Central Library Book Review: Tomato Girl

Staff Review by Angela Pierpaoli

Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek

A dead fetus, "Baby Tom," wrapped in Reynolds Wrap and placed gently in the freezer near the cakes and strawberries, then placed in a jar to suckle at the nipple of a mother going mad.  A pet chick, artificially dyed green for Easter, dead at the hands of the Tomato Girl, the enticing epileptic teenage girl a father chooses over his family.  A chalk door an eleven-year old girl hides behind when faced with "dead babies, dirty hands, tomato girls, guns."

"I know about things you can't let people see."  Ellie Sanders is accustomed to holding in secrets, sadness, and feelings of guilt and isolation.  Always careful of what she says and does, she tries to be "the calm wind . . . the still water, the gentle rain" for a mother who "was scarier than any bad dream I'd ever had."  Desperate, she yearns for someone to tell her what to do.

A chick that comes back from the dead.  Blood magic.  The simple truth.  Hope.

Expertly crafted by a former social worker, Tomato Girl is a jarring tale beyond dysfunction.