During WW 2, 12 year old Frankie Addams lives in a small
Southern town, and she is bored. Really bored. Her mother died giving birth to
her, and her father is extremely distant. The other girls her age bully and ostracize
her. Her only company is her six year old cousin John Henry, and the
housekeeper Berenice Sadie Brown, a woman of color. She wishes people could shift between male
and female at will; Berenice wishes everyone was the same color. Over a few
days in August, Frankie experiences some harsh things that could change how she
lives her life.
When the family gets word that Frankie’s older brother will
be coming home to be married, and will then have a short honeymoon before
returning to his military unit, Frankie fixates on that event as the one thing
that will save her. Both her brother and his fiancé have first names that start
with J, so Frankie adopts the name Jasmine. She starts packing, in the belief
that after the wedding, they will take her with them on their honeymoon and
they will all live together. Although she tells this to everyone, only Berenice
bothers to tell her that won’t happen. Told to go buy a dress for the wedding,
she chooses one that is totally inappropriate for her age. That leads to some
adventures on its own. Then comes the wedding…
Although I sympathized with Frankie’s loneliness and
frustration, I couldn’t stand how she made the wedding all about herself. I
also disliked how she treated Berenice. Is she a bad child? No, she’s just
ignored and left to grow up basically on her own. She’s on the verge of
becoming a young woman, and no one is giving her clues on how to behave. A very
well done coming of age story, but kind of hard to read, watching Frankie.
Read when it first came out. Maybe 60's? Never been a fan
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