I'm in the middle of a fun project. I was combing my bookcases looking for books I no longer want to give shelf space. I have realized two things. First, I still have tons of books that look great that I've never read. I need to read from my own shelves. Second, I missed reviewing so many books. So, today I am going back and recording them. If you are not me, the reviews from this project may not be helpful because this is such a personal project. But, my GoodReads is primarily for me and I would love as complete a look at my reading life as possible.

Honestly, I remember nothing, nothing about this book except that I loved it.

Ellen Foster is not a big book, nor is the protagonist " a big girl," but sometimes life destills a big resolve. It certainly did in Ellen. I read it in one sitting while simultaneously laughing out loud and crying by turns.

the character voice/characterization was really well done, but it was SOO depressing & unenjoyable. like i would hear one line that sounded funny or well written, and then the next second, i’d be reminded that everything in this girl’s life sucks ass.

also, it was really gross to hear the way black people were talked about in this book. like i get that at the time of the story there was a more openly racist society, but out of ALL the books to give to high school kids, why chose something this demeaning. because the book never condemns the racism. you are supposed to think Ellen is a good person because she is unlearning her racial bias (as if that shouldn’t be the bare fucking minimum) UGH! it makes me so upset

At first I wasn't sure of the exact setting, nor date, not even sure of the race of the main character, Ellen. I'm still not sure of many things. Since it is such a quick read I may have another go at it and perhaps figure a few things out. I would be interested to know how she navigates her teen years and adulthood.

The writing style could be confusing at times because there are often no periods to end the sentences nor are there quotations to frame the abundant dialogue. The story is told from the point of view of Ellen, a pre-teen girl growing up in the South. The narrative rambles as it goes back and forth from past to present, but that really didn't bother me since I enjoyed her story. The style is as chaotic as her very existence. Ellen's short life has been hard but she is a survivor. Sassy, subservient, naive, clever, hateful, loving, bigoted, tolerant - not a predictable character. I was really rooting for her.

I give it 3 1/2 stars. The most engaging aspect of this book is its protagonist's voice: clear, unadorned, unsentimental. Her tale is truly heartbreaking--and therein lies what seems to me the book's primary flaw: the book is too short. I want to know in greater detail about Ellen's parents and the tragedy that befell her mother. I want to know more about the various homes she migrated through before finding her "new mama." I want to know more about her friend Starletta and her family. And the issue is not that I simply don't want to let go of the characters; I truly feel the need to know more about them in order to care about Ellen fully. I won't forget the origin of Ellen's name, but I fear that because of the brevity of this book, I may forget everything else about her.

This is a short but powerful and a lot of the time a painful story . Ellen Foster is a precocious eleven year old girl whose courage and strength and infinite wisdom carry her through things that no child should bear .

I wanted to pull Ellen out of those pages and take care of her , get her away from her alcoholic father who for the most part has abandoned her and her miserable grandmother who takes her in for a period of time. But ultimately it's Ellen who pulled me up from the despair I felt for her as she tries to find that safe and comfortable home she wants so badly . I loved how she cared about her little friend Starletta and knew so much more than the adults around her about equality .

If you have had this on your to read list for a while , you should read it . If you don't have it on your list you should read it anyway . Just a beautiful little story with so much to give .

Ellen Foster is a tale of survival, courage and endurance. Ellen is one of the bravest eleven year olds I have ever encountered in literature, wise beyond her years, but innocent and sweet and deserving of better.

When she says, “My daddy was a mistake for a person.”, she could not be more right. In fact, many of the people she encounters in her short life seem to be mistakes, but she also finds hope and gets glimpses of what might be, and the determined soul that she is, she fights to have that better life be her reality.

The book is written entirely in Ellen’s voice, and it is both honest and genuine.

I know I have made being in the garden with her into a regular event but she was really only well like that for one season. You see if you tell yourself the same tale over and over again enough times then the tellings become separate stories and you will generally fool yourself into forgetting you only started with one solitary season out of your life.

Can you imagine having to hold on that tight to one memory and making it the central one so that the reality, that is so much the opposite, does not overwhelm you? I loved that she was able to do this, even though she clearly knows that is what she is doing.

With most novels written from the child’s perspective, we have an unreliable narrator and must fish for the truths that lie beneath what the child sees but cannot understand. Ellen is nothing if not reliable. She sees the truth so much more clearly than the adults around her do, and she clings to the thing inside her that makes her herself and keeps her strong.

So many folks thinking and wanting you to be somebody else will confuse you if you are not very careful.

This is my first book by Kaye Gibbons. I have had several of them on my TBR for a long time and one sitting on my physical bookshelf that I have managed not to read yet. I will not hesitate to read her again. This was her first novel, so I have every reason to expect she can only get better--and better than this would be some accomplishment indeed.

Ellen Foster is a ten year old girl who is rejected by all her family.
After the death of her weak- willed and sick mother she is left mostly on her own, her father being a drunk and violent man and her closer relations wash their hands off their responsibility.
A sad and heart-warming story, in which a little girl has to face the world and find her own place in it, keeping the illusion alive, in spite of her desolate surroundings.
Nothing new though.

The protagonist of this poignant novella is Ellen, a fifth grade who, like Little Orphan Annie, has a "hard-knock life" physically abused by an alcoholic father and neglected by a mother frequently in bed with depression. Although one might believe that this work would be a depressing read, the mood is lightened with Ellen's musings, such as the opening lines:

"When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this or that way and run it down through my head until it got easy."

Much of the novella is an interweaving of three time periods including after she is placed in a foster home, which she described as a place where "nobody barks, farts, or feeds the dogs under the table..." I had no difficulty keeping track of the various time frames.

Essentially, the book is about one poor, but resilient, white Southern girl who desperately seeks a family and a mother to replace the one she loss. Her longing brought tears to my eyes, but the satisfying ending makes this work a must read.

Ellen Foster ttVintageBooks,1990,126pp.,$13.56
ISBN 0-7383-0477-8
Kaye Gibbons
t
t“ When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” Ellen foster is not a homicidal girl out to kill her father, but a girl with a troubled past. She has to endure a life with her alcoholic father after her mother passes away. She moves from house to house trying to find a better life.
tIf you have ever lived with an alcoholic father then you might know just what Ellen is going through. If you could imagine a father who is almost never home and when he is he is always drunk, then you are imagining Ellen’s father. I know that anyone who has a father like Ellen’s will fell comfort in the fact that they are not the only one experiencing something so realistic and heart breaking. Shocking and thrilling, this story is a captivating book that you can put yourself in her footsteps even if you have never experienced anything like this.
t I loved this book from the moment I read the first line. Wild and heart wrenching when you read that first page you are trapped into this book. suspenseful, this book will make anyone want to read more. It is thrilling yet sad; full of sorrow and will. It is so sad what she is going through but you feel such will for her to hold on and keep fighting threw all of the bad. Sympathy and hatred fill this novel of Ellen’s life. This book will leave you wanting more from the first to the last page- and beyond.

This is the first-person story of Ellen Foster, a ten- to eleven-year-old Southern girl whose mother commits suicide with the agreement of her abusive father. Ellen is tough, smart, and a survivor. After she is sent from the happy foster home of her art teacher to her "mama's mama," a mean old woman, she says, ". . . it was just her and me. Me to look after her not the other way around like you might expect. That did not surprise me because I had just about given up on what you expect. I just lived to see what would happen next."

In a n  NY Timesn article about author Kaye Gibbons' problems with mental illness, her editor is quoted as saying "Kaye is constitutionally incapable of falseness. Every word that flows from her lips is true." You can feel the truth of her truth in every word of this wonderful book.

Here's the publisher's book page: http://algonquin.com/book/ellen-foster/

It's impossible not to like eleven year old Ellen Foster. She is a feisty survivor from a terrible family. Her alcoholic father, vindictive grandmother, and indifferent extended family ultimately mean there is no one who cares about Ellen when her mother dies. Ellen efficiently takes matters in her own hands as best she can when she is placed in the care of these various family members. I loved the discovery near the end that Foster is not her real surname and how she picked it. Highly recommended.