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* "Tomboy" by Jordan Shelbourne (emerging adolescence)
10, 10, 10
* "Tomboy" by Jordan Shelbourne (jordan@u36.com). Occasionally I make a truly earth-shaking discovery. This is one of those times. Have you ever wondered why Harper Lee wrote only one novel that anyone cares about, even though that one novel (To Kill a Mockingbird) is read by almost every high school student in the United States? Have you ever wondered whether Harper Lee was a man or a woman? Have you ever wondered what Harper Lee is doing right now? I'll ignore the first two questions, but the answer to the third appears to be that Harper Lee is writing stories for this newsgroup under the pseudonym of Jordan Shelbourne! When I read a story, I HAVE to imagine somebody in the roles of the main characters. For example, I picture myself as Pat Allen when I read Mark Aster's stories; it was easy to picture my husband as Joey in "A Rude Awakening"; and one of the reasons I like to read sitcom parodies is because it's easy to picture the actors as the protagonists. As I read "Tomboy," the author's style naturally led me to picture Scout from "To Kill a Mockingbird" as Spike and Dill as Kip. Maybe I've been doing too many lesson plans, but look at this passage: "I know that sounds stupid. I mean, I was looking forward to the first time I ever really fucked a girl and all that, but I never thought it would be _Spike._ Spike was something permanent in my life, and I thought our friendship would never change. But it had. Spike had just become something, someone, totally different and I didn't know what, and I didn't know what was allowed between us." If that's not Harper Lee talking, I don't know who it is! Anyway, the story is about a young boy who goes away to summer camp and returns home to find his best friend has grown up and is not happy about her new-found sexual characteristics. Nothing a little touchie-feelie won't cure! Ratings for "Tomboy" Athena (technical quality): 10 Venus (plot & character): 10 Celeste (appeal to reviewer): 10 |