Book Review: Me & Emma

I'm not really sure what possessed me to buy this book, because once I started reading it I realized that it wasn't a happy, smiley book. I see enough nastiness at work, so I don't like to read about it on my day off...unless it involves celebrities and their various interests. Then I'll read all about it!

Me & Emma was written by Elizabeth Flock, an author that I am was not familiar with. It's a story about an impoverished family, told by Carrie the oldest daughter. She has a little sister named Emma, a mother who doesn't seem very fond of her children, especially Emma, and an incredibly abusive stepfather. When I say "incredibly abusive" it's not incredibly abusive to me, as child who was never even spanked. I mean incredibly abusive from any perspective, as the novel's first line is, "The first time Richard hit me I saw stars in front of my eyes just like they do in cartoons."

I'm not really a fan of child-abuse stories, as the movie Radio Flyer scarred me at an early age, but the matter-of-factness of that first statement forced me to continue reading the book, despite concerns that I would be subjected to detailed descriptions of various kinds of child abuse. For the most part, that isn't the case. The author is so good at staying in character as a child who has grown up believing that such treatment is normal, that sometimes it takes a few pages for you to realize that something has happened. I won't lie, I was shocked by some aspects of the story, but was unable to put this book down because I needed to know what happened to Carrie and Emma.

When I first started the book, I thought I knew how it would end. I changed my mind halfway through, only to find myself correct from the beginning. So you could say the ending was kind of predictable, but you'll be interested while getting there. I'll label this as a definite reread, because I actually read it a second time immediately after finishing it the first time! And I've recommended it to several family members, and now to you!

(Me & Emma available at target.com for $11.01 on July 15, 2008. I purchased it in-store at WalMart for $8.88 but wasn't able to find it on their website, so I headed over to Target for a link.)