My first
impression of Annie On My Mind by
Nancy Garden was that the novel was hard to get into. Although an extremely easy read, I had a hard
time trying to connect with the characters, Liza and Annie. Attempting to connect with the characters I
reread the first chapter trying to convince myself that Liza was a male,
however I realized that in order to be true to the book that I must read it as
it was written, two females struggling to figure out their sexuality and how
they fit into society.
Identifying and
accepting that there is gender confusion, I continued on. Liza’s description of meeting Annie was described
almost as if it was by a male, focusing on her dark sad eyes. The gestures such as Liza bringing Annie and
African violet plant as well as the feelings described during Liza’s and Annie’s
interaction show Liza in a very masculine way.
This made it somewhat difficult to read, as I have never read a book
that has addressed these issues so openly.
I know that I have a problem connecting Liza to a female, I do also believe that I am taking away from the book as a whole. I think that once I get more into the book and there is a climax I am sure Liza will change back to a female, but until then I am just waiting it out.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting, isn't it, that the issues of sexual orientation explored in the book are quite open and yet the book feels dated, having been written in 1982. But I think it's really important to recognize what you have: that we've likely not read a lot of books from the perspective of a young person working through sexual orientation. Thus, it's still a relevant book even though parts of it may shout 1980s.
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