Pages: 210
Intended Audience: Teens & Mature Tweens
Genre: Real life / Social issues
Notes for parents: Contains issues of hoarding behaviour and death.
The Back Cover
From the outside, Lucy’s home looks normal. The secrets are all on the inside: Towering piles of newspapers and magazines; bags of junk flooding every inch of open space; a rotting smell permeating the air. This is the awful truth she’s kept hidden—that her mother’s hoarding has overwhelmed their lives with garbage and shame.
With only two years until graduation, Lucy plans on maintaining the lies until it’s her turn for a normal life, one where she can be honest with her friends…and maybe even have a boyfriend. But when she comes home one morning to find a situation she might not be able to cover up, Lucy must make a decision. Should she finally tell the truth? Or find a way to keep their secret forever?
What the Back Cover doesn’t tell you:
It doesn’t tell you what “situation” Lucy comes home to, which is perfect! You have to read the book to find out and I must say that I did not see it coming.
What’s good?
This is a disconcerting look at the impact that hoarding has on a teenage girl. You can’t help but feel waves of compassion for this girl who just wants a normal life. The opportunity to escape her mother’s behaviour comes in the form of a shockingly tragic discovery. Watching her try to fix things is gut-wrenching. How it would end remained a complete mystery to me right up until the last chapter, and I was stunned. The story was built up skillfully and the end was pulled off to perfection.
Best part: The end.
What’s not so good?
Oddly, the end. As brilliant as the surprise ending was, I think she– both the character and the author—made the wrong choice. For Lucy, her choice was still going to garner the media attention she so desperately wanted to avoid, and it’s likely the truth of it all would come out eventually and she would have even more questions to answer. For the author, it seemed like a cop out. Ultimately it felt to me like the best part of the story would have happened afterwards – dealing with her family, her friends, family services, public reaction, etc. I feel like I was denied. But then, maybe that’s the intention.
Worst part: The end.
Recommendations þþþþo
An excellent story! Lucy’s reaction and ultimately decision seem very realistic in hindsight since she was placed in an impossible situation by her mother. It’s a fascinating read.
Omololu, C.J. Dirty Little Secrets. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010.
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