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| Plot Summary of A Girl Named Zippy |
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"It's a clich to say that a good memoir reads like a well-crafted work of fiction, but Kimmel's smooth, impeccably humorous prose evokes her childhood as vividly as any novel. Born in 1965, she grew up in Mooreland Indiana, a place that by some mysterious and powerful mathematical prinicple retains a population of 300, a place where there's no point learning the street names because it's just as easy to say, "We live at the four-way stop sign."
Hers is less a formal autobiography than a collection of vignettes comprising the things a small child would remember; sick birds, a new bike, reading comics at the drugstore, the mean old lady down the street. The truths of childhood are rendered in lush yet simple prose; here's Zippy describing a friend who hates wearing girls' clothes: "Julie in a dress was like the rest of us in quicksand." Over and over we encounter pearls of third-grade wisdom revealed in a child's assured voice. "There are a finite number of times one can safely climb the same tree in a single day".
Everyone who reads this, will recognize some aspect of their childhood. "
Boppy, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of A Girl Named Zippy |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Kids:
- general coming of age story
Ethnic/regional/gender
Yes
ethnic of society (outside)
- American (midwest)
Period of greatest activity?
- 1950+
Big/small town?
- small town
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a kid
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity
- White
Nationality
- American (!)
How sensitive is this person?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other people
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 7 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Pacific NW
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Century:
- 1960's-1970's
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Book makes you feel?
- very happy
Is book humorous?
Yes
If humorous, kind of humor
- eccentric personalities
- gentle
Commentary on society?
Yes
Commentary on
- love/sex
- decency
- selfishness
Writer's slant towards subject:
- very favorable
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of set of events during life
If this is a kid's book:
- Age 14-16
Autobiography?
Yes
Pictures/Illustrations?
- More 6-10 B&W
How much dialogue in bio?
- significantly more descript than dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?
- 26-50% of book
How much is philosophy rather than life story?
- 0-25% of book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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