Tomato Girl

Written by Jayne Pupek

Narrated by Julia Gibson

Drawing favorable comparisons to the literary stylings of Carson McCullers and Kaye Gibbons, Jayne Pupek's debut is hailed by Library Journal as a "wrenching, stunning, and pitch-perfect novel." Eleven-year-old Ellie Sanders is forced to grow up quickly when her pregnant mother develops health problems and her father's attentions become diverted by a teenage produce peddler. To escape, Ellie creates a secret world of her own, where life still seems normal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 9, 2009
• ISBN: 9781436185783

Reviews for Tomato Girl

[flippinpages-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Let me start by saying I don't read a book to feel warm and fuzzy. I don't need happy endings to enjoy a story, in fact, probably the opposite. I like my stories dark and gritty. With that being said, not one bright spot, not even one moment of peace for our little narrator. After awhile it just wasn't believable. I understand children in her shoes grow up, mature faster, and take on a parent role, but her thought processes were far beyond her years even so. I tried very hard to understand, even empathize with her father and what he had been through. Crazy wife, being a caretaker in a marriage, with a little mid-life crisis thrown in I'm sure, but still his choices just didn't seem realistic.Somehow aside from those issues I did enjoy the book and thought the ending was appropiate.

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once I opened this book and began to fall head first into the story I could not put the book down. One amazing horrible thing after another happening tothis 11 year old child. The tears she shed made me wonder if there was a bottom to the ocean she had stored inside of her. A fasinating story. I would recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a satisfying read.

[indreamsawake · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved the writing in this novel. The voice was authentic and all the characters came to life for me, especially Ellie who I wanted to rescue and her mother who I wanted to bring to the doctor and get her some medication! And I just wanted to shake Rupert by the shoulders and ask him "What are you thinking?". I liked that the author tackled tough subjects that were not to be spoken of during the time setting of the novel, like mental illness (bi-polar), adultery, incest, racism. I applaud her for covering the subject of stillbirth in such a unique and horrifying way. I could relate on a deeply personal level with the mother. Having this happen to you even if you're mentally stable can make you crazy, so I could see how this event was the ultimate catalyst to her final downward spiral.


I liked the metaphors and innuendos used in the novel. Like, when Mr. Morgan didn't want to smoke in Ellie's house, he said, "A woman can always tell when something in her house is amiss." Love that!
Other favorites: "But the words nobody said were like oily fingers staining everything.
"If I could have one wish at that moment it would be to see Tess disappear like a snowflake touching warm ground."
"When you love somebody, the words you need come as sure and easy as rain."

I went back and forth between feeling sorry for Rupert and Tess and despising them. They were dealt some bad luck, but were they really handling it the best they could? I could see how Tess just wanted to get out of her house, but when she packed that dress for Ellie's mother... That was just plain evil!

My only criticisms are that I would have liked to have seen more of Clara. And after a while I began thinking how much more can this poor girl take, but I don't necessarily think that the events were over the top.

I look forward to reading more of Jayne Pupek's novels in the future!

[pdebolt_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Over the years, I have sought books published by Algonuqin since I believed they set a high standard for fiction. This novel was a disappointment. The situation was increasingly difficult to believe, and the characters were very plastic. I finished it because I thought that surely the Algonquin editor would make it all come together in some remarkable conclusion, which never happened.

[bnbookgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

FANTASTIC. A book heartbreaking book about mental illness, the loss of childhood, and creating dreams to deal with the atrocities life can deal us. Ellie is an eleven-year-old girl (the story is told completely from her point of view) who has to deal with a father who has more time for his new love (the tomato girl), a mother who has struggled with mental illness all her life and is now slowing sinking into permanent madness, and, a baby brother who only exists in a jar. This book was almost impossible to put down. I hope this author puts out more fiction titles. Great for a book club as the discussion topics are endless.

[agirlandherbooks · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Tomato Girl has all the elements of a good novel: a mentally ill mother, a tempted father and a little girl trying to hold everything together as her world is shattered, saved only by a wise old black woman. But first-time novelist Jayne Pupek fails to build an adequate story, randomly splashing out cardboard characters in clichéd situations and failing to provide even the most rudimentary conclusion. Other novelists – Kaye Gibbons, Harper Lee, Elizabeth Berg – have visited this basic premise with far more fruitful results. Pupek obviously hoped to ride their coattails – a wish surely shared by her editors at Algonquin – but she fails in every respect.

[marcejewels · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was Jayne Pupek’s debut, the writing was amazing and her characters became real people, I had to remind myself it was a story not real life.A beautifully written sad story of a young girl that has to grow up to fast. She loves her mom and dad but she has to take responsibilities adult children would have a hard time doing.As the story unfolds you just want to hold the girl (Ellie)in your arms and protect her. Protect her from the choices, the sadness, the turmoil, the darkness she has to deal with. Her mom is mentally ill and her dad, oh her dad, I will let you read the book.How can a young child, only 11 years old, take care of mom when her father who she trust completely can’t? Taking care of Ellie’s mom, his wife, has broken him without his own knowledge, I ended up thinking he is the crazy one. I loved the chapter titles, never really noticed chapters as much as I did during this troublesome journey for Ellie, it was an added special style I enjoyed.If you read Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls you must read Tomato Girl and vise versa.

[bbexlibris · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of a family, a girl, a mother and a father who in a perfect world would have lived happily ever after, but not in Tomato Girl. Pupek does not cut corners or try to make life sound pretty or at all innocent. Ellie Sanders is a young girl, a preteen sweetie who tries her hardest to learn her mama's moods, act kind, and not be selfish. She feels it is because of her selfishness that bad things turn into worse things. Her mama is there for her some days, and others she tries to hurt herself, she tries to hurt others or just is not functional enough to have even the slightest common sense about life. Ellie and her father try to care for Julia, Ellie's mother, but the strains become heavier and heavier.After a tragic accident she will never be the same, darkness has set into their home, because of Julia and Ellie will do her best to cope while it just won't go away. Then comes Tomato girl, a pretty teen who is broken herself and yet Ellie's father lusts after her. Ellie is torn between wanting to please her father and her feelings of hatred towards the Tomato girl. All she wishes is that they could get rid of the tomato girl and become the family that they once were, before the sadness set in, before life went wrong.As much as I just couldn't put this book down, as well as it was written, and as true as the situations are to others who have lived in the midst of dysfunction and mental illness, it was seriously hard to read about. I loved Ellie and that is what made me stick to it, her voice is strong, she is no coward and she is left to take care of her mother out of love, yet she fears for her mother's life and her own. Fate begs her to grow up way before time, and then she will need to learn to un-grownup.I have mixed feelings because it was hard for me to read, all the severity of the plot, and what was done to the characters, but still the writing was superb, the characters were true and Ellie, oh Ellie...she was brilliantly written and personified as that individual inside all of us who tries, and then tries harder- life gave her a truckload of lemons and she scrambled to get on top of the pile to start the process of lemonade. There is no way I can't recommend it, really there isn't. I think this would be a perfect book for so many, those who carry burdens, teachers, parents, counselors- really anyone who works with teens or kids. I recommend that you grab a copy and a warm blanket and have at it!

[1morechapter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tomato Girl is a heartbreaking novel of love, desire, and madness.Ellie is in love with her father Rupert and just adores him. She loves spending time with him — especially when she can help him in the store he manages. Not only does Ellie’s father takes care of her when her mother is unable to, he also manages and cares for Ellie’s mother when she is in one of her ‘moods.’Although Rupert loves his daughter dearly, he is also falling in love with the girl who brings in the tomatoes at his store. This has severe repercussions for everyone involved, not only leaving poor Ellie caught in the middle but also worsening her mother’s mental condition.Pupek manages to make us sympathize with all the characters involved and thankfully, also provides other characters for Ellie to lean on in a difficult situation. Her best friend Mary, a concerned teacher, and a loving black couple all do their best to support Ellie. Tomato Girl really makes one realize there are consequences to every personal decision, and that all our choices will affect our family members as well.While I liked the book, there is a magical element to the book at the end that I didn’t care for, and I sometimes felt Ellie’s voice was too old for 11, and sometimes I thought she seemed too young for that age. These are minor criticisms, though, and Jayne Pupek is certainly a promising new novelist.If you’d like a copy of this book, just go to Novels Now, where I am giving away an autographed copy. All I ask is that you haven’t read the book yet, and that you’ll make an effort to read and review it on your blog in the next 6 months.2008, 298 pp.(3.5/5)

[posthumose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I expected to relate to this story but was unsure about how much I'd enjoy the telling of it. Like Ellie I was once an eleven year old girl with overwhelming responsibilities and an unpredictable parent who needed more help than I could offer. But I really loved this book. The voice of this girl rang true for me, with all her hopes and fears. Children as protagonists or narrators in adult novels don't always impress me as real. Ellie was exactly right.This book will sit proudly on my shelf with Ellen Foster and Me & Emma, the two other books whose little girls have stuck me as totally believable. While Ellen Foster is older and more precocious, and Carrie is younger and more confused, eleven year old Ellie in Tomato Girl is a very normal girl. But she is helpless from a combination of neglect and more responsibility than most adults can cope with. In fact it is her own father who saddles her with taking care of an unstable mother, something he himself cannot always handle appropriately. Ellie just wants to be part of a normal family and is never quite sure of herself.Tomato girl is a touching story, about adults distracted by their own problems and desires while a young girl grows up trying to navigate the convoluted and unpredictable ways of adult behaviour. Sad in places, but uplifting too, it is a delightful story and one that I will read again. One of my favourite novels of 2008. I recommend it highly. Five stars.

[writestuff_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jayne Pupek’s debut novel, Tomato Girl, is not a story for the faint of heart…nor is it one which the reader will likely soon forget.Set in the South, the book is narrated from the innocent point of view of eleven year old Ellie Sanders who is forced to grow up far too early. Ellie has learned to depend upon her father Rupert to guide her through the confusing maze of her mother’s mental illness. But when Ellie’s mother has an accident and Rupert introduces Tess (a girl who delivers tomatoes to the general store where Rupert works) to “help out” at home … everything changes.Through Ellie’s eyes the reader meets the memorable characters who people the novel: Mary Roberts (Ellie’s precocious and practical best friend), Clara and Jericho (the black couple with love to spare), Sheriff Rhodes, Miss Wilder (Ella’s lesbian teacher who tries to help), the frightening Mason Reed, young Tess (who threatens the security of Ellie’s family), Rupert (who flounders in his ability to provide emotionally to Ellie), Julia (Ellie’s very ill mother), and Baby Tom. Through Ellie the reader experiences the pain of loss, and the terror of living with a mentally ill parent.This is a tough book to read. It is raw and far too real. But it is also beautifully written. Pupek has captured Ellie’s character perfectly - a young girl on the cusp of becoming a woman, but who is still wrapped in the innocence of childhood. Pupek never veers from Ellie’s point of view, skillfully revealing the workings of adult motivation through the eyes of a child.There will be readers who will find this book too disturbing to read. Some scenes are graphic, disheartening, and completely unforgettable. Tomato Girl is a novel which will not go away once the final page has been turned. Pupek has created a character who like Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird and Ruth Ann in Bastard Out of Carolina will tug on the reader’s heart and demand to be heard.Recommended.

[saratoga99 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I lived in NC, I got acquainted with Algonquin Books; I can't remember a single one that disappointed me. TOMATO GIRL is a debut novel, but Jayne Pupek is an author to watch.This was a book that was satisfying to read, memorable, and I only wished it continued on for at least another 200 pages.Some tag this book as a "coming of age" book. I heartily disagree. What Ellie Sanders experienced from day to day was more than any 11 year old girl should be expected to endure. The characters in this book are real; Ellie is endearing and mature beyond her years. If you liked (and I did), "FRIED GREEN TOMATOES," "THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES," OR "COLD SASSY TREE," this book is for you.

[jolielouise · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The young girl who is the main character of this book (Ellie) is going to need psychiatric help for the rest of her life. The tragedies she lives through build and build on each other until it is no shock to find her near the end of the story (STOP reading if you plan to read the book) standing on the table in her kitchen drawing on a wall with her mother's blood. For God's sake! There were so many adults in this girl's life and though many of them circled the edges of her life, poking through now and then, only one actually intervened - though still didn't do what they all should have done -- taken her mother out of the home and found someone to care for Ellie. Obviously this is said from the perspective of the reader who is allowed to see everything. But, truly, I expected at least the sheriff to recognize that Ellie's mother was unfit to care for Ellie or even herself. But I sound like I'm talking about a real person and not a fictional character. And it was this lack of response from the people in Ellie's life that helped to build the tension in the story.About halfway through I saw that I was going to have difficulty truly disliking any one character. Their flaws were obvious but so were the circumstances that brought them to this point in their lives. By the end of the story, though, I had true disdain for Ellie's father, the Tomato Girl (Tess), and Ellie's mother. I felt sorry for all of them but I no longer had the desire to give any of them credit for the difficulties they had endured.If you read Tomato Girl you will have trouble putting it down. You're going to want to know what happens next - and something ALWAYS happens next. Poor girl.

[thetruebookaddict · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tomato Girl is a book about a little girl and her troubled family. Her mother is mentally ill and her father, after years of dealing with his wife's problems, falls in love with a young girl who is barely out of her teen years. This girl has been abused and has problems of her own. It all makes for a very heart-wrenching story. The author does an excellent job of character development. The characters are vivid and real. The ordeal that the main character, the little girl Ellie, faces is unfair and something that no child should ever have to experience. She is a character that makes you feel. When she is sad, you are sad, when she's angry, you're just plain pissed off. Remember how we all felt when we were children--how we did not feel like we had any choices but what our parents allowed. And these were silly things like not being able to go to a friend's house or go to a dance. Magnify those feelings by 1000 and that is how Ellie feels throughout the book. Jayne Pupek has really written an excellent book. I highly recommend it.

[mlschmidt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

11 year old Ellie and her father have learned the best way to handle her mother is to keep everything very calm so her mother won't get upset and hurt herself or others. When her mom ends up in the hospital and Ellie's dad brings in the "tomato girl" to help out at the house, her dad starts to act crazy as well. Poor Ellie is left to cope alone as her already unsteady world is turned into a tornado. I found myself holding my breath in parts thinking this is just too much, some chapters were disturbing and not easy to read, it was a relief when her burden was finally lifted and there was some hope in sight. I loved the way Jayne captured the voice of 11 year old Ellie, you just want to scoop Ellie up and take her away from the mess of her life. I think this is a sign of a great book when you feel such a wide range of emotion and are bound to the end to see what will happen. I'm looking forward to Jayne Pupek's next novel.

[lenoreva · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ellie is 11 years old, it’s nearly Easter and she’s excited about finally being able to take home one of the chicks from her father’s store. A sunny beginning, to be sure, but there are dark clouds on the horizon. Her mother’s behavior is increasingly erratic, and when she falls down the stairs and is admitted to the hospital, her father brings home the teenage “tomato girl” to help take care of things and things steadily go from bad to worse.Since the book is told from innocent Ellie’s point of view, a lot of the clues that adults pick up as to what is actually going on (her father’s affair, the police taking advantage of her mentally insane mother, etc.) sail over her head. As the narrative progresses, it’s heartbreaking to have to see how events gradually cause Ellie to lose her innocence and force to her to grow up way too fast. Despite Ellie’s age, this is not a book for middle or YA readers (though more mature teens who seek out intense, challenging literature could handle it). This novel is not in any way high concept (my favorite type of book) and most definitely does not fall in the thriller genre, but it sucked me in so completely that I lost track of time and read compulsively until I turned the last page. It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly what makes it so great - certainly the sure, authentic voice and the sympathetically rendered characters – but there is some intangible magic to it which every writer hopes to achieve and every reader longs to discover. Thanks to the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program for allowing me to discover this one.

[lildrafire · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Ellie wants to be a good girl- for God, for Daddy, and most especially for Mama, because Mama's "moods" terrify her. Told from the 11 year olds perceptions, I was astounded at how Pupek simply uses what Ellie sees and feels to let us, the readers, infer the situations, the horrors, and unimaginable secrets Ellie has to face, often alone, in this wonderful, sometimes painful, story.This is a story of betrayal. This is a story of how families and individuals pretend life is grand to the outside world, wearing their fake smiles, while in reality life is crumbling. This is the story of the kindness of strangers. But mostly, this is a story about coping. And that's the hardest story of all. Brilliant.Many times reviewers will comment "this writer's style is reminiscent of...," but I'm not going to do this with Pupek, and although I do see influences, her style is her very own.

[rslynch_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There is a certain grace in the face of hardship factor that really makes me root for Southern fiction protagonists. This book made me ache for young Ellie, knowing that everyone around her would fail to help her through life’s struggles in the end, that she would have to grow to take care of herself in a different way than anyone else could. In that way, this book reminded me very much of the books Ellen Foster and Make Lemonade. There is such a danger for youth when the ones they count on the most cannot be counted on. This story is a prime example. Ellie’s mother, who most likely suffers from severe bipolar disorder with psychotic features, swings like an off-kilter pendulum between inappropriate happiness to anguish, doing things I could not imagine. Her relationship with Baby Tom in the jar while he is refusing to nurse is a prime example of this. I saw this as a brilliant relationship opportunity for Pupek to explore and was glad she did. It was very original and sad with a tinge of the blackest humor. With the added injury until the point of her dramatic and somehow relieving death, Ellie becomes her crutch, leaning hardest as her husband brings in a teenage girl for help but ends up leaving with her.All in all, this book has a flair for the dramatic, making it an enjoyable, fascinating read. And any book with baby chicks is likely to win me over. I hope to read more of Pupek’s work in the future.

[karinnekarinne · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to love this book SO MUCH. It was my first book in six months; for some reason I had been on a no-book bender. I picked this one up because a) it was an early reviewer book, so I knew I should review it; b) it's by a Virginia native; c) I'm a sucker for anything that hints of Southern gothic; d) PLUCKY YOUNG HEROINE. It had the makings of a favorite.Then I read it. Half of the way in, I thought, "The only way I can make it through this is if there is something bright at the end, a hint of hope." I flipped to the back. (Cheater.) At least one person who deserved comeuppance seemed to have gotten it, so I figured I'd plow through the last half, at least give it a chance. I don't really regret it, but I don't think it would have made a difference if I stopped halfway through, either.Okay, so Ellie, the main character, is put into a lot of situations that an eleven-year-old shouldn't have to be in. Her mother is mentally unstable, her father has a hero complex that can't abide the fact that he can't save her mother, and they're all sort of stuck in place that way until an accident occurs that sends Ellie's mother over the edge that she was about to teeter over anyway. Ellie's dad decides that it's time to bring his mistress, the Tomato Girl, home to "help" while Ellie's mom recovers. His ulterior motives are revealed pretty quickly, and the rest of the book deals with the fall-out of the decisions he makes when everything explodes. Most of the debris lands on and around Ellie. It's not light reading. It's a very, very dark coming-of-age story, I suppose.As far as the writing goes, I have to hand it to Pupek: she kept me reading even though I didn't think I could take any more of the constant emotional pounding. Some of the writing seemed a little... reaching, I guess, like Pupek was trying a bit too hard to make you feel like you were there, you know? But at the same time, her style is engaging and easy to follow. The characters seemed a bit uneven; the most obvious example is Ellie, who can go from precocious to "DON'T GO IN THE BASEMENT!" dumb within one chapter. I know a few of the reviewers have mentioned Ellie's dad's love for Ellie, but honestly I thought he seemed more selfish than loving. I actually wanted to shake some freakin sense into him more times than is probably good for my blood pressure. Maybe that is my personal bias, though.Toward the end of the book, we have a literal "magical Negro" appearance. Clara helps Ellie make sense of the craziness swirling around her, making heavy use of Clara's clairvoyance and magic. This would normally bother me, since it is such a huge cliche, but at that point, I was so desperate for any good thing to happen to Ellie that I would have thrown a party if I hadn't been stuck in a car reading this book.In the end, I was not exactly happy I read Tomato Girl. The weight of it stuck with me for days, but not necessarily because it was thought-provoking or meaningful. Knowing that Pupek is a social worker makes me believe that perhaps she is trying to use her work to inform her fiction, which makes sense, but maybe half of it should have been poured into this novel instead of all of it. At one point, I started to think maybe this was cathartic for her, or maybe she was trying so hard to wring out emotions from her readers that she went too far, with emotional blow after emotional blow, with no space for recovery. This might work for some readers -- I am just not one of them.Even though this review probably sounds pretty negative, I would definitely read more by Pupek; the peek into her writing that I got here has me interested in her poetry, and I would love to see her grow as a fiction writer. I will just be a little pickier about the subject matter next time.

[bethann_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

From the very first page, I was drawn into this book. While there are a few things worth mentioning as a critique, I feel the book has earned a discussion of the good points first.I can understand why some readers would not enjoy this book. It is devastatingly truthful and honest. Ellie is surrounded by a family full of illness, pain, frustration, and desperation. I was so emotionally connected to Ellie that near the end of the book, I felt…literally felt the weight of emotional strain that she was under. Perhaps that is the most powerful aspect of the book for me. And perhaps that is why there are some readers who do not enjoy this book. The emotions in this book were thick and palpable. I certainly could not bear to have every book that I read be this heavy, but I am glad that I read Tomato Girl.The prose of this book is beautiful. I am not surprised at all to see that Pupek is also a poet. She writes with the ease and grace of a writer who sees the beauty in the terrible. And there is hidden beauty in this book. There is redemption in the grace and love Ellie receives from other people in the neighborhood and there is beauty in the unwavering attachment Ellie feels toward her parents despite their inability to return that same quality of love. There is even beauty in the struggle that Ellie’s parents face in escaping the quagmire of mental illness. Pupek delivers the small details that children pay attention to, but adults ignore and forget. Details such as Ellie’s constant awareness of her surroundings….the noises of her mother walking upstairs, the water rushing through the pipes, the “electric” in the air that foretells the mood her mother is in. These are telling details that add depth to the story, especially in the way that it portrays Ellie as the hypersensitive and observant daughter of a mentally ill mother. These details are not simply thrown in for the sake of adding details (I sometimes find that Alice Hoffman slips into description for the sake of description); these details mean something to the story. What I find to critique about the book is that Ellie felt a bit young for eleven to me, especially since this is not her mother’s first “episode”. Yet, there really is a wonderful play in the innocence versus independence that she faces. Perhaps I am reading this as a 2008 reader who exists in a world where mental illness is more easily discussed. Perhaps the repression of the 1960s would account for this innocence, but I am not sure. Also, a lot happens to Ellie in a relatively short amount of time. It seems as though everything that could go wrong does in the span of Easter Break. Honestly, because I was so invested in the story, I barely gave it a second thought, but it is worth mentioning. As for the believability of Clara’s character and her use of magic, some readers may find this too abrupt and farfetched. I found it to be an emotional reprieve. There is sometimes something inherently haunting, mysterious, and mystical with people who suffer mental illness. I think the “magic” Clara uses and the connection she feels with Julia is just another layer of the truth of this novel that those who are unfamiliar with the struggle would not believe or accept. It is a world of superstitions, signs, and readings. Ellie, Clara, and Julia all “read” the world in both similar and dissimilar ways, but each has its own bit of magic and mystery. I do regret that I do not know more of the adult life that Ellie lived. The only glimpse that we see of that is in the prologue as she sits in the basement and writes her story. I care for this character and need to see how she adjusted. I am extremely glad that I read this novel, and I am extremely excited about Pupek’s future works. I do not feel that the back cover gives the story justice, as it focuses on the chalk door that Ellie draws to help cope. The cover makes the door seem like a much bigger part of the story, where as it is only a force at the tale end of the novel. I like the use of the door as a part of Ellie’s coping in the end as opposed to the suggestion on the cover that it is something she utilizes while in the thick of the story. This was a great read and I highly recommend it to those who brave the emotional wave associated with facing the harsh, yet truthful realities of life. There is definitely a reward for the journey.

[peripa_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Jayne Pupek's first novel, Tomato Girl, tells the story of Ellie Sanders, an eleven year old coping with a mentally ill mother and a father who leaves her and her mother for a teenaged vegetable seller. Tomato Girl is undoubtedly well written, and I remained interested enough in the story to finish the book, but I did not feel emotionally invested in any of the characters, not even Ellie. I felt that there was too much going on - the characters have so many issues that the end result is that none of the issues are fully addressed so I was never sure if I was supposed to care. I felt very distant throughout. I also had a hard time dating the story, as mentioned in another review. Until the date was mentioned at 1969, I had thought it was the late 1950's. While Tomato Girl was not as captivating as I had hoped, it was not dreadful either. I can see why others would like it, as it is definitely in the 'Crazy in Alabama, Bastard Out of Carolina' category. It just was not my cup of tea.

[wolson_16 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Once I picked this book up I could nto put it down. This novel is about an eleven year old girl named Ellie in a short time everything in her life is turned upside down and inside out. Her father brings home the "Tomato Girl" which is the start of turmoil in Ellie's life. Her mother has a nasty fall and under the pretense of the "Tomato Girl" being the familys new helper things quickly head in a not so helping manner.Ellie is foreced to grow up in a short little while and expirence more than a girl at her tender age should have to. She forced to tend for her mother who has more problems than Ellie really knows how to handle.I think this a great novel and will recomend to many friends once the book is published.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pupek, Jayne. Tomato Girl. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2008.What a beautifully written, tragic first book! The characters are so true to life and so compelling I was picturing them in a movie. It's told in first person from the point of view of 11 year old Ellie. With the help of a series of seamless recollections Ellie recounts her life with a mentally ill mother and a cheating father. Ellie's father is taken with, and soon overcome by, a teenage girl who delivers tomatoes to the store he manages. From the moment the "tomato girl" comes into Ellie's life every day is stacked with another unbelievable tragedy, a level of sadness leading to horror much deeper than the one before. It is hard to imagine the amount of pain this child has to endure at such a tender age. Pupek writes with sentences full of foreshadowing. They hang heavy like dark clouds, bloated with the storm that will erupt any minute.My only complaint is absence of addressing molestation. Ellie is "grabbed" by boy hard enough to leave a bruise. At the same time her period has started (her first). When Sherrif Rhodes discovers the blood, and Ellie tells him of the rough boy, the Sheriff doesn't take Ellie to a hospital to be examined by a real doctor. She is brought to a black woman who practices witchcraft. Because the story is set in the late 60's and racism is hinted at I was surprised Sherriff Rhodes would bring a child to her rather than the local hospital. This is the only oddity in the story I wish was explained a little better.

[mckait · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found this to be a well written story with characters who are both compelling and interesting. It takes place in simpler times, but was there ever such a thing? Ellie Sanders has had to grow up too fast. She lives in a world with a mother whose madness makes it impossible for her to care for Ellie as she should. Her father does the best he can, but it is not enough. Particularly when the tomato girl comes into his life and Ellie's. Ellie takes care of herself. She sees things through a child's eyes, but with a vision distorted by fear and pain. Those eyes have seen more than any young girls eyes should see. Birth, death , betrayal , abandonment and murder are not small things, Yet Ellie sees or endures the knowledge of them all. There are "angels" in Ellie's life, as in each of ours. Will they be in time to save her? Is there hope for Ellie in the end?