Her little brother, cutely named ‘the Lamb’, has a pivotal role, and Lucy’s mother is an amazing woman who even had lessons for me. Through their presence we see Lucy for the brave, patient, and resourceful girl she is. The best scenes in the book are those with Lucy’s family. Will they ensnare our meek and mild narrator? (Somewhat.) Will they assimilate her into their soul-destroying methods? (In a way.) What will Lucy learn? (All manner of things, of course.) These toxic girls, Amber, Brodie, and Chelsea, provide much of the tension of the book. The narrative moves into Robert Cormier territory when they focus their attention on one of the teachers. It is stereotypical in that obvious YA trope-they are mean and petty, and take glorious enjoyment in tearing other girls down. The main conflict is the existence of the Cabinet, a trio of girls who preside over the Year 10 cohort. Lucy struggles initially with the higher academic expectations, but quickly learns how to play the games of essay writing, arguing a case, and impressing teachers. Her sharp observational skills contrast the posh community of her classmates with the suburb in which she resides with her first generation immigrant parents and baby brother. She enters at the beginning of Year 10, unsure, shy, and mostly silent, and the story takes us through this first year.
The plot is straight forward: Lucy has won (to everyone’s surprise, including her own) a scholarship to a prestigious girls’ school in Melbourne. This complex structure adds another layer to the book, but it will probably be a difficulty for some readers. It seems the intrusion of a seemingly irrelevant person, but she cannot ultimately be ignored. Lucy writes directly to a character called Linh, who remains off-page. Pung presents her narrator, Lucy Lam, in an unusual manner. Which might make it sound pretentious, but it’s certainly not that. However, as I persevered, I realised the significance of all those exquisite lines of text: they moved Laurinda from a simple school story about a girl trying to fit in, to a complex exploration of power and class. It’s lengthy (and weighty), and early on I wished Pung could be more succinct, and less concerned with the small details. Laurinda is her first fiction book, written for a young adult audience.
Until now, Alice Pung has written and edited only three hugely popular and highly acclaimed non-fiction titles.
0 kommentar(er)
