain into the greater pain of her teacher.

It is another teacher that takes the class walking to learn about maps after a school yard fight Plenty gets into with some girls who shun her low status and call her names. Infuriated, the teacher tells them, "You girls can't see anything but yourselves." With the map lesson she shows them how petty and small they are being. The girls hang back in the walk, waiting for Plenty to catch up. It's implied that the girls arrive at some kind of truce, perhaps even a fledgling friendship.

In this way, across a series of small happenings Plenty begins connecting the dots -- how her life and her family's life is interwoven into the small town. And she also begins to connect the dots to what exactly is ailing her sister Marcie.