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Sweetgirl
With the heart, daring, and evocative atmosphere of Winter’s Bone and True Grit, and driven by the raw, whip-smart voice of Percy James, a blistering debut about a fearless sixteen-year old girl whose search for her missing mother leads to an unexpected discovery, and a life or death struggle in the harsh frozen landscape of the Upper Midwest.
As a blizzard bears down, Percy James sets off to find her troubled mother, Carletta. For years, Percy has had to take care of herself and Mama—a woman who’s been unraveling for as long as her daughter can remember. Fearing Carletta is strung out on meth and that she won’t survive the storm, Percy heads for Shelton Potter’s cabin, deep in the woods of Northern Michigan. A two-bit criminal, as incompetent as he is violent, Shelton has been smoking his own cook and grieving the death of his beloved Labrador, Old Bo.
But when Percy arrives, there is no sign of Carletta. Searching the house, she finds Shelton and his girlfriend drugged into oblivion—and a crying baby girl left alone in a freezing room upstairs. From the moment the baby wraps a tiny hand around her finger, Percy knows she must save her—a split-second decision that is the beginning of a dangerous odyssey in which she must battle the elements and evade Shelton and a small band of desperate criminals, hell-bent on getting that baby back.
Knowing she and the child cannot make it alone, Percy seeks help from Carletta’s ex, Portis Dale, who is the closest thing she’s ever had to a father. As the storm breaks and violence erupts, Percy will be forced to confront the haunting nature of her mother’s affliction and finds her own fate tied more and more inextricably to the baby she is determined to save.
Filled with the sweeping sense of cultural and geographic isolation of its setting—the hills of fictional Cutler County in northern Michigan—and told in Percy’s unflinching style, Sweetgirl is an affecting exploration of courage, sacrifice, and the ties that bind—a taut and darkly humorous tour-de-force that is horrifying, tender, and hopeful.
As a blizzard bears down, Percy James sets off to find her troubled mother, Carletta. For years, Percy has had to take care of herself and Mama—a woman who’s been unraveling for as long as her daughter can remember. Fearing Carletta is strung out on meth and that she won’t survive the storm, Percy heads for Shelton Potter’s cabin, deep in the woods of Northern Michigan. A two-bit criminal, as incompetent as he is violent, Shelton has been smoking his own cook and grieving the death of his beloved Labrador, Old Bo.
But when Percy arrives, there is no sign of Carletta. Searching the house, she finds Shelton and his girlfriend drugged into oblivion—and a crying baby girl left alone in a freezing room upstairs. From the moment the baby wraps a tiny hand around her finger, Percy knows she must save her—a split-second decision that is the beginning of a dangerous odyssey in which she must battle the elements and evade Shelton and a small band of desperate criminals, hell-bent on getting that baby back.
Knowing she and the child cannot make it alone, Percy seeks help from Carletta’s ex, Portis Dale, who is the closest thing she’s ever had to a father. As the storm breaks and violence erupts, Percy will be forced to confront the haunting nature of her mother’s affliction and finds her own fate tied more and more inextricably to the baby she is determined to save.
Filled with the sweeping sense of cultural and geographic isolation of its setting—the hills of fictional Cutler County in northern Michigan—and told in Percy’s unflinching style, Sweetgirl is an affecting exploration of courage, sacrifice, and the ties that bind—a taut and darkly humorous tour-de-force that is horrifying, tender, and hopeful.
240 pages, Paperback
First published February 2, 2016
483 people are currently reading
5,252 people want to read
About the author
Travis Mulhauser
6 books177 followersTravis Mulhauser was born and raised in Northern Michigan. He has two novels forthcoming from Grand Central/Hachette, beginning in Winter '25. His novel, Sweetgirl, (Ecco/Harper Collins) has been listed for The Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, was an Indie Next Pick, and named one of Ploughshares Best Books of the New Year. He is also the author of Greetings from Cutler County: A Novella and Stories. Travis received his MFA in Fiction from UNC-Greensboro and is also a proud graduate of North Central Michigan College and Central Michigan University. He lives in Durham, North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 644 reviews
February 15, 2024
I could see the baby was shrieking, but its cries were buried by the wind. The snow blew in sideways, edged across the floor and dusted the baby’s cheeks with frost. The baby’s eyes darted in a side-to-side panic as it reached up with trembling hands and searched for something to grasp.16 year old Percy James had gone looking for her missing mother, yet again, and both hoped and feared she might find her at the home of Shelton Potter, local source for substances of the illegal sort. Shelton was not exactly the brightest light wherever he happened to be. And he had a propensity to violence. Even did time for hospitalizing a fellow bar patron who committed the social faux pas of calling him “jughead.” Shelton was the tiniest bit sensitive about the size of his admittedly triple-X cranium. Shelton and his gf were on the far side of conscious, so Percy had a look about. Mom was not to be found, but the thought of that baby freezing to death while druggies dozed was too much, so Percy did the right thing, and snatched the infant from the jaws of an icy death. Yeah, I guess she could have, you know, shut the window. But the dead, decaying dog in the house and the state of its adult inhabitants made moving the child to a safe location a no-brainer. And so begins our tale.
I ran toward it.
Travis Mulhauser - from his GR page
You might want to dress warm when you settle in to read Sweet Girl. A sweater at least. Make sure the windows are closed tight, and bring out a throw to toss over your feet and legs. And it probably wouldn’t hurt to have a cup with steaming liquid in it near at hand, enhanced or not.
It was the burning kind of cold. A tear had opened in my lip and I put my tongue to it and tasted the salty, pooling blood. There was already a throb and tingle in my toes and the air torched my lungs just to breathe it. I looked back after a minute and could not see the pinewoods or tell the falling snow in the fields from what was wind-thrown.Travis Milhauser should know. He grew up there, in Petoskey, a booming metropolis of about 6,000 souls, up about where the fingernail of your ring-finger might be if it were inside the Michigan mitten, and hadn’t gone black and fallen off. He does not live there any longer, but it is damned clear that he remembers how it feels. His ability to portray and sustain the feeling of bloody-fracking-freezing is one of the strengths of Sweet Girl. He is equally adept at communicating a feeling of isolation. Not only are the places where his characters live often at the fringes of what passes for civilization, the characters themselves contend with the remoteness of their existence. You might want to encourage a loved one to sit and read with you, or invite a pet to hang out by your side or on your lap for a bit.
I would leave out the back and head straight for Portis’s place. My truck was just as far away from the farmhouse as the cabin, and all of it uphill. If Shelton or the girl bothered to notice the baby was gone they’d fire up the sleds and the truck and head right for the road I’d come in on. No, the best thing was to go and get Portis. Have him drive us to the hospital in his Dakota.Another powerful element in Sweet Girl is Mulhauser’s portrayal of the relationship between Percy and the man to whom she turns for help. If the name Portis rings a bell, it is worth recalling that it was author Charles Portis who wrote a great American novel called True Grit. Young Percy James, like Mattie Ross before her, turns to an older, somewhat dodgy, but trustworthy man to help her with her situation. Portis Dale is the closest thing she has to a father, he having been a much loved one-time cohabitant with her mother for several years. He has had issues with substances himself, mostly of the brown liquid variety, and is not exactly someone you would describe as squeaky clean. But their bond is strong. And while Rooster Cogburn’s motivations may have been at least monetary before developing into something else, this Portis has no financial skin in the game. The conversation between the two crackles, as Percy, while only 16, is a hard 16, having had to cope with her meth-head mother for years and does not shy away from going head-to-head with her champion.
Percy has seen maybe too much of the cold underside of life for someone her age. She is a strong female character, no one’s notion of a flighty teen, pining after some boy. She has her vulnerabilities but has a solid core that guides her through. It is very easy to see in Percy an echo of another working class teen facing dire circumstances, 17-year-old Ree Dolly of Winter’s Bone. Percy is as well-realized.
J-Law as Ree Dolly – Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross - from LA Times
Of course getting baby Jenna to safety would be difficult enough, given the impending blizzard. But when Shelton comes to and finds the baby gone, he calls in his troops to beat the bushes. Uh-oh
Another strength in Sweet Girl is the portrayal of the culture, or at least a part of it, in the land of the great water. With industry having mostly packed up, the folks left behind have to make do somehow, and tending to the better-off sorts who have been buying up the shorefront for summer vacations is not quite enough. A lively drug trade involves not only the locals, but new Michiganders, from south of the Rio Grande. Who are all these people and how do they live? You get a sense.
While it would have been no trick to have made the thugs cartoonish (ok, a couple of them are, and there a few of comedic moments that might fuel an occasional outburst of “what a schmuck!”), Shelton, while intellectually and morally challenged, is shown to have a third dimension. You could even feel sorry for him at times. As for Percy’s mama, where the hell is she? Can Percy save her if she finds her? Is she worth saving? What does the future hold for Percy? Does she even have a future? Can Percy even save herself?
I had few gripes in reading this book. But one thing that irked was that a significant event that occurs between Portis and one of his thugs is reported to Percy by Portis after the fact. It really should have been shown on stage instead of off. I suppose there are some who will see the connections between this book, True Grit, and Winter’s Bone and bemoan any similarities. I did not feel that way. Every tale that pairs a woman-child with a much older man is not the same story. The richness of the characterizations makes this one sing. The accomplished creation of the north Michigan environment as a character as important as Percy or Portis, lends heft to the work.
While the horrors of the world of drug abuse are quite chilling, and while the world in which this battle plays out is numbingly cold, and darkly isolated, Sweet Girl is an incredibly warm read, one that appreciates and communicates both innocence and courage. You will love Percy and Portis and feel engaged in their battles with dark forces, natural and hominid. How sweet it is.
Review first posted – 11/13/2015
Publication Date – 2/2/2016
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s personal, and Twitter pages
June 8, 2022
Ebook and Audiobook narrated by Cassandra Morris and MacLeod Andrews
Sweetgirl is another title from my backlist. I have no idea how I ended adding this book to my TBR and buying the e-book in 2016 but I am happy I did.
Percy James, a courageous 16 years old girl, lives together with her addict mother somewhere quite remote in Michigan woods. When her mum disappears again during for a drug binge, she decides to battle the blizzard outside and search for her. When she reaches the drug dealer’s house, she finds the household passed out and a neglected baby crying. She decides to take the baby in order to save her, which will make things very complicated.
The novel is partially narrated by Percy in 1st person POV and partially in 3rd person by the dealer, Shelton Potter. The writing is raw, funny. Immersive and …sweet. I thought the author did a wonderful job to transport the reader to the freezing and wild hills of Michigan and in the mind of its characters, which were diverse and well rounded. The plot is fast pace, it reads like a thriller but there was no shortage of deeper subjects such as addiction and the damage it inflicts on all the people touched by it, directly or indirectly.
Sweetgirl is another title from my backlist. I have no idea how I ended adding this book to my TBR and buying the e-book in 2016 but I am happy I did.
Percy James, a courageous 16 years old girl, lives together with her addict mother somewhere quite remote in Michigan woods. When her mum disappears again during for a drug binge, she decides to battle the blizzard outside and search for her. When she reaches the drug dealer’s house, she finds the household passed out and a neglected baby crying. She decides to take the baby in order to save her, which will make things very complicated.
The novel is partially narrated by Percy in 1st person POV and partially in 3rd person by the dealer, Shelton Potter. The writing is raw, funny. Immersive and …sweet. I thought the author did a wonderful job to transport the reader to the freezing and wild hills of Michigan and in the mind of its characters, which were diverse and well rounded. The plot is fast pace, it reads like a thriller but there was no shortage of deeper subjects such as addiction and the damage it inflicts on all the people touched by it, directly or indirectly.
September 2, 2018
this was pitched to me (by greg) as "a funny Winter's Bone."
and that's a very good description, although "funny" is relative, and it's more "funny used to offset otherwise horrible things" and "funny compared to other grit lit."
but considering the plot of the story, it's amazing there's anything funny about it at all: a sixteen-year-old girl named percy james enters a known meth house looking for her relapsed mother carletta. she does not find her but she does find a dead dog, a live cat, two passed-out junkies, and a distressed baby girl by an open window needing to be changed and slowly being covered by snow. percy rescues the baby, taking off on foot into the worsening michigan blizzard, where she enlists the help of the kindly-gruff portis dale and his faithful wolfdog, resulting in the lot of them being pursued by criminals with guns.
hahhahhahaa??
but humor does find a way to manifest - in percy's wry sardonic, occasionally overformal voice:
while the particulars of a given calamity may be impossible to predict, while I could never say I expected to find a baby in the bedroom, chaos itself was always confirmation of the dread I carried certain in my bones.
in the friendly banter between percy and portis, who had once nearly become percy's stepfather:
"It's pretty, " I said. "But I swear I am never coming back up on this hill."
"This hill is cursed," said Portis. "There isn't a doubt."
"You're the one that lives here."
"I don't so much live as I do exist."
"That's deep."
"I wish it were," he said.
and in the straight-up slapstick of shelton potter's storyline. shelton is the owner of the aforementioned meth house, and he returns to consciousness to find the baby gone and her mother still zonked out, blissfully unaware. shelton sets out to be the hero of his own story, but his frequent pauses to do nitrous, smoke pot, mourn his faithful dog old bo, and zone out in many drug-related lacunae make him less … efficient a champion.
as far as the Winter's Bone part, mulhauser is definitely showcasing that wonderful balance between lyrical and harsh that i so enjoy in woodrell's prose:
Up ahead I watched as a swarm of chickadees broke from a jack pine, scattering tiny mists of snow as they searched out neighboring trees. And that's the thing about Cutler - it's a hard place, but sometimes it's so damn pretty you don't know what to do with it all.
and percy is a wonderfully clear-eyed protagonist in the same vein as w.b.'s ree; a teenager who's seen more and lived more and had to become more than most kids her age, someone who's inherently good-hearted, but also resigned to certain realities:
We walked among the rows of graves, a bunch of cement headstones with some named etched in. Sorry plots that were not graced with the lamenting angels and Jesus statues that held court across the highway. In the end, you can't even die your way out of being poor.
who is able to love her mother deeply but still see through her bullshit:
Carletta had a way of denying certain realities to make her life seem like more than it was, which was sort of like coping, but was mostly just another way to lie.
another great woodrelly skill he has is in the vividness of his landscape. ohhhhhhh, michigan. you are so cold! mulhauser is masterful at bringing this environment to life and making readers feel percy's long trudge through the blizzard, feet freezing in boots, the weight of a baby curling her forward, the weight of her other worries dogging her every step. it's perfect, and while i may be the only one jealous of such freezing surroundings here in my pathetic 72-degrees-on-christmas-eve-new-york "winter," there's no denying that his description of it is powerful and effective.
in a lot of ways this story is very familiar, at least to someone who reads *a lot* in this particular grit lit vein, but mulhauser brings his own spin to the meth and guns and backwoods justice template. female-driven grit lit is not uncommon, but it's definitely less common, and i really appreciated percy's authentic balance between competence and vulnerability. this isn't the high moralistic tone of True Grit or the "fuck you and all your fuckery" badass tone of Young God; it's in the middle, where it makes sense and where books like Winter's Bone and the The Weight of Blood live.
so greg was right - it is funny. and touching. and also filled with horrible horrible things. and it gets bonus points for multiple warren zevon mentions. and for wolfdog and old bo. and all of it, really. points all around for another strong debut novel.
if you bothered to click on that link up top, just imagine that song playing at top volume over and over for days. don't do meth, kids.
come to my blog!
and that's a very good description, although "funny" is relative, and it's more "funny used to offset otherwise horrible things" and "funny compared to other grit lit."
but considering the plot of the story, it's amazing there's anything funny about it at all: a sixteen-year-old girl named percy james enters a known meth house looking for her relapsed mother carletta. she does not find her but she does find a dead dog, a live cat, two passed-out junkies, and a distressed baby girl by an open window needing to be changed and slowly being covered by snow. percy rescues the baby, taking off on foot into the worsening michigan blizzard, where she enlists the help of the kindly-gruff portis dale and his faithful wolfdog, resulting in the lot of them being pursued by criminals with guns.
hahhahhahaa??
but humor does find a way to manifest - in percy's wry sardonic, occasionally overformal voice:
while the particulars of a given calamity may be impossible to predict, while I could never say I expected to find a baby in the bedroom, chaos itself was always confirmation of the dread I carried certain in my bones.
in the friendly banter between percy and portis, who had once nearly become percy's stepfather:
"It's pretty, " I said. "But I swear I am never coming back up on this hill."
"This hill is cursed," said Portis. "There isn't a doubt."
"You're the one that lives here."
"I don't so much live as I do exist."
"That's deep."
"I wish it were," he said.
and in the straight-up slapstick of shelton potter's storyline. shelton is the owner of the aforementioned meth house, and he returns to consciousness to find the baby gone and her mother still zonked out, blissfully unaware. shelton sets out to be the hero of his own story, but his frequent pauses to do nitrous, smoke pot, mourn his faithful dog old bo, and zone out in many drug-related lacunae make him less … efficient a champion.
as far as the Winter's Bone part, mulhauser is definitely showcasing that wonderful balance between lyrical and harsh that i so enjoy in woodrell's prose:
Up ahead I watched as a swarm of chickadees broke from a jack pine, scattering tiny mists of snow as they searched out neighboring trees. And that's the thing about Cutler - it's a hard place, but sometimes it's so damn pretty you don't know what to do with it all.
and percy is a wonderfully clear-eyed protagonist in the same vein as w.b.'s ree; a teenager who's seen more and lived more and had to become more than most kids her age, someone who's inherently good-hearted, but also resigned to certain realities:
We walked among the rows of graves, a bunch of cement headstones with some named etched in. Sorry plots that were not graced with the lamenting angels and Jesus statues that held court across the highway. In the end, you can't even die your way out of being poor.
who is able to love her mother deeply but still see through her bullshit:
Carletta had a way of denying certain realities to make her life seem like more than it was, which was sort of like coping, but was mostly just another way to lie.
another great woodrelly skill he has is in the vividness of his landscape. ohhhhhhh, michigan. you are so cold! mulhauser is masterful at bringing this environment to life and making readers feel percy's long trudge through the blizzard, feet freezing in boots, the weight of a baby curling her forward, the weight of her other worries dogging her every step. it's perfect, and while i may be the only one jealous of such freezing surroundings here in my pathetic 72-degrees-on-christmas-eve-new-york "winter," there's no denying that his description of it is powerful and effective.
in a lot of ways this story is very familiar, at least to someone who reads *a lot* in this particular grit lit vein, but mulhauser brings his own spin to the meth and guns and backwoods justice template. female-driven grit lit is not uncommon, but it's definitely less common, and i really appreciated percy's authentic balance between competence and vulnerability. this isn't the high moralistic tone of True Grit or the "fuck you and all your fuckery" badass tone of Young God; it's in the middle, where it makes sense and where books like Winter's Bone and the The Weight of Blood live.
so greg was right - it is funny. and touching. and also filled with horrible horrible things. and it gets bonus points for multiple warren zevon mentions. and for wolfdog and old bo. and all of it, really. points all around for another strong debut novel.
if you bothered to click on that link up top, just imagine that song playing at top volume over and over for days. don't do meth, kids.
come to my blog!
February 10, 2016
The first thing I noticed about this book was how wonderfully it was written, the words and the plot just flowed aimlessly. Nothing was forced, it was all as natural as a story being told to one person by another. Another thing was the location, grit lit in Northern Michigan. Love it! The characters, Percy and Portis are both very memorable characters. Percy, sixteen years old with way to much responsibility for one so young, trying to take care of her mother who is hooked on drugs and alcohol. Portis, a man who despite his addictions is a stand up guy, one who is there in pinch, always available to help Percy. He really tries to help her, and will pay heavily.
This is an adventure story but also a character study. Drugs, addictions, the harm and sorrow they cause to others and to themselves. So incredibly powerful that even though they wish they were different, could change, that the rough circumstances they find themselves in could be alleviated,they are unable to get out from under the drugs spell. There are bad guys in this novel certainly, but bad guys who it seems wish they weren't.
The book ends on a very hopeful note, that Percy might manage to escape the dire future that seems to beckon and have a fulfilling life. This is a novel about caring, doing the right thing and the hardships and brutal reality of addictions. Brilliant.
ARc from publisher.
This is an adventure story but also a character study. Drugs, addictions, the harm and sorrow they cause to others and to themselves. So incredibly powerful that even though they wish they were different, could change, that the rough circumstances they find themselves in could be alleviated,they are unable to get out from under the drugs spell. There are bad guys in this novel certainly, but bad guys who it seems wish they weren't.
The book ends on a very hopeful note, that Percy might manage to escape the dire future that seems to beckon and have a fulfilling life. This is a novel about caring, doing the right thing and the hardships and brutal reality of addictions. Brilliant.
ARc from publisher.
January 22, 2022
Percy James, 16, lives in the hills of Cutler County, Michigan. She’s accustomed to her mother going missing, but with a blizzard on the horizon, she’s afraid of where she is, whom she’s with and most of all, if she’s passed out somewhere. That’s the trouble with Carletta, she’s trouble, troubled, and troubling. Figuring Carletta might be at Shelton Potter’s cabin, she heads over to his place. Shelton and his girlfriend are passed out cold downstairs, but Percy lets herself in and heads upstairs looking for her mother. No Carletta to be found, but inside a room with a window open, Percy finds a screaming baby girl who wraps her tiny hand around Percy’s finger and her heart. She bundles her up and off they go.
Percy has no father to turn to, so she heads to the next best thing, the only man her mother had a relationship with that she was ever close to. Portis Dale, but Portis isn’t exactly next-door, and the winds are howling and the temperature’s dropping. The adventure that ensues is … well, an adventure.
While there are dark moments, tense moments, there is sweetness to be found underneath it all with Sweetgirl.
August 7, 2016
I really liked this book, another one set in Michigan, where I live.
Very atmospheric novel that kept me completely engaged as I seemed to be on the cold snowy journey to safety along with two of the main characters and an infant taken from a drug house. So much crazy stuff happens along the way!! IJust have to say... I LOVED Portis!!!!
Very atmospheric novel that kept me completely engaged as I seemed to be on the cold snowy journey to safety along with two of the main characters and an infant taken from a drug house. So much crazy stuff happens along the way!! IJust have to say... I LOVED Portis!!!!
June 3, 2016
Sixteen year old Percy's mama is on the meth again. She has taken off and Percy heads over to the local drug dealer's house to try and find her mama to drag her home again.
When she gets there her mama Carletta isn't there..but the local drug dealer Shelton and his girlfriend are zonked out in the house. Then she goes upstairs and finds a baby.
During a snowstorm.
With the windows open and snow filling her crib.
Percy takes the baby. After figuring out what the smell of death was in the house. Yuk.
She enlists the aid of a former doper that pretty much raised her. (He had been hooked up with mama for awhile) and they set out during a blizzard trying to get the baby help.
Now this part was odd. The baby had really bad diaper rash.
I really expected something more serious to be wrong with the poor kid because with a meth head mama and that snow blowing in..but I digress.
As they are trying to figure out how to get the baby to the hospital, Shelton the meth dealer wakes up.
He is all out of meth and decides to put that canister of nitrous oxide he picked up to use. Balloons are handy dandy little drug sniffing tools.
The beauty of nitrous was that it wouldn't show up on a standard piss test. At least Sheldon didn't think it would. Obviously the methamphetamines would be there in full parade, along with the pot and the alcohol and the cocaine, but what good did it do anybody to dwell on such things? His PO could call him up at any moment and have him drive over to the courthouse to piss. That's just the way the legal system was, unorganized and flat impossible to predict. It wasn't something you could let get in the way of living your life.
Sheldon's little drug addled brain realizes that the baby is missing and he decides on his undying love for it's mother that he needs to find it to keep her happy. She is still passed out.
He starts making calls to his boys and starts searching himself. It's still in the middle of a giant snowstorm. So you have tons of snow, idiots on drugs, said idiots with guns...you know this ain't gonna end well.
This book could have been fleshed out just a tad bit more for me. The characters felt real they just needed something else. I would have liked more definitely of Sheldon, he could be the poster boy for keeping kids off the drugs.
Booksource: Library.
Fellow hick lit reader Bonnie's review brought this one to my attention.
When she gets there her mama Carletta isn't there..but the local drug dealer Shelton and his girlfriend are zonked out in the house. Then she goes upstairs and finds a baby.
During a snowstorm.
With the windows open and snow filling her crib.
Percy takes the baby. After figuring out what the smell of death was in the house. Yuk.
She enlists the aid of a former doper that pretty much raised her. (He had been hooked up with mama for awhile) and they set out during a blizzard trying to get the baby help.
Now this part was odd. The baby had really bad diaper rash.
I really expected something more serious to be wrong with the poor kid because with a meth head mama and that snow blowing in..but I digress.
As they are trying to figure out how to get the baby to the hospital, Shelton the meth dealer wakes up.
He is all out of meth and decides to put that canister of nitrous oxide he picked up to use. Balloons are handy dandy little drug sniffing tools.
The beauty of nitrous was that it wouldn't show up on a standard piss test. At least Sheldon didn't think it would. Obviously the methamphetamines would be there in full parade, along with the pot and the alcohol and the cocaine, but what good did it do anybody to dwell on such things? His PO could call him up at any moment and have him drive over to the courthouse to piss. That's just the way the legal system was, unorganized and flat impossible to predict. It wasn't something you could let get in the way of living your life.
Sheldon's little drug addled brain realizes that the baby is missing and he decides on his undying love for it's mother that he needs to find it to keep her happy. She is still passed out.
He starts making calls to his boys and starts searching himself. It's still in the middle of a giant snowstorm. So you have tons of snow, idiots on drugs, said idiots with guns...you know this ain't gonna end well.
This book could have been fleshed out just a tad bit more for me. The characters felt real they just needed something else. I would have liked more definitely of Sheldon, he could be the poster boy for keeping kids off the drugs.
Booksource: Library.
Fellow hick lit reader Bonnie's review brought this one to my attention.
February 8, 2016
It's a dark story in so many ways but there's one light that shines amidst the darkness and the drugs and death and that light is Percy James . It's a powerful, riveting story that had me from the first page and sixteen year old Percy James became a favorite character for me almost immediately.
It's been a tough life with her alcohol and drug addicted mother Carletta, but she loves her mother and needs to find her . In her search, she finds a neglected baby that she is determined to save . But it is in this selfless goal that the beauty of the story lies - the act of saving some else becomes the very thing that saves Percy from this place .
We come across some rough characters- Shelton Potter , dealer and addict and Portis Dale , rough but soft for Percy and it becomes evident that he'd do anything to help Percy . The points of view alternate between Percy's and Shelton Potter. From Percy's perspective we learn that she is smart and wise beyond her years and that she has led too tough a life that gives her the burden of watching out for her drug addicted mother and her maturity and goodness is evident in the responsibility of caring for this neglected baby. From Shelton Potter's point of view we see the darkest side of the drug dealing and addiction.
Things quickly spiral out of control in this riveting ordeal that Percy finds herself in with her attempt to save baby Jenna . It is not lost on this reader how Percy is desperately trying to insure that Jenna does not have the life that she had. A wonderful story where hope can be found in a place otherwise hopeless. A high recommendation for Travis Mulhauser's debut novel. Hoping for more from him .
Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.
It's been a tough life with her alcohol and drug addicted mother Carletta, but she loves her mother and needs to find her . In her search, she finds a neglected baby that she is determined to save . But it is in this selfless goal that the beauty of the story lies - the act of saving some else becomes the very thing that saves Percy from this place .
We come across some rough characters- Shelton Potter , dealer and addict and Portis Dale , rough but soft for Percy and it becomes evident that he'd do anything to help Percy . The points of view alternate between Percy's and Shelton Potter. From Percy's perspective we learn that she is smart and wise beyond her years and that she has led too tough a life that gives her the burden of watching out for her drug addicted mother and her maturity and goodness is evident in the responsibility of caring for this neglected baby. From Shelton Potter's point of view we see the darkest side of the drug dealing and addiction.
Things quickly spiral out of control in this riveting ordeal that Percy finds herself in with her attempt to save baby Jenna . It is not lost on this reader how Percy is desperately trying to insure that Jenna does not have the life that she had. A wonderful story where hope can be found in a place otherwise hopeless. A high recommendation for Travis Mulhauser's debut novel. Hoping for more from him .
Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.
July 22, 2024
I thought this well-written, rural-noir thriller was really terrific. I had never heard of the author before, but I would be happy to read what he writes next. Set in northern Michigan during a blizzard, the book is alternately exciting, touching, funny, sad and tragic and would make a really good movie.
Fifteen year old Percy goes to find her drug addict mother in a meth house, and instead finds Shelton (the drug dealer's nephew) and Shelton's girlfriend Kayla, who are both passed out in a drugged-out stupor. She also finds a decomposing dog and an unattended infant, Jenna. Percy impulsively takes Jenna to the house of her mother's old boyfriend, Portis, to enlist his help in getting Jenna to the hospital, which proves to be awfully hard to reach. Portis, Percy and Jenna are pursued through the snow by Shelton and an inept and unpredictable collection of his uncle's minions.
Shelton is probably an idiot even when sober, but I can't be certain of that, since he was both stoned and an idiot at all times in the book. Portis on the other hand was drunk at all times but never an idiot. He was shrewd, caring, clever, funny and responsible. They were both interesting characters, as was Percy, who seemed to have turned out quite well despite a difficult childhood.
The writing was lean and crisp, without a lot of unnecessary details. The book took unexpected turns and the ending was satisfying.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
Fifteen year old Percy goes to find her drug addict mother in a meth house, and instead finds Shelton (the drug dealer's nephew) and Shelton's girlfriend Kayla, who are both passed out in a drugged-out stupor. She also finds a decomposing dog and an unattended infant, Jenna. Percy impulsively takes Jenna to the house of her mother's old boyfriend, Portis, to enlist his help in getting Jenna to the hospital, which proves to be awfully hard to reach. Portis, Percy and Jenna are pursued through the snow by Shelton and an inept and unpredictable collection of his uncle's minions.
Shelton is probably an idiot even when sober, but I can't be certain of that, since he was both stoned and an idiot at all times in the book. Portis on the other hand was drunk at all times but never an idiot. He was shrewd, caring, clever, funny and responsible. They were both interesting characters, as was Percy, who seemed to have turned out quite well despite a difficult childhood.
The writing was lean and crisp, without a lot of unnecessary details. The book took unexpected turns and the ending was satisfying.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
August 3, 2018
A fearless sixteen-year-old girl whose search for her missing mother leads to an unexpected discovery and a life-and-death struggle in the harsh frozen landscape of the upper Midwest...
A heartfelt and sincere book, beautiful. Between tender and tough.
Percy, the 16-year young heroine, she touched my heart.
In a way this story reminds you of the brave 14-year old Mattie Ross, of True Grit (just read this). Sort of a modern version story of persistence, fighting spirit and stamina. A dark but hopeful story. Written very much to the point, simple, spot on.
Well... I had to cry in the end... and that means a book hit me right in the heart and that deserves 5 stars. Recommended!
This is the story:
Percy is sixteen and used to her mama disappointing her. But this time her mama's been gone for nine days and she's been seen up at Shelton Potter's farmhouse. Which can only mean she's strung out on home-cooked meth again. A blizzard rolls in in Cutler county, Michigan, middle of January and Percy jumps in her pickup and sets off for the farmhouse. She finds Shelton, owning the house, and a woman passed out on the floor, sleeping off the latest binge. But no sign of her mama. Percy heads upstairs and finds a neglected baby girl, baby Jenna, soon nicknamed sweetgirl, in urgent need of care and attention. Percy knows she has no choice. She has to take the baby and get her to a hospital soon. But the blizzard shows no signs of stopping and soon her pickup is snowed in. Now she's on foot and before long, two-bit criminal Shelton wakes up and heads out with four of his associates on the hunt for whoever has taken the baby...She finds her mother's ex Portis, a troubled guy with a good heart though with whom she always kept contact, and together they set out to get the baby to a hospital, with bad guys in pursuit, her mother turning up drugged and disoriented, and the weather growing worse...
A definite highlight of 2016 for me, this book.
A heartfelt and sincere book, beautiful. Between tender and tough.
Percy, the 16-year young heroine, she touched my heart.
In a way this story reminds you of the brave 14-year old Mattie Ross, of True Grit (just read this). Sort of a modern version story of persistence, fighting spirit and stamina. A dark but hopeful story. Written very much to the point, simple, spot on.
Well... I had to cry in the end... and that means a book hit me right in the heart and that deserves 5 stars. Recommended!
This is the story:
Percy is sixteen and used to her mama disappointing her. But this time her mama's been gone for nine days and she's been seen up at Shelton Potter's farmhouse. Which can only mean she's strung out on home-cooked meth again. A blizzard rolls in in Cutler county, Michigan, middle of January and Percy jumps in her pickup and sets off for the farmhouse. She finds Shelton, owning the house, and a woman passed out on the floor, sleeping off the latest binge. But no sign of her mama. Percy heads upstairs and finds a neglected baby girl, baby Jenna, soon nicknamed sweetgirl, in urgent need of care and attention. Percy knows she has no choice. She has to take the baby and get her to a hospital soon. But the blizzard shows no signs of stopping and soon her pickup is snowed in. Now she's on foot and before long, two-bit criminal Shelton wakes up and heads out with four of his associates on the hunt for whoever has taken the baby...She finds her mother's ex Portis, a troubled guy with a good heart though with whom she always kept contact, and together they set out to get the baby to a hospital, with bad guys in pursuit, her mother turning up drugged and disoriented, and the weather growing worse...
A definite highlight of 2016 for me, this book.
December 17, 2020
A wonderful page turner...
It was the middle of January....[brrrrr]....in Cutler County, Michigan.
We meet sixteen year old Percy James....( bold and fearless)
Her Mama was missing — and she was sick and tired sittin’ round worrying and wondering where she was.
With harsh chilly snowy elements, Percy sets out to find Mama.
“I knew the ice was likely to hold, but say it didn’t? One misstep And I could be in a bad way quick—ice cracking as the splits spread like taproots and opened into breaks”.
“I would have to hike the rest of the way through the woods, then cross open land to get to the farm house. It would be cold and dark and purely miserable, but I keep walking until I got there because I didn’t have a choice. Carletta had to be got”.
“Mama had seen fit to steal my winter coat and gloves the night she disappeared, which meant I would be making the trek in my hoodie and bluejeans. An injustice that might have angered me if I thought it would do any good”.
Percy arrives at Sheldon Potter’s farmhouse cabin - finds him and Kayla Hawthorn both crashed out - drugged out - asleep - on a filthy living room floor.....home of cocaine, marijuana, and home-cooked methamphetamines.
Upstairs, baby ....[a sweetgirl]....was in a bassinet. Jenna was the name on the bassinet.
Between whiskey- cigarettes - a baby - and blistering snow....
is a page turner with fabulous atmosphere - textured characters- in-your-face dialogue....and one heck of a wonderful story.
Sample dialogue...[Percy makes it over to Portis Dale’s place...probably as close to a father she’s ever known]
“I told him Mama had gone missing and that her Bonneville was parked out front of Sheldons but that she was not inside. I’d come in the back door and found the baby upstairs while Sheldon and the mother were passed out in the living room. I described the bassinet by the open window and how the snow was slanting in. I told him Sheldon and the woman hadn’t moved an inch and then I was absolutely certain nobody had seen me”.
“Gentry came by, I said. He saw Mama when he was up there delivering a keg”.
“And what are you doing cavorting with the likes of Gentry?”
“He’s my friend, I said. He sells me cigarettes at the store”.
“You’re sixteen years old, last time I checked”.
“You gave me Marlboro Reds when I was twelve”.
“That was to keep you from stealing them”.
“What’s The difference?”
“It don’t even matter, Portis said, and waved his hand. Just stay the hell away from that Gentry. He’s a thirty-year-old man and I can guarantee he’s the type that only does a favor cause he’s expecting a pay back in return. And you know what kind of payback I mean”.
“He’s twenty-three, I said. And gay”.
“Gay nothing, Portis said. Gay ain’t always what it looks like on the surface”.
“Jesus Christ, I said. You really are a lunatic”.
“And just think, he said. I am the one you came to for help”.
“Sweertgirl”...is a wonderful-gritty-heartfelt adventure. It’s impossible to stop reading. It can easily be one or two sittings —-It’s totally satisfying....with a great ending.
The terrific writing puts the reader right into the middle of this dangerous odyssey against the winter snow....an affecting story with tenderness, humor, sacrifices, courage, and tons of heart.
As my friend Cheri, often gets reminded of songs when reading a book - I did with this one.
I’ll share a few lyrics....you’ll know the song.
🎶 So, bye-bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the leeve but the leeve was dry
And them ‘ol boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’ This’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die 🎶
Thanks to Kasa....whose review inspired me to read this.
It was the middle of January....[brrrrr]....in Cutler County, Michigan.
We meet sixteen year old Percy James....( bold and fearless)
Her Mama was missing — and she was sick and tired sittin’ round worrying and wondering where she was.
With harsh chilly snowy elements, Percy sets out to find Mama.
“I knew the ice was likely to hold, but say it didn’t? One misstep And I could be in a bad way quick—ice cracking as the splits spread like taproots and opened into breaks”.
“I would have to hike the rest of the way through the woods, then cross open land to get to the farm house. It would be cold and dark and purely miserable, but I keep walking until I got there because I didn’t have a choice. Carletta had to be got”.
“Mama had seen fit to steal my winter coat and gloves the night she disappeared, which meant I would be making the trek in my hoodie and bluejeans. An injustice that might have angered me if I thought it would do any good”.
Percy arrives at Sheldon Potter’s farmhouse cabin - finds him and Kayla Hawthorn both crashed out - drugged out - asleep - on a filthy living room floor.....home of cocaine, marijuana, and home-cooked methamphetamines.
Upstairs, baby ....[a sweetgirl]....was in a bassinet. Jenna was the name on the bassinet.
Between whiskey- cigarettes - a baby - and blistering snow....
is a page turner with fabulous atmosphere - textured characters- in-your-face dialogue....and one heck of a wonderful story.
Sample dialogue...[Percy makes it over to Portis Dale’s place...probably as close to a father she’s ever known]
“I told him Mama had gone missing and that her Bonneville was parked out front of Sheldons but that she was not inside. I’d come in the back door and found the baby upstairs while Sheldon and the mother were passed out in the living room. I described the bassinet by the open window and how the snow was slanting in. I told him Sheldon and the woman hadn’t moved an inch and then I was absolutely certain nobody had seen me”.
“Gentry came by, I said. He saw Mama when he was up there delivering a keg”.
“And what are you doing cavorting with the likes of Gentry?”
“He’s my friend, I said. He sells me cigarettes at the store”.
“You’re sixteen years old, last time I checked”.
“You gave me Marlboro Reds when I was twelve”.
“That was to keep you from stealing them”.
“What’s The difference?”
“It don’t even matter, Portis said, and waved his hand. Just stay the hell away from that Gentry. He’s a thirty-year-old man and I can guarantee he’s the type that only does a favor cause he’s expecting a pay back in return. And you know what kind of payback I mean”.
“He’s twenty-three, I said. And gay”.
“Gay nothing, Portis said. Gay ain’t always what it looks like on the surface”.
“Jesus Christ, I said. You really are a lunatic”.
“And just think, he said. I am the one you came to for help”.
“Sweertgirl”...is a wonderful-gritty-heartfelt adventure. It’s impossible to stop reading. It can easily be one or two sittings —-It’s totally satisfying....with a great ending.
The terrific writing puts the reader right into the middle of this dangerous odyssey against the winter snow....an affecting story with tenderness, humor, sacrifices, courage, and tons of heart.
As my friend Cheri, often gets reminded of songs when reading a book - I did with this one.
I’ll share a few lyrics....you’ll know the song.
🎶 So, bye-bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the leeve but the leeve was dry
And them ‘ol boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’ This’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die 🎶
Thanks to Kasa....whose review inspired me to read this.
February 1, 2022
Percy is the sweet girl of the title, she is sixteen and a wise soul for her age. She's had to grow up quick in her tiny Michigan town with a mother who's a crackhead and nobody to take care of her. Her only sibling has moved to Portland with her husband and baby and are doing alright. Her sister wants Percy to come live with them, but Percy has secrets.
She's dropped out of school and working refinishing furniture to support her mom and now Carletta has taken off on a drug binge again. It was inevitable. Percy is the only one on the planet who thinks Carletta is salvageable. When she gets a lead as to where her mother has gone, she hightails it in her little pickup to get her. First, she gets stuck in a snow drift. Then she finds something worth saving that's a whole lot more precious than her mom, herself.
She's dropped out of school and working refinishing furniture to support her mom and now Carletta has taken off on a drug binge again. It was inevitable. Percy is the only one on the planet who thinks Carletta is salvageable. When she gets a lead as to where her mother has gone, she hightails it in her little pickup to get her. First, she gets stuck in a snow drift. Then she finds something worth saving that's a whole lot more precious than her mom, herself.
February 21, 2016
4.75★
"I was a foot from the shotgun now and knew I could reach it in time if he lunged. I believed I could turn it on him and squeeze the trigger, too—that I would be able to shoot him down right there in the room if he changed his mind.”
Yep, you and me both Percy. It’s true. This kind of story can bring out the worst in the reader. Go on Shelton, keep on inhaling that nitrous until you don’t ever wake up. See? And you thought I was such I nice woman who likes to drink wine and use smiley face emoticons.
A cracker jack debut novel that is a believable, haunting, thriller of a tale that will chill you to the marrow but leave just enough flesh on the bone for recovery. Less than 250 pages, tightly woven, fantastically paced, and a real pleasure to read. More please Mr. Mulhauser. ☺︎
"I was a foot from the shotgun now and knew I could reach it in time if he lunged. I believed I could turn it on him and squeeze the trigger, too—that I would be able to shoot him down right there in the room if he changed his mind.”
Yep, you and me both Percy. It’s true. This kind of story can bring out the worst in the reader. Go on Shelton, keep on inhaling that nitrous until you don’t ever wake up. See? And you thought I was such I nice woman who likes to drink wine and use smiley face emoticons.
A cracker jack debut novel that is a believable, haunting, thriller of a tale that will chill you to the marrow but leave just enough flesh on the bone for recovery. Less than 250 pages, tightly woven, fantastically paced, and a real pleasure to read. More please Mr. Mulhauser. ☺︎
March 16, 2025
They were tears of grief, but somehow the hurt was clean and not polluted for once with his own shame and guilt.
I adored the writing in Sweetgirl, it was gritty, sweet, funny and dreamlike all at the same time. I've tried thinking what I can compare it to, but absolutely nothing comes to mind. I can find no fault with this novel at all, the characters will break your heart. The author has the amazing ability to show that even "bad" people have good intentions and thoughts, and that we should not always judge people by their deeds. In fact Shelton is the character that will probably stay will me the longest. In only 250 pages he creates so many heartfelt characters, he even has the ability to make you feel for people who only features in one scene, for instance Hector and Zeke. The action is fast-paced, and you can never predict what will happen on the next page. The setting also plays a major role in this story, and in becomes a metaphor for love:
And that's the thing about Cutler - it's a hard place, but sometimes it's so damn pretty you don't know what to do with it all.
If you're looking for something that will make you cry, laugh, hold your breath and feel love, then I highly recommend this beautiful debut novel.
August 6, 2016
I really enjoyed this excellent debut novel by Travis Mulhauser. Think of it as "Winter's Bone" light - a teen-aged girl heads off in a Northern Michigan blizzard into the backwoods to hunt down her meth-addicted mother. Her journey and the characters she encounters along the way make this one truly special. I devoured this is less than a day.
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
January 5, 2018
The existential ramblings between a meth head named Shelton and some stoned guy driving to his gig as a Roy Orbison impersonator shot this little story up to a four star rating and held it there. The meth head, a brutal dealer who loves his girlfriend, her baby, and his dead dog sucks nitrous oxide repeatedly from little party balloons and leaves their bright carcasses strewn about his Chevy pick-up like confetti after the carnival has left town.
Shelton later converses with a colleague about how unfair it is that he would always be judged more harshly than his friend, a man who peddles cocaine: "Well, you know how it is in the media when it comes to meth. They're biased on it." Ha! Despite his musings, Shelton is a murderous dude - a little ditzy from constantly being bombed - but also somehow relatable. My favorite parlor trick for an author to pull is showing me that the bad guy has glints of good here or there.
This darkish story is primarily about a 16 year old girl, wise for her years, who goes out seeking the whereabouts of her addict mom but ends up finding a half-frozen, scrawny, neglected baby. The teenaged Percy engages in some fun, smart-assy commentary with her father figure as they try to out-maneuver a Michigan blizzard way out in the sticks and to keep clear of the volatile and dangerous Shelton. Huddled up in a flimsy ice-fishing shanty, their arguments were a total blast to read, despite their precarious situation and that the baby desperately needs medical attention. Tragedy and comedy are dance partners here, the levity relieving pent up darkness.
That the vocabulary, wisdom, and thought trains we read would actually come out of the pipes of a 16 year old kid is iffy, but I didn't care. The humor and tension were a fun ride for me. I don't know who the heck this Travis Mulhauser is, but I would LOVE to have him sit at the table for our next dinner party! Smart, witty dialogue - even if somewhat unbelievable for a high school drop out and a handful of inebriates - made this totally enjoyable.
I snickered aloud when Percy, muttering as they trudge through the snow - she in cheap boots and thin socks - starts slamming weekend athletes who pay money to compete in mud runs.
"You’ve got to have it made to even think like that - to walk around feeling like your life needs a few more challenges thrown in. I wish they had a website for such people. Rich folks with a bunch of crackpot energy. People like me could post help wanted ads, and then the adrenaline junkies could do something of actual value with their foolishness. I mean, why run through some mud you put there on purpose when you could come to Cutler to rescue a baby from the drug- ravaged farmhouse of a fucking lunatic?"
Why, indeed, Percy? I've done several of these admittedly ridiculous mud runs myself but will tell you this. Whatever snow or muck this author shovels forth from here on out, sign me up to trudge on through. I'm a fan.
Shelton later converses with a colleague about how unfair it is that he would always be judged more harshly than his friend, a man who peddles cocaine: "Well, you know how it is in the media when it comes to meth. They're biased on it." Ha! Despite his musings, Shelton is a murderous dude - a little ditzy from constantly being bombed - but also somehow relatable. My favorite parlor trick for an author to pull is showing me that the bad guy has glints of good here or there.
This darkish story is primarily about a 16 year old girl, wise for her years, who goes out seeking the whereabouts of her addict mom but ends up finding a half-frozen, scrawny, neglected baby. The teenaged Percy engages in some fun, smart-assy commentary with her father figure as they try to out-maneuver a Michigan blizzard way out in the sticks and to keep clear of the volatile and dangerous Shelton. Huddled up in a flimsy ice-fishing shanty, their arguments were a total blast to read, despite their precarious situation and that the baby desperately needs medical attention. Tragedy and comedy are dance partners here, the levity relieving pent up darkness.
That the vocabulary, wisdom, and thought trains we read would actually come out of the pipes of a 16 year old kid is iffy, but I didn't care. The humor and tension were a fun ride for me. I don't know who the heck this Travis Mulhauser is, but I would LOVE to have him sit at the table for our next dinner party! Smart, witty dialogue - even if somewhat unbelievable for a high school drop out and a handful of inebriates - made this totally enjoyable.
I snickered aloud when Percy, muttering as they trudge through the snow - she in cheap boots and thin socks - starts slamming weekend athletes who pay money to compete in mud runs.
"You’ve got to have it made to even think like that - to walk around feeling like your life needs a few more challenges thrown in. I wish they had a website for such people. Rich folks with a bunch of crackpot energy. People like me could post help wanted ads, and then the adrenaline junkies could do something of actual value with their foolishness. I mean, why run through some mud you put there on purpose when you could come to Cutler to rescue a baby from the drug- ravaged farmhouse of a fucking lunatic?"
Why, indeed, Percy? I've done several of these admittedly ridiculous mud runs myself but will tell you this. Whatever snow or muck this author shovels forth from here on out, sign me up to trudge on through. I'm a fan.
September 2, 2020
[4+] A propulsive, scary novel with humorous undertones and characters that jump off the pages. I love Percy James and would happily read more novels about her. Unfortunately, Mulhauser has a slim backlist (no novels). I look forward to his next novel - an incredible writer!
February 10, 2021
Pure pleasure. Wonderful writing. Started with a bang and never let go. Characters and landscape so full and visceral they left imprints inside me. This was both an escape from reality and a trip into an alternate one that, even though I’ve never lived in Northern Michigan, never fought snowstorms and drug addicts, never did most of what is written about here, it felt familiar.
The dialogue is spectacular—both authentic and stylized although you may not notice that. What’s stylized is trapeze-jumping thought transitions, from dealing with down-and-out drugging or weathering impossible elements to inventiveness, that although similar in each character and expressed with a certain formality (“do not” instead of “don’t,” for instance), is unique to each personality. It’s easier just to give you a taste. In this scene the protagonist, a 16-year-old girl named Percy, and Portis, her mother’s ex-boyfriend who is her closest thing to a parent figure, are fleeing drug dealers and trying to save a baby in the midst of a devastating Northern Michigan snowstorm:
Read this book to get swept away by a terrific story and fine writing.
The dialogue is spectacular—both authentic and stylized although you may not notice that. What’s stylized is trapeze-jumping thought transitions, from dealing with down-and-out drugging or weathering impossible elements to inventiveness, that although similar in each character and expressed with a certain formality (“do not” instead of “don’t,” for instance), is unique to each personality. It’s easier just to give you a taste. In this scene the protagonist, a 16-year-old girl named Percy, and Portis, her mother’s ex-boyfriend who is her closest thing to a parent figure, are fleeing drug dealers and trying to save a baby in the midst of a devastating Northern Michigan snowstorm:
“How far to the truck?” I [Percy] said.
“A mile or so.”
“That’s not bad.”
“It won’t feel like any mile you’ve ever walked. I can promise you that.”
It’s tough walking,” I said. “But it can’t be but so bad.”
“We’re going uphill the whole way,” he said.
“It doesn’t seem like it.”
“It’s a gradual incline.”
“That’s good,” I said. “Gradual is good.”
“You say potato,” said Portis. (110-111)
Read this book to get swept away by a terrific story and fine writing.
February 21, 2016
4.5 This was excellent! If you liked Winter's Bone you will like this book. I look forward to more by this author.
November 6, 2021
This is a small little book with a very big heart.
Sunday was rainy and unseasonably cold which was perfect reading weather but combined with the vivid descriptions of show, blizzards and frost bite in this novel it had me making too many cups of hot chocolate to count.
The writing was absolutely wonderful and the story felt effortless. I found myself holding my breath almost the whole way through because everything felt like a tragedy just waiting to happen.
This is a community that all carry the scars of drug abuse even if some of them have never touched so much as alcohol.
16-year-old Percy is one of them but with her meth addicted mother having gone off the rails again and a storm brewing she goes out looking for her in the usual places. What she finds is more difficult to deal with than a strung out addict, what she finds is a small crying little girl in a bassinet left alone in a house with a dead dog, 2 passed out junkies and a whole lot of trouble.
All the characters were just so well drawn, even the unlikable ones were not set out as complete villains. Yes, I even felt sorry for Sheldon at times and his attempts at controlling an uncontrollable situation while “self-medicating”.
Many other reviewers compare this to True Grit and Winter's Bone but as I have not read either I can’t comment on that, but if they are anything like this book I will definitely read them soon.
Sunday was rainy and unseasonably cold which was perfect reading weather but combined with the vivid descriptions of show, blizzards and frost bite in this novel it had me making too many cups of hot chocolate to count.
The writing was absolutely wonderful and the story felt effortless. I found myself holding my breath almost the whole way through because everything felt like a tragedy just waiting to happen.
This is a community that all carry the scars of drug abuse even if some of them have never touched so much as alcohol.
16-year-old Percy is one of them but with her meth addicted mother having gone off the rails again and a storm brewing she goes out looking for her in the usual places. What she finds is more difficult to deal with than a strung out addict, what she finds is a small crying little girl in a bassinet left alone in a house with a dead dog, 2 passed out junkies and a whole lot of trouble.
All the characters were just so well drawn, even the unlikable ones were not set out as complete villains. Yes, I even felt sorry for Sheldon at times and his attempts at controlling an uncontrollable situation while “self-medicating”.
Many other reviewers compare this to True Grit and Winter's Bone but as I have not read either I can’t comment on that, but if they are anything like this book I will definitely read them soon.
February 23, 2021
Eeehhhhhh...
This was ok.
I mean, I didn't hate it.
I also didn't like it overly well.
I've come to the conclusion I like my gritty lit aimed toward adults, not at youths*.
There's also the possibility that this came across poorly in the audio format. I was not a fan of either reader (one for Percy and one for Shelton) and, also, I'm not sure this was meant to be read aloud. It just doesn't lend itself to a verbal telling, what with all the dialog beginning with "She said" and "He said" and such. That gets jarring to hear in a long conversation full of short sentences.
One of my pet peeves appeared: Name dropping! In this case, it was the constant music references which I didn't feel were necessary or even helpful. So they’re rednecks who listen to a lot of 70’s-early 90’s rock. That doesn't help me know these people better and I don't need to understand which song is on the radio/CD player everyplace we go. I ground my teeth at every band/song title/lyric mention. My teeth are very non-pointy now.
Anyway, brief synopsis: Percy goes out into a snowstorm, looking for her methy mother after Percy's gay friend (a very important detail [it's not]) says he saw Carletta over at the local meth farm. Off Percy goes to fetch her wayward parent so that said parent does not inadvertently freeze to death, or something. Also maybe to get her coat, gloves, and hat back, because Carletta apparently left with those on her person. They must have been the only coat, hat, and gloves in the house. At any rate, Percy makes it to Meth Farm and finds Mr. Shelton Methman (that's not his real last name) and his tiny girlfriend passed out in the living room. There's a stench to the air and a baby crying upstairs. The stench gets stronger as she goes toward the crying sound where she finds a baby who has been left near an open window so that she doesn't get sick on stenchyness while her mom does her thang downstairs. There's no Carletta to be found.
Of course, Percy does what any normal sixteen-year-old in that situation would: She takes the baby and runs across stormy fields in her fake Army boots and tiny cotton socks and no coat, hat, or gloves (she may have actually had a coat. I don't remember now) for help from Portis, her almost-stepfather-once-upon-a-time, who lives in a cabin in the woods with his dog named Wolfdog.
From there, they're going to take the neglected baby to the hospital but Mr. Shelton Methman (that's not his real last name) wakes up, realizes the baby is missing and that his girlfriend will be sad and that, also, he loves that cute little tyke so he mobilizes his uncle's forces (Uncle Rick is the head Methman...or maybe just drug lord because he may not be involved with meth. I don't remember now) to find the missing child. So we've got a cantankerous almost-stepfather and his almost-stepdaughter running around in the snow with a baby while a bunch of hicks on snowmobiles try to find them, even though the hicks don't actually know for whom they're searching. Also, remember, there's a missing mom out there somewhere. And there's really bad diaper rash, too.
It's fun (it's not)
I was surprised at Percy's general ineffectiveness. I wanted to feel for her the same things I felt for Ree in Winter's Bone or Temple in The Reapers are the Angels. I think the thing they had that Percy doesn’t was agency. Or, I dunno...personality and drive? This story ran more like Where All Light Tends to Go in that it’s supposed to show that there’s a little bit of good even in the most hopeless situations because one person will do the right things, buuuut…ok, no, I don't think that's right. But the kid in that book and Percy in this book are both those characters who just float along, following the story, taking their cues from the author and reacting accordingly because they have no motivation of their own.
Then there was the other voice in this story. Shelton, while seemingly a hyperbolic character because how could anyone be that incapable and...I don't even have words for his silliness, gets really boring in his stoned dithering. After awhile, when his voice came on, I'd cringe, thinking, "Oh, crap, I hope this goes by quickly."
And then people die, things happen within a five-mile radius of the Meth Farm, everything gets more or less tied-up, and Percy suddenly puts on her sassypants and makes Decisions and does Things. Yay.
The end.
My bitching would have you believe this was a terrible book and it wasn't. It's just that I like actual grit in my down-and-out characters who live in small, hopeless towns that teem with meth. Neither Percy nor Shelton seemed to have any of that so I got kinda bored. But you probably won't because this is a story that other people seem to like a whole lot!
*Technically, this is not a YA novel. Supposedly. I guess because of death and drug use. But it feels YA and I am going to keep it on my YA shelf.
This was ok.
I mean, I didn't hate it.
I also didn't like it overly well.
I've come to the conclusion I like my gritty lit aimed toward adults, not at youths*.
There's also the possibility that this came across poorly in the audio format. I was not a fan of either reader (one for Percy and one for Shelton) and, also, I'm not sure this was meant to be read aloud. It just doesn't lend itself to a verbal telling, what with all the dialog beginning with "She said" and "He said" and such. That gets jarring to hear in a long conversation full of short sentences.
One of my pet peeves appeared: Name dropping! In this case, it was the constant music references which I didn't feel were necessary or even helpful. So they’re rednecks who listen to a lot of 70’s-early 90’s rock. That doesn't help me know these people better and I don't need to understand which song is on the radio/CD player everyplace we go. I ground my teeth at every band/song title/lyric mention. My teeth are very non-pointy now.
Anyway, brief synopsis: Percy goes out into a snowstorm, looking for her methy mother after Percy's gay friend (a very important detail [it's not]) says he saw Carletta over at the local meth farm. Off Percy goes to fetch her wayward parent so that said parent does not inadvertently freeze to death, or something. Also maybe to get her coat, gloves, and hat back, because Carletta apparently left with those on her person. They must have been the only coat, hat, and gloves in the house. At any rate, Percy makes it to Meth Farm and finds Mr. Shelton Methman (that's not his real last name) and his tiny girlfriend passed out in the living room. There's a stench to the air and a baby crying upstairs. The stench gets stronger as she goes toward the crying sound where she finds a baby who has been left near an open window so that she doesn't get sick on stenchyness while her mom does her thang downstairs. There's no Carletta to be found.
Of course, Percy does what any normal sixteen-year-old in that situation would: She takes the baby and runs across stormy fields in her fake Army boots and tiny cotton socks and no coat, hat, or gloves (she may have actually had a coat. I don't remember now) for help from Portis, her almost-stepfather-once-upon-a-time, who lives in a cabin in the woods with his dog named Wolfdog.
From there, they're going to take the neglected baby to the hospital but Mr. Shelton Methman (that's not his real last name) wakes up, realizes the baby is missing and that his girlfriend will be sad and that, also, he loves that cute little tyke so he mobilizes his uncle's forces (Uncle Rick is the head Methman...or maybe just drug lord because he may not be involved with meth. I don't remember now) to find the missing child. So we've got a cantankerous almost-stepfather and his almost-stepdaughter running around in the snow with a baby while a bunch of hicks on snowmobiles try to find them, even though the hicks don't actually know for whom they're searching. Also, remember, there's a missing mom out there somewhere. And there's really bad diaper rash, too.
It's fun (it's not)
I was surprised at Percy's general ineffectiveness. I wanted to feel for her the same things I felt for Ree in Winter's Bone or Temple in The Reapers are the Angels. I think the thing they had that Percy doesn’t was agency. Or, I dunno...personality and drive? This story ran more like Where All Light Tends to Go in that it’s supposed to show that there’s a little bit of good even in the most hopeless situations because one person will do the right things, buuuut…ok, no, I don't think that's right. But the kid in that book and Percy in this book are both those characters who just float along, following the story, taking their cues from the author and reacting accordingly because they have no motivation of their own.
Then there was the other voice in this story. Shelton, while seemingly a hyperbolic character because how could anyone be that incapable and...I don't even have words for his silliness, gets really boring in his stoned dithering. After awhile, when his voice came on, I'd cringe, thinking, "Oh, crap, I hope this goes by quickly."
And then people die, things happen within a five-mile radius of the Meth Farm, everything gets more or less tied-up, and Percy suddenly puts on her sassypants and makes Decisions and does Things. Yay.
The end.
My bitching would have you believe this was a terrible book and it wasn't. It's just that I like actual grit in my down-and-out characters who live in small, hopeless towns that teem with meth. Neither Percy nor Shelton seemed to have any of that so I got kinda bored. But you probably won't because this is a story that other people seem to like a whole lot!
*Technically, this is not a YA novel. Supposedly. I guess because of death and drug use. But it feels YA and I am going to keep it on my YA shelf.
March 2, 2016
Travis Mulhauser's "Sweetgirl" is a beautiful, gritty story in which the characters are just as relentless and powerful as the landscape their story takes place in -- a landscape that turns out to be a central character, in and of itself.
Percy is a fascinating and beautiful character whose strength was extraordinary. I was blown away by how deeply I found myself immersed in her and Jenna's story. I could not stop reading -- I had to know what was in the next chapter, on the next page, in the next paragraph. My need to continue was relentless!
There is a lot to like about the author's writing here; it has a simplicity to it that feels genuine to the more uneducated characters. But it also had this sort of poetic element to it that hit me right down in my core.
I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
Only 5 books into 2016 and I already have my first 5-star rating -- here's to many more this year :)
Percy is a fascinating and beautiful character whose strength was extraordinary. I was blown away by how deeply I found myself immersed in her and Jenna's story. I could not stop reading -- I had to know what was in the next chapter, on the next page, in the next paragraph. My need to continue was relentless!
There is a lot to like about the author's writing here; it has a simplicity to it that feels genuine to the more uneducated characters. But it also had this sort of poetic element to it that hit me right down in my core.
I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
Only 5 books into 2016 and I already have my first 5-star rating -- here's to many more this year :)
February 13, 2016
4.5 and I loved this book.
This is the story of Percy, a teenage girl far beyond her years in maturity who seems to always be taking care of the house and her mama, Carletta. Carletta is hooked on alcohol, meth and anything else she can get her hands on. With Carletta gone for several days and a fast approaching blizzard, Percy wants to find her mother and get her to a safe place. So, Percy heads to the house of the local meth dealer, Shelton Potter, to see if Carletta has crashed there. What she finds instead is a baby girl in dire need of help. And so, the adventure begins.
The writing in this book is good to begin with but becomes so much better as the story progresses. I could not help but root for Percy and feel sad, happy, disappointed and incredulous with all that happens. And the thinking of a meth-head is just ridiculous!
For those who like southern noir or grit lit or just reading about a hard-scrabble life. Highly recommend.
This is the story of Percy, a teenage girl far beyond her years in maturity who seems to always be taking care of the house and her mama, Carletta. Carletta is hooked on alcohol, meth and anything else she can get her hands on. With Carletta gone for several days and a fast approaching blizzard, Percy wants to find her mother and get her to a safe place. So, Percy heads to the house of the local meth dealer, Shelton Potter, to see if Carletta has crashed there. What she finds instead is a baby girl in dire need of help. And so, the adventure begins.
The writing in this book is good to begin with but becomes so much better as the story progresses. I could not help but root for Percy and feel sad, happy, disappointed and incredulous with all that happens. And the thinking of a meth-head is just ridiculous!
For those who like southern noir or grit lit or just reading about a hard-scrabble life. Highly recommend.
May 20, 2016
A whirlwind plot, a likeable protagonist searching for a better way and a slew of lost causes makes this a book that's hard to put down. Parts remind me of Winter's Bone and American Rust. Great debut novel that's got some extreme grit. A lot happens in 24-36 hours, to say the least.
February 2, 2016
Percy James is used to her mother disappearing, but something unspoken urges her to go off in search for her, despite the approaching blizzard. Shelton Potter is the maker and dealer of the local methamphetamine trade and his house is her first stop. She doesn’t find her mother but she does find a baby, laying in front of an open window as the snow begins to pile on top of her. Not knowing what to do but knowing she can’t leave the baby, she bundles her up and begins a tragic excursion through a blizzard in Northern Michigan.
This story seems like one that has been done time and time again, but it’s one that continues to work for me. Sweetgirl is being compared to Winter's Bone, and it isn’t wrong, but there’s a wonderful touch of humor amidst the bleakness that also reminds me of Justified. Shelton Potter is a drug-addled character that sets off in the blizzard to find baby Jenna in a misguided attempt at being a hero. At one point he’s sucking on helium balloons and whiskey when he runs out of gas in his snow mobile in the middle of nowhere while pondering the complexities of our existence.
Deep thoughts, right? He reminded me greatly of Dewey Crowe (Justified) for obvious reasons.
(https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/20...)
Percy James was a headstrong girl that was clearly used to taking care of herself. Despite moments where she appeared far too articulate for a sixteen year old girl, she was still written genuinely and made the sort of decisions one would expect from a teenager. Like instead of hiking into town to find help for the baby, she sets off deeper into the hills to enlist the help of her mother’s ex, Portis Dale, a kind but troubled man. Together, they traverse the snow-covered hills attempting to survive nature and survive Shelton Potter’s men. Portis Dale was a welcome addition and added another level of wittiness to the story.
Sweetgirl impressed me most with its striking descriptiveness and how vividly the scenery was brought to life. There may have been some slight issues in general, but it triumphed in terms of Percy’s personal evolution. For such a short novel, she manages to overcome adversity while learning how to know when to do the right thing and realizing her potential for a brighter future outside of the hills of Cutler County Michigan.
I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This story seems like one that has been done time and time again, but it’s one that continues to work for me. Sweetgirl is being compared to Winter's Bone, and it isn’t wrong, but there’s a wonderful touch of humor amidst the bleakness that also reminds me of Justified. Shelton Potter is a drug-addled character that sets off in the blizzard to find baby Jenna in a misguided attempt at being a hero. At one point he’s sucking on helium balloons and whiskey when he runs out of gas in his snow mobile in the middle of nowhere while pondering the complexities of our existence.
‘His head was throbbing. He wondered if he got worse headaches on account of how big his head was. It stood to reason that he would.’
Deep thoughts, right? He reminded me greatly of Dewey Crowe (Justified) for obvious reasons.
(https://uproxx.files.wordpress.com/20...)
Percy James was a headstrong girl that was clearly used to taking care of herself. Despite moments where she appeared far too articulate for a sixteen year old girl, she was still written genuinely and made the sort of decisions one would expect from a teenager. Like instead of hiking into town to find help for the baby, she sets off deeper into the hills to enlist the help of her mother’s ex, Portis Dale, a kind but troubled man. Together, they traverse the snow-covered hills attempting to survive nature and survive Shelton Potter’s men. Portis Dale was a welcome addition and added another level of wittiness to the story.
“Am I being testy? I’m sorry, Percy. As your cruise director I deeply regret any momentary discomfort my tone may have caused you.”
Sweetgirl impressed me most with its striking descriptiveness and how vividly the scenery was brought to life. There may have been some slight issues in general, but it triumphed in terms of Percy’s personal evolution. For such a short novel, she manages to overcome adversity while learning how to know when to do the right thing and realizing her potential for a brighter future outside of the hills of Cutler County Michigan.
‘Mama loved me. I knew that she did. She loved me in a way not even Starr could, but it had been a long time, maybe as far back as that day at Spring Lake, that her love had not felt confused and undercut with sadness. This had always been the torment of Mama’s love and it remained so now – it was both the sun that had borne me and the endless orbit I tread around its burning.’
I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
February 2, 2016
Percy James is a sixteen year old high school dropout, working at a local woodworking store to try and pay the rent as her drug-addict mother has fallen off the wagon, disappearing for weeks at a time and leaving her to fend for herself. When she finds out that her mother was last seen at a meth-house, she becomes determined to retrieve her. A snowstorm forces her to abandon her truck and walk, and when she gets there, she doesn't find her mother, but a baby, freezing next to an open window and in desperate need of medical attention.
What follows is a fairly brief story of how she must try to find a way to the hospital in the middle of a blizzard. If the weather wasn't a hindrance enough, the meth-dealer wakes up and high as a kite, rounds up some other unsavoury characters to pursue the kidnapper. It's an unlikely tale, but whilst the plot may seem fantastical, the characters are extremely grounded in reality. I thought that the voice of every character rung true, and the dialogue (of which there is quite a lot) was fast-paced and often sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek witty. There is nothing funny about the situation; but there was definitely some dark humour present in the interactions between Percy and the unlikely father-figure she has enlisted to help her, Porter. No character was perfect; they all had their flaws, but each of them had depth. It becomes not just a story of Percy saving this neglected baby, but of her own relationship with her mother and of each characters battle with drugs, alcohol and isolation.
I was surprised at how much I empathised with the "villain", Shelton Porter, a man who seems to do so many drugs I'm surprised he can string a sentence together. In his mind he wants what's best for his girlfriend and this baby - but through a haze of meth and other drugs, he's clearly not seeing straight. In the end I felt this was a story of how drugs take people away from their true selves, and how hard it can be for them to come back from that.
My first five star read of the year. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more from the author in the future.
What follows is a fairly brief story of how she must try to find a way to the hospital in the middle of a blizzard. If the weather wasn't a hindrance enough, the meth-dealer wakes up and high as a kite, rounds up some other unsavoury characters to pursue the kidnapper. It's an unlikely tale, but whilst the plot may seem fantastical, the characters are extremely grounded in reality. I thought that the voice of every character rung true, and the dialogue (of which there is quite a lot) was fast-paced and often sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek witty. There is nothing funny about the situation; but there was definitely some dark humour present in the interactions between Percy and the unlikely father-figure she has enlisted to help her, Porter. No character was perfect; they all had their flaws, but each of them had depth. It becomes not just a story of Percy saving this neglected baby, but of her own relationship with her mother and of each characters battle with drugs, alcohol and isolation.
I was surprised at how much I empathised with the "villain", Shelton Porter, a man who seems to do so many drugs I'm surprised he can string a sentence together. In his mind he wants what's best for his girlfriend and this baby - but through a haze of meth and other drugs, he's clearly not seeing straight. In the end I felt this was a story of how drugs take people away from their true selves, and how hard it can be for them to come back from that.
My first five star read of the year. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more from the author in the future.
October 18, 2016
A blizzard is predicted to hit Cutler County in Northern Michigan. Fearing for the safety of her mother, Carlotta, sixteen year old Percy James heads for Shelton Potter's, a local meth dealer's cabin. Carletta is an addict, and her behavior is unpredictable, yet Percy loves her for the moments she is sober and kind. When she arrives at the cabin, Shelton and his girlfriend are passed out cold. Searching for her mother she discovers an infant left by an open window covered in snow. Not knowing what to do Percy bundles up the baby and takes off into the woods. She sets off to ask for help from Portis Dale, her mother's ex boyfriend and father figure to Percy. So begins a harrowing journey of escape from the posse sent out by Shelton upon discovering the baby missing. With great courage Percy seeks to do the right thing.
As in life, not all is black and white, and even the most despicable of human society can occasionally rise to exhibit a glimmer of decency, as is found in the voice of Shelton Potter. Portis Dale, judged by society, imprisoned by alcohol, is at heart noble and caring.
Percy James is a heroine to cheer for, and the story ends in hope.
Really 4.5 stars.
As in life, not all is black and white, and even the most despicable of human society can occasionally rise to exhibit a glimmer of decency, as is found in the voice of Shelton Potter. Portis Dale, judged by society, imprisoned by alcohol, is at heart noble and caring.
Percy James is a heroine to cheer for, and the story ends in hope.
Really 4.5 stars.
July 23, 2016
I had been wanting to read this book since I read the sample months ago. It did not disappoint.
Percy James is a character I won't soon forget. She is only 16 years old when she goes looking for her drug addicted Mom. In a meth house, she finds a baby near an open window on a snowy night. I was hooked from the beginning. Everyone in the drug house is passed out cold, so she sneaks out into a snowstorm with the baby girl in tow. Along the way we meet Portis, a rough around the edges guy with a soft heart. I really liked these characters.
Alternating chapters are told by Shelton, the drug dealing boyfriend of the babie's mother. His chapters had a lot of swearing, but it was in keeping with how he would speak.
It's a story of bravery and compassion. I liked it a lot.
Percy James is a character I won't soon forget. She is only 16 years old when she goes looking for her drug addicted Mom. In a meth house, she finds a baby near an open window on a snowy night. I was hooked from the beginning. Everyone in the drug house is passed out cold, so she sneaks out into a snowstorm with the baby girl in tow. Along the way we meet Portis, a rough around the edges guy with a soft heart. I really liked these characters.
Alternating chapters are told by Shelton, the drug dealing boyfriend of the babie's mother. His chapters had a lot of swearing, but it was in keeping with how he would speak.
It's a story of bravery and compassion. I liked it a lot.
June 1, 2016
There's just nothing I love more than a hard-scrabble young protagonist plunked down in the midst of a crisis in a trashy setting. This book gave it all with a gut punch of a storyline to boot. Percy is 16, in search of her meth-addict mother, when she happens upon a different sort of rescue. Throw in a father-like drunk, an incompetent drug dealer and a terrifying blizzard, and I found myself a winner.
I love how fast-paced and immediate the story felt as Percy seemed to tell her story directly to me. I was reminded of the great writing of Bonnie Jo Campbell throughout this novel.
A very quick highly recommend.
I love how fast-paced and immediate the story felt as Percy seemed to tell her story directly to me. I was reminded of the great writing of Bonnie Jo Campbell throughout this novel.
A very quick highly recommend.
March 28, 2016
This is just what I needed to read at just the right time. Not at all what I expected going in but what a lovely tale this is. I kid you not, I was choked up one minute and laughing out loud the next. How many books can successfully pull that off?
Salvation comes in many forms within this story. Percy is a 16-going-on-40 year old girl trapped in the sadly common position of being caretaker to her addict/alcoholic mother. Baby Jenna is an infant suffering neglect by her own mother. This tiny baby somehow manages to be a compelling character in her own right, one we come to know through Percy’s tenderness and devotion to her. At the heart of it, I believe that Percy knows she must save this child from the fate to which she herself has been consigned. Not just the risk of her life as a neglected infant but the eventual theft of her childhood by her meth-addicted mother. In the end though, who rescues whom?
With an eclectic mix of characters (shout-out to Portis Dale), witty and hilarious banter, moments of heartbreak and moments of victory, there’s so much to love about this book. The world needs more people like Percy; she will stick with me for a while.
Salvation comes in many forms within this story. Percy is a 16-going-on-40 year old girl trapped in the sadly common position of being caretaker to her addict/alcoholic mother. Baby Jenna is an infant suffering neglect by her own mother. This tiny baby somehow manages to be a compelling character in her own right, one we come to know through Percy’s tenderness and devotion to her. At the heart of it, I believe that Percy knows she must save this child from the fate to which she herself has been consigned. Not just the risk of her life as a neglected infant but the eventual theft of her childhood by her meth-addicted mother. In the end though, who rescues whom?
With an eclectic mix of characters (shout-out to Portis Dale), witty and hilarious banter, moments of heartbreak and moments of victory, there’s so much to love about this book. The world needs more people like Percy; she will stick with me for a while.
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