Girl in Shades
Eleven-year-old Maya Devine has grown up with a warped view of reality. For one, she sees colour around people’s bodies and can sometimes hear what’s going on inside their heads. These insights make everyone a bit more interesting, but the one person she’ll never figure out is her mother. Marigold has never been like other moms, but still, Maya sometimes feels like she is all she has.
When Marigold is diagnosed with cancer and vows to spend her final days in the teepee she’s set up in the backyard, Maya’s life quickly becomes unbearable. Neighbours and strangers, believing Marigold a prophet, camp out in the front yard, and Maya’s father grows ever more distant. Thankfully Maya has Corey Hart, from whose pouty lips “Never Surrender” seems to issue for her and her alone. But Marigold’s death leaves questions unanswered, and there are some wrongs that even Corey Hart can’t right.
Moving from mid-1980s Saskatoon to the Indian countryside almost a decade later, Girl in Shades follows Maya’s search for her mother, her father, and above all, herself. Sweetly funny and deeply perceptive, Girl in Shades offers a fresh take on what it is to grow up and discover who you really are.
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| Read an excerpt from Girl in Shades | 43.09 KB |
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Allison Baggio's coming-of-age tale, Girl in Shades, is a fresh and innovative story about a young girl growing up in Saskatoon in the 1980s. Perceptive, sensitive Maya Devine is just an ordinary girl who loves Corey Hart ... and can also see auras and read minds. The story spans ten years of Maya's life in a tough and tender bildungsroman, taking Maya from Saskatoon to Toronto to India as well as back and forth in the events of her fascinating life.
At times, Girl in Shades feels like Miriam Toews' A Complicated Kindness in that the impressionable protagonist is sharply observant (or some degree of psychic, in Maya's case) and is shaped by, and ultimately must break from, their dysfunctional families. The novel begins with the death of Maya's mother Marigold and proceeds to relate the events leading up to and following that moment, from Marigold's cancer diagnosis, to her refusal to receive treatment and decision to live in a teepee in the backyard and the media circus and disintegration of the family unit that ensues.
Dealing with her mother's death, her mother's secrets, and her distant father are heavy subjects but Baggio adds a lighthearted touch in the form of a colourful cast of secondary characters whom Maya observes with humourous candor.
Maya is truly an unforgettable heroine and Girl in Shades a quick and touching read.
Maya is an amazing character. It's going to sound weird but she's incredibly strong, but at the same time incredibly vulnerable. She is for the most part alone, forced to fend for herself and deal with all the problems life throws her way. But she's a survivor. She keeps pushing through even though it would be much easier to lie down and give up. I completely admire her. I couldn't imagine being in her situation. Her dad sucks, her mom's dead, she has little to no friends, and she can hear people's thoughts. I don't think I would handle all that nearly as well as she does. Girl in Shades is a whirlwind of a coming of age story. It follows Maya through challenge after challenge but never feels overdone or cheesy. In a sea of coming of age stories, it also manages to feel fresh and original. It has twists and turns that surprised and impressed me. Allison Baggio has told an incredible and layered story and I can't wait to see what she writes next.
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Originally Posted to All I Ever Read
I’ve been slacking a bit. I originally read Girl in Shades back in October 2011, and should have written my review then. The problem was that I just couldn’t put my thoughts into words. Well I sat down and read it a second time hoping that it would finally help me get the words out. So here goes nothing.
After two reads in a period of 4 months, there are no words I can use to adequately describe my love for Girl in Shades by Allison Baggio. Really, I am serious. NO.WORDS. But because I am a reviewer, I am certainly going to try.
Girl in Shades is a coming of age story. The main character Maya is just such an interesting and amazing character. With every page I read, I just found myself on this journey with her and ultimately I found myself privileged to be along for the ride. There is just something so wonderful and inspiring about watching Maya challenged time and time again, and every time it happens, she just picks herself up and keeps moving.
I also just loved Allison’s writing. The pacing of the story was great and I had no problem diving right in. I think I finished the book in one sitting actually. I just became so invested in what was going on that I couldn’t put the book down. The first person narration felt very intimate and personal drew me into the story from the beginning.
Girl in Shades is an intense character driven drama that should be read by everyone.
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interesting.. i'll buy it!