Chloe Doe by Suzanne Phillips
Chloe Doe is a sad story about a girl who leaves her mom after a horrible experience between her sister and her step father. Chloe is now at the Madeline Parker Institute for Girls where she is seeing a counselor and preparing to go back to the "outside". This is a sad and sweet story about a girl who is fighting to get over her past, so she can improve her present and future. Because of some of the horrible subjects, however, it was not a book I enjoyed, though it was well done. I'm not certain what I think about it for the moment, but I'll say MAYBE for now.
posted by Kip @ 12:29 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
Chloe Doe is a good debut novel, but not a Thumbs Up winner. Impulse by Ellen Hopkins carried more weight, character insight and development than Chloe. The lack of other adults in Chloe's life while she was at home seemed convenient and didn't sit right with me, especially when compared to the high adult involvement at Madeline Parker Institute for Girls. Granted, her mother designed Chloe's and Camille's privileges that way, such as being able to go home sick without a parent accompaniment, but they had contact with other adults and children. I didn't find that part of the story convincing that they would willingly cut themselves off from other avenues of help. I didn't perceive Chloe and Camille as being exclusively dependent on their mother's love to not also seek love (or help) from other people.
The flashbacks in different font were effective. Chloe's emotional attachment to successfully surviving on the streets felt authentic. Her resolution through therapy assumed the reader would intuit some of the deep emotional processing. I wasn't convinced that she thoroughly believed it, and wondered how much Chloe was still playing the game to get out and back on the streets.
Worthy of a read, but a NAY.
I agree with Kathy, this is a good debut novel, but not award worthy. A NAY for me.
I liked the message of empowerment that this book conveyed and enjoyed reading it, but agree that it is not a Thumbs Up! winner. NAY for me as well.
nay for me, based on too many other really good ones
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