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LADY: My Life As A Bitch Melvin Burgess
HarperTeen 0060540338 / 9780060540333 Softcover New Copy
Controversial and award-winning British author Burgess is in fine form in his brilliant, satirical novel about a hedonistic teenage girl who is turned into a dog by a mysteriously magical town drunk.
In this delightfully dark, funny novel, a rebellious 17-year-old taunts a homeless drunk who transforms her into "a scratty, hairy mongrel." Sandra tells her story in sparkling, lively, but often crude language. As a human, she ditches her crowd for more adventuresome friends, then gets into trouble for using drugs and having sex. Since her transformation takes place just pages into the story, however, most of her history comes in flashbacks. As a dog, she runs free, experiencing neither shame nor anxiety but glorying in the pleasures of chasing cats, devouring sausages, and (in fairly graphic detail) going into heat. At first, though, she returns home, only to have her family assume she's a mad dog and chase her away. She adopts the homeless man as her master and helps him beg for money. Sandra begins to revel in her new lifestyle, yet she matures enough to appreciate that her family and old friends loved her. But a last-ditch attempt to convince her family that she is their long-lost daughter ends in disaster. Finally, fed up with being judged and misunderstood, she chooses her life as a dog: "I want to be quick and fast and happy and then dead.- I don't want to be responsible." While this might not be the choice they would make for themselves, teens will identify with the narrator's sense of alienation and her defiant spirit. Age 14 and up.
Price:
7.00 USD
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