Twists on Concepts

Marie is a popular and well dressed black girl living a good life alone with her father. Her mother left years earlier to experience life and to find herself. She only corresponds by postcards sent from locations around the world.

Lena is a sad and very poor white girl who moves into town in the middle of the school year. Marie is asked to show her around a bit. Marie is shocked to find that she actually likes Lena, even though her best friends make fun of and shun the poor girl. Lena also has no mother; her mother died of breast cancer, leaving Lena and her little sister alone with their father.

In spite of herself, Marie finds herself drawn to Lena. She overcomes the prejudices her father has planted in her about white people, and she overcomes the ridicule of her friends in order to become close to this new girl who so desperately needs her friendship. But then Lena tells Marie a terrible secret, and Marie must decide whether to keep it or not.

This book has a couple of interesting twists--first, a girl living with her single father, when it is more common for the mother to be the single parent in stories. The reversal of racism was also intersting, with the black characters looking down on the white characters. I liked the evolution of Marie, as she became more confident and realized she didn't need her old friends.

I didn't like that Lena's situation was never portrayed as a crisis. The girls should have known that something should have been done, and Marie should have known better than to keep Lena's secret.

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I Definitely Meant To Tell You This...

This book was very well written. I enjoyed all aspects of this book. It had its parts that would make me cry, and its parts that would make me laugh, but the whole story was intriguing. The way the author wrote it so that each individual character had their own way of speaking and their own unique dialect made it easier to relate to one or more of the characters. I found myself sympathizing with all the characters at very different times. I felt as though the girls' father was no only a bad man, but one who made excuses for the cruel and inhumane things that he did to his own children. If I were the main characters friend, I would probably have asked someone for help, or gotten help for them myself. One other thing I liked about the book was the fact that neither of the girls had mothers. This shows very well that it doesn't matter the color of your skin or the amount of money in your pocket, all people are equal and can have the same problem or conflict, but each person has their own way to deal with it.

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Reality

I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This is a very honest and touching book. In this piece of literature a black girl in Chauncey, Ohio named Marie meets a white girl named Lena. When Lena moves to Ohio and goes to Marie's school. When Lena tells Maria a shocking secret, Marie tries to ignore reality and can't face the truth until she loses who makes her remember. She remembers in the end that no one is born with a perfect life...just like her.

This book is very good and once you start reading you feel like you can't stop. It faces issues that people try to neglect everyday. Such as racism, abuse, and other domestic problems. An example of this is when Marie's friend, Sherry, and Marie's father call Lena "white trash", because she isn't as wealthy as the [black] people in her neighborhood.


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