Therapy for Liza

               Nancy Garden’s Annie on My Mind begins with the narrator, Liza, writing a letter to Annie.  Immediately the reader can see this is a difficult process for Liza, however the reason isn’t known yet.  As the novel progresses the letters, as well the flashbacks help the reader understand what exactly happened.  It also helped develop Liza’s character, although it should be noted that Liza’s character development is not as in depth as Annie’s is.

                The epistolary is very therapeutic for Liza, as it helps her understand her emotions, identity and because of that she ultimately is able to move on with her life.  The flashbacks while writing to Annie reveal that Liza’s cautiousness was a result of fully understanding how her society works, from the first chapter of being expelled from school and meeting Annie.  While writing to Annie, Liza thinks back to day the two girls met and how her life forever changed.   Liza’s straight forward story telling allows for the reader to see the world through her eyes rather than have it played out like a movie, as in other novels.  The seemingly lacking feminine emotion gives Liza an often overlooked female characteristic, strength.

                Since it is told from Liza’s point of view, some of the characters lack depth, such as Sally and Liza’s parents.  As a result the reader is unable to connect to these characters on any level and only regard them as insignificant.  For example, Sally’s character went from a rebellious ear-piercer to a righteous fundraiser participant without any true explanation or any emotional connection to Sally’s change.  Liza never goes into any detail about her former friend, but makes it seem like Sally changed overnight and never takes interest in this change.  Instead Liza focuses all of her attention on Annie, describing both Annie and everything that is important to Annie in great detail.

                As a result the reader is left with multiple questions at the end of the book, such as how did Liza’s family deal with finding out Liza was a lesbian?  Did they ever bring up the topic again? Or was it completely swept under the rug?  What social consequences did Chad have to face even after Liza left for MIT? What ever happened to Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer?  While these answers are seemingly unimportant to Liza, the reader ends the book with more questions than answers, including the biggest question of them all- Now what?