AUTHOR: Libby Heily
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
AVAILABILITY: Smashwords
APPROXIMATE LENGTH: 58,000 words
Recommended for readers seeking gritty stories of harsh reality.
GENRE
Drama—Coming of Age
Tough Girl
is a hard book to shelve. For the most part, it is the harrowing tale of an
impoverished girl who escapes her harsh life by battling aliens in her
imagination. Since the girl, Reggie, spends so much time in her imaginary
world, large sections of this novel are dedicated to fleshing out her
daydreams. In a way, it’s two novels in one—the harsh reality Reggie lives in
and the fantastical sci-fi universe she escapes to. The latter reads like pulp
sci-fi, involving aliens, battles, and warfare.
PACE
Tough Girl
follows Reggie through her hard life in the rundown apartments of an American
city. While it seems straightforward at first, things start unraveling in the
second half. It’s a relatively short book and makes for a quick read.
PERSPECTIVE
Tough Girl
is told from Reggie’s third person limited perspectives. The daydream chapters
are told from the point of view of Reggie’s imaginary alter-ego, Tough Girl.
CONTENT REVIEW
11-year-old Reggie lives a dangerous
life in an ordinary world. A resident of the impoverished Apartments and cared
for only by a mentally ill mother, she faces constant bullying at school as
well as the real-world dangers presented by poverty. She escapes this harsh
reality via her imaginary alter ego, Tough Girl, who battles aliens in a
faraway fanciful land.
Tough Girl
is told from Reggie’s point of view and follows her as she goes about her life.
She never seems to catch a break—the big girl at school picks on her, the
popular boy creeps on her, and then, to top it all off, her mother can’t feed
her. Reggie’s quiet, introverted personality is a direct result of all that
external trauma. She does her best to remain invisible, hiding away in the
safety of her mind.
Tough Girl is what Reggie aspires to
be. Reggie spends much of her time detailing the world Tough Girl occupies, and
the book switches between Reggie’s real world and Tough Girl’s imaginary one.
Tough Girl is something straight out of a pulp sci-fi novel: a tough-as-nails
fighter who doesn’t take crap from anyone.
The contrast between real-world Reggie
and Tough Girl highlights the character’s mental state. Reggie can’t cope with
the harrowing reality she lives in, a reality she can’t defeat by kicking bad
guys. Tough Girl’s world allows her a sense of triumph, even if it’s only in
her own head. The harder Reggie’s life is, the more she relies on Tough Girl. She
even incorporates elements from her life into her fantasies. For instance,
after a distinctive new neighbor moves in, she turns him into a character for
Tough Girl to tangle with.
After Reggie’s mother disappears, she
starts losing control of her fantasies. The imaginary beasts invade her
real-world vision, and she can no longer control how Tough Girl’s story
unravels. Confusion and bewilderment reign until the very end, which throws in
a surprising twist.
Heily’s writing mimics a
child’s simple, innocent thoughts. The basic sentence structure and vocabulary
reflect Reggie’s point of view. Hers is not a very complex mind—she sees things
in a certain way and has a hard time understanding anything else. For instance,
she knows to fear rape, but doesn’t even know what it really is. She doesn’t
understand the advances of a boy at school. She also fears the foster care system,
thinking that she’s better off alone with her mentally ill mother, even though
living with her means starvation.
Reggie is easy to sympathize with and
even admire. Simplistic as her thoughts are, she always keeps her head on
straight and deals with her situation face-on and with honesty. Fiercely
independent, she handles the brutality of her situation with admirable
strength, even though that strength is somewhat misplaced. Heily has done a
superb job in depicting a child’s naiveté in a believable manner, making the
story ring true.
Tough Girl is
a harsh, gritty tale that deals with disturbing themes both in Reggie’s reality
and in Tough Girl’s imagined world. Its unapologetic and uncensored depictions
can be hard to read, but ultimately rewarding.
THE NITPICKY STUFF
I found a handful of errors and typos,
but for the most part, this book is well written and well edited.
Although Tough Girl features a young protagonist, it’s not a story for
children. Many mature themes of violence and rape are touched upon. The actual
depictions are mild, and the use of adult language is minimal.
AUTHOR INFO
Libby Heily lives in North Carolina with her husband and their dog, Daisy. She won the Pushcart Prize for her short story, "Grow Your Own Dad." Tough Girl is her debut novel.
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