Product Description

One of the most talked-about and endearing first novels in years bears the story of a female Huck Finn and her search for a true home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20673 in Books
• Published on: 1990-05-01
• Released on: 1997-11-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780375703058
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Oprah Book Club® Selection, October 1997: Kaye Gibbons is a writer who brings a short story sensibility to her novels. Rather than take advantage of the novel's longer form to paint her visions in broad, sweeping strokes, Gibbons prefers to concentrate on just one corner of the canvas and only a few colors to produce her small masterpieces. In Gibbons's case, her canvas is the American South and her colors are all the shades of gray.

In Ellen Foster, the title character is an 11-year-old orphan who refers to herself as "old Ellen," an appellation that is disturbingly apt. Ellen is an old woman in a child's body; her frail, unhappy mother dies, her abusive father alternately neglects her and makes advances on her, and she is shuttled from one uncaring relative's home to another before she finally takes matters into her own hands and finds herself a place to belong. There is something almost Dickensian about Ellen's tribulations; like Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or a host of other literary child heroes, Ellen is at the mercy of predatory adults, with only her own wit and courage--and the occasional kindness of others--to help her through. That she does, in fact, survive her childhood and even rise above it is the book's bittersweet victory.

From Publishers Weekly
The appealing, eponymous, 11-year-old orphan heroine of this Southern-focused debut survives appalling situations until she finds safe harbor in a good foster home. "Some readers will find the recital of Ellen's woes mawkishly sentimental," PW remarked, "but for others it may be a perfect summer read."
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Ellen Foster is an 11-year-old who has been dealt a rotten hand in life. Her early childhood is spent with a sickly mother and an alcoholic and abusive father. After her mother commits suicide (or is it murder?), Ellen goes to live alone with her father, doing the best she can to avoid being raped or abused. When the courts finally take action, she is sent to live with her grandmother, a bitter and spiteful woman. Yet when her grandmother dies, Ellen manages to take charge of her own life. This beautifully written story, compelling in its innocence, is sweet, funny, and sad. The abridgment is well done, and Gibbons reads her own material. Recommended.?Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Poignant and Gripping...
Ellen Foster is a work of great magnitude. Kaye Gibbons has a real talent for telling this story through the eyes for poor Ellen Foster. Nothing is said very deliberately, however, the message is received. Ellen's life is a sad twist of one tragedy to the next. This is definitely not a light-hearted Southern novel. It is a gritty, tough read, but it is so well done, it is worthwhile.

You will be unable to put this book down, however difficult it may be to read.

This book definitely deserves your attention, and at the discounted price [it] is selling it for, I would highly recommend it.

Strength and Determination
While reading this book, I saw a very strong, clear thinking, determined and self sufficient child. Her motto of doing it her 'own self' reminded me of my independence as a child.

Yet, when I saw the movie, I didn't see an empowered child. I saw a sad story of an abused and abandoned child. I laughed through the book because you couldn't tell Ellen that she wasn't in control. The girl had a plan. Yet the movie left me so choked up that I almost felt bad that I hadn't realized how alone this child was before.

I am glad I read the book first. I think the author intended to show this from Ellen's perspective and not the department of children and family services.

Oft times, people write off childrens' spirit's and strength and turn them into mindless/feelingless being who need their lives to be decided upon by not so informed adults.

Yes, Ellen Foster was a tragic story. But it was also a story of great courage a thinking mind.

It was this book that made me a Kaye Gibbons fan !

A gripping, compelling read
Eleven-year-old Ellen Foster is an orphan, abused and neglected by her parents and finally abandoned (after her mother's death)to a series of cold or uncaring relatives. With courage, wit, and native intelligence, she finds her own path to salvation.
Sound familiar? - Like lots of other comtemporary books about child abuse? Yes, but there's a difference: the understated, matter-of-fact telling of the story that makes this book so special. In Ellen Foster, Gibbons uses her beautiful language, literary acumen, and attention to detail to craft a clean, small spare portrait, a gift to all readers.