Spite Fences [Hardcover]

Trudy Krisher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994

In the summer of 1960, at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement, thirteen-year-old Maggie Pugh confronts her envy of her attractive, better-loved younger sister and her conscience after she witnesses a terrible act against a black man and special friend.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Coming of age during the '60s in the poor-white section of Kinship, Ga., Maggie Pugh sees the effects of poverty all around her: her neighbors have become violent; her father has grown quiet and somber; and her angry, desperate mother clings to the dream of having her younger, favored daughter, Gardenia, win the Hayes County Little Miss Pageant. The community is ruled by prejudice and spite, and Maggie has little hope for change until she makes the acquaintance of a black lawyer, George Hardy. Although her association with a "colored" man leads to all kinds of trouble for her family, Maggie is inspired by Mr. Hardy's quiet determination, and she finds the courage to join his battle for equal rights. This painfully realistic first novel evokes tensions in the South at the brink of the civil rights movement. Characters emerge as complex individuals, not pawns of a political agenda. Hearts will go out to Maggie as she weathers various forms of physical and emotional abuse; her final triumph is a tribute to all who have suffered for justice. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-Magnolia Pugh, 13, is poor and white. Her friend Zeke is black; his gentle companionship helps her escape her mother's abuse. However, one day, while perched high in a tree, she witnesses a horror that she cannot escape. To punish Zeke for defying a segregation policy, a group of whites beat him senseless, strip him, and urinate on his naked body while one of them masturbates; that man is Maggie's next-door neighbor, Virgil Boggs. Maggie dares not tell anyone what she has seen, but the memory haunts her. Virgil unknowingly keeps the experience vivid in her mind with his sadistic torments-he attempts to rape her and plays cruel pranks on her little sister. Being at home becomes more and more difficult, so Maggie is thrilled when Zeke gets her a job keeping house for a well-educated black man who has come to her small Georgia town to organize nonviolent protests within the black community. A bond of trust and respect grows between Maggie and her employer and she tells him that she witnessed Zeke's beating. Feeling free for the first time, she begins to understand why facing up to the truth is so important. This extremely complex story, filled with wonderful imagery, is told with amazing skill. To read it is to climb inside the narrator's skin, share her emotions, and gain the wisdom she acquires. Its only serious flaw is the confusing use of flashbacks combined with an overly contrived attempt to emphasize the metaphor of truth and photography. Nevertheless, the characters are entirely believable and the brutality of the events is balanced by the delicacy of the language and the strength of Maggie's spirit. Krisher masterfully encapsulates a touching personal history of the early 1960s within universal themes.
Margaret Cole, Oceanside Library, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Hardcover: 283 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385320884
• ISBN-13: 978-0385320887
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,208,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, truly depicts time period, April 23, 2001

By 

Chrissy (VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spite Fences (Paperback)

When trying to appeal to a reader, an author must design characters that are full of life but at the same time touching. In order to fully appreciate a great work of literature, the reader must identify with the main character. In Trudy Krisher's Spite Fences, characters such as Maggie Pugh, Pert Wilson and Zeke leave lasting memories and help to demonstrate the bigger themes in the novel, prejudice and maturity. Through Maggie's strength and Pert's spunk the reader is led down an emotional path, all ending with the maturation of the narrator. While peering through the lens of her camera and the cracks in the fence, Maggie develops as she witnesses the stark realities of prejudice socially, personally and racially. The social prejudices in the ironically named town of Kinship are less apparent to the naked eye, but to Maggie's mom, social status is everything. Whether it is religious affiliation or economic rank, Mama's anxiety forces her to forsake one of her children in the face of prejudice. Pert, Maggie's best friend, is snubbed by almost everyone in Kinship because she is one of three Roman Catholics in the town. "Although people in Kinship snubbed the Pughs indirectly, people in Kinship snubbed the Wilsons straight out," states Maggie when describing the unfair treatment of minorities. Even though she is "crossing the line" when associating with Pert, she chooses to do so anyways despite the retribution Mama would deal her if caught. The emotional suffering that comes with befriending a Roman Catholic is not the extent of Maggie's problems, but the problem goes as far as her monetary status. When searching for a fence to surround the Pugh's house, Mama is heartbroken after realizing they can only afford pine fencing. The castle like fence surrounding the Pugh's house not only keeps out the vicious neighbors but isolates Maggie from the outside world. This blockade forces Maggie to take advantage of her opportunities outside the fence and she does so by savoring each moment with a camera. Her photos expose the untold truth in Kinship, from Zeke being arrested to people from the other side of the tracks having a good time. Maggie's knowledge and compassion stretches far beyond that of many people in Kinship, but her photos of the social minorities will come back to haunt her in the form of Virgil and his detestable family. In order to appease Mama's every request, Maggie goes through more pain, both emotionally and physically, than would be thought humanly possible. Mama is so eager to have Gardenia, Maggie's younger sister, win a beauty contest, she virtually forgets about Maggie. She is ordered around and practically treated as a second-class citizen in her own house. At one point, Mama says to her, "You ain't much to look at, Maggie. It's a good thing you can work." This lack of appreciation towards Maggie is emotionally taxing and is best shown after her close encounter with Virgil. She returns to her house after almost being raped by Virgil and the first thing that Mama utters, despite the obvious torn clothing and scratches on her, is, "Where's the laundry?" This is the point in the novel where the usually timid father takes a stand against Mama and treats Maggie like a "kitten, wiping...tears with his red bandana." His actions are truly touching and help to show how Maggie's life could be with out her terribly self-absorbed mother. It is through the words of her friend Pert that Maggie realizes that the treatment she suffers from her mother is wrong. Even if it does take someone else's words for her to realize the error in Mama's ways, eventually she recognizes this and through her strong will learns the truth about her personal mistreatment. The most obvious of the prejudices exposed in Kinship is that of race, with the labels colored and white stamped on every bathroom, water fountain, even park, around town. The segregation is most apparent to Maggie when Zeke, her black merchant friend, is arrested and beaten for using the designated white bathroom. Although ignorant to the fact that Zeke could in fact tell the difference between the words colored and white, Maggie gives him one of the greatest gifts possible, the ability to read. It is through this simple gesture that Maggie first blatantly disregards the boundaries separating white and black. The pictures Maggie takes while listening to a speech by George Hardy, her brilliant black employer, give life to the most poignant truth in Kinship. Virgil's malicious display of the pictures and racist phrases on Maggie's fence both shock and hurt her but she realizes that it is not she that is ignorant to the relationship between blacks and whites, but the rest of the community that still believes in segregation. Although she witnesses pain and hatred, Maggie is a true leader of her time, going where no one else had been, no longer recognizing color. In a conversation with her mother, Maggie brazenly states, "There's no shame in friendship." Although simple, this message single-handedly solves any racial differences because with friendship, there would be no race, nor shame. A true visionary of her time, Maggie, though innocent and young, sees far more through her through her camera than any adult in Kinship could see. Along with Maggie's evolution into adulthood and knowledge come bumps and bruises but it is Zeke's words that sum up her journey the best. In referring to the flower she was named after, Magnolia, he thoughtfully says, "They take forever to mature. Sometimes as long as twenty years. But once they do, there's not anything you can do to destroy them." Despite the fences surrounding Kinship and her house, Maggie learns to see beyond the fence, letting neither color nor label stand in the way of friendship. Her camera is a bearer of truth, both pleasant and appalling. Maggie's "gift" to Kinship and is much more than what's on the surface, it is the manifestation of truth and love brought to the small southern town by a young girl.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! I lucked out at the check out stand..., December 13, 1999

By 

Elizabeth Hayden - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spite Fences (Paperback)

I was looking for some pleasure reading late one night at the grocery store when I picked up this book. Rarely have I encountered characters like Maggie and George Hardy. I not only wanted to know what happens next, I wanted to know their entire life stories.

Maggie is an independent spirit being smothered by a small close-minded Southern town and an abusive mother. She is struggling with finding an identity that isn't prescribed for her. Maggie challenges her town's definitions of racial roles at a time when the Civil Rights movement is finding its way into small town Georgia. She is an example of the definition of courage. It doesn't mean the absence of fear, it means not letting your fears stop you from following your heart and soul.

This book is best suited for mature middle school and high school readers, but adults will enjoy it at a much deeper level.

3.0 out of 5 stars My Review, March 7, 2010

By 

Ashlee Hartneck (MN, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spite Fences (Hardcover)

The item was delivered on time and in good condition. My only complaint is that the book was labeled as an "Advanced Reading Copy" and I was not told this until I recieved the book and saw the front cover. It was not a huge deal, but my professor preferred that it would've been a regular copy. (Advanved Reading Copies means that it is the copy of the book before it was published so certain things haven't been removed or changed since it was not published to the public, which made it difficult due to the class requirements.)