Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
As it turns out, this was the second time I read Ellen Foster which shows how memorable it is. There’s a lot of press about Ellen Foster being a female Holden Caufield or this book being in the Faulkner tradition, which is just ridiculous. This is a light book. The heroine has a nice voice but there’s no story, no depth, and no believable character. Ellen is able to walk through squalor without getting dirty. She’s remarkable for no reason except that the author has made her so.
You don’t forget that you’ve read Catcher in the Rye or anything by Faulkner. You reread those books on purpose, not accidentally while vaguely thinking that this ought to seem more familiar. All the way to the end I wasn’t sure if I’d read it before or not. I had to look it up to find out that I had and not all that long ago. Let’s hope I don’t make this mistake a third time.