Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Towelhead : A Novel by Alicia Erian
A disturbing book. This book is difficult to read since the central themes are bad parenting, sexual abuse, and a confused thirteen year old girl who just wants to be loved and have some attention paid to her in any way she can. After Jasira’s mother’s boyfriend shows inappropriate attention to Jasira, she is shipped off to live with her Lebanese father in Texas. His ideas and rules for parenting are much different than Jasira’s mother, but her parents are equally deficient in parenting skills. Her mother is jealous, competitive and emotionally manipulative and her father is controlling and physically and mentally abusive, between the two of them they can not figure out how to show Jasira any love.
A friend of mine was getting a pedicure recently and the proprietress of the nail salon was lamenting the fact that she had a child very early in life. The child was now in her teens. She said, “When you have a baby, you no longer get to be the baby.” My friend nearly died realizing that this woman was still trying to “be the baby” and never learned to grow up and take responsibility for herself. As I was reading Towelhead, I could not stop from thinking about this odd conversation. A lot of bad parenting could be directly related to the fact that some of the parents are still trying to “be the baby” and therefore compete with their children instead of take the opportunity to grow up and become a parent. It is obvious that Jasira’s mother still wants to be the baby.
This book is rife with adults who can not look past their greedy selves to see let alone understand the needs of a young lost girl who is dabbling in inappropriate flirtations with adult neighbors, and exchanging sexual favors for attention with the first boy who shows an interest in her. After reading this book, I can see how so many girls end up in such dire circumstances.
I read an interview where the author discusses how this novel is partly based on her life, but not entirely. When you start to think about the reality of so many girls out in the world who actually do live these lives, that is what makes this book devastating
A friend of mine was getting a pedicure recently and the proprietress of the nail salon was lamenting the fact that she had a child very early in life. The child was now in her teens. She said, “When you have a baby, you no longer get to be the baby.” My friend nearly died realizing that this woman was still trying to “be the baby” and never learned to grow up and take responsibility for herself. As I was reading Towelhead, I could not stop from thinking about this odd conversation. A lot of bad parenting could be directly related to the fact that some of the parents are still trying to “be the baby” and therefore compete with their children instead of take the opportunity to grow up and become a parent. It is obvious that Jasira’s mother still wants to be the baby.
This book is rife with adults who can not look past their greedy selves to see let alone understand the needs of a young lost girl who is dabbling in inappropriate flirtations with adult neighbors, and exchanging sexual favors for attention with the first boy who shows an interest in her. After reading this book, I can see how so many girls end up in such dire circumstances.
I read an interview where the author discusses how this novel is partly based on her life, but not entirely. When you start to think about the reality of so many girls out in the world who actually do live these lives, that is what makes this book devastating
# posted by lyskie @ 9:07 AM 
