The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
| The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Katie Pullen
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| Summary: Martha, Lynnie and Homan's lives become bound together forever by Lynnie's new born baby one rainy night in 1968. Be prepared for an unsettling read in this sad tale of secrets, lies, hardship and above all hope faced by three very different people all linked by a baby. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 352 | Date: June 2011 |
| Publisher: Preface | |
| ISBN: 978-1848093393 | |
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The book begins with widow Martha, an ex-teacher in her seventies living alone in her farmhouse in the Pennsylvanian countryside. Martha's life is filled with loneliness, a phone that never rings, and she rarely sees other people. But all that is set to change one rainy night in 1968 when Lynnie and Homan knock on Martha's door. Lynnie and Homan have escaped from The School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, a harsh institution where people with disabilities are kept away from the rest of the world. Martha takes the couple in and soon discovers that Lynnie is carrying a new born baby.
The excitement and intensity soon moves up a notch when there is another knock at Martha's door and this time it's the police. Homan manages to escape into the woods, but Lynnie is captured and returned to the institution, leaving her baby behind with Martha. Afraid that someone will soon realise Lynnie has had a baby, Martha leaves her home, seeking refuge in the homes of some of her old students as she gets to grips with looking after the baby. Homan moves from place to place, all the while trying to get back to Lynnie, and Lynnie goes back to her old life at the institution with no means of escape.
After the exciting beginning to The Story of Beautiful Girl, the novel takes a slower turn as the three main characters, Lynnie, Homan and Martha move forward on very different paths, with each having their own narrative spanning forty years. Out of the three my interest lay primarily with Martha, and how she copes with looking after the baby. For Martha, baby Julia (as she becomes known) completely changes her life of loneliness to one of motherhood, love, friendships and travel. It is a shame though that the book does not concentrate more on Martha and indeed Julia. I had assumed that the book would concentrate on Julia because of its title, but was sorely mistaken.
The beautiful girl of the title is actually Lynnie, as this is Homan's name for her. Lynnie has severe learning difficulties and was abandoned to the institution by her family when she was a child. She is a very frightened young woman at the start of the book, but yet there is a brave side to her that is rather extraordinary. Her narrative is very hard to read at times and very sad, particularly as she accepts she had to give her baby away and may never see her again. I was impressed that her disability is dealt with in such a way that the reader can easily understand what is wrong with Lynnie without it being spelt out. It also becomes easy to understand Lynnie's behaviour and decisions as a result.
Although Simon's writing is accessible and is beautifully descriptive at times, I'm afraid her story just didn't quite keep me turning the pages in the way I thought it would. At times it feels rather static and plods along with nothing really happening. Then, as she has to pack over forty years into the book, years are passed over with only little bits filled in here and there, and if it wasn't for the baby growing up into a teenager and the years clearly marked at the beginning of each chapter, I wouldn't have had a clue about the passage of time, as our three characters' lives seem to be on repeat mode and no one seems to get any older. After my struggle to get through the book I am pleased to say that my effort was worth it for Simon's satisfying ending and all the questions I had were finally answered.
I would really only recommend this book if you have perhaps read Rachel Simon's earlier novels and enjoyed them, or are not deterred by any of my frustrations above. It's not a bad book by any means, as it is well written and certainly has a unique story, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Further Reading Suggestion: If you like the sound of this book, you may also enjoy The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.
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