The Serpent King meets Girl in Pieces in this moving and darkly funny story about a teenage girl coming of age and learning how to grieve in small-town Montana.
Initially, I found this hard to warm to. I couldn’t work out why Tiffany was regarded so negatively, and I found it difficult to really develop much interest in events following on from her release from juvenile detention. Slowly, however, as we peeled back the layers of this small town and learned more about Tiffany I came to have a healthy respect for her.
I think the first thing I have to say is that the town of Gabardine really does – on first impressions – seem like the kind of place you’d want to leave and never return to. It’s dying on its feet and the characters who’ve found themselves living there are rather small in their outlook. Nobody seems to have anything marking them out in any way, but that small-town closed mentality actually came to make sense. As we learn more about the people around Tiffany it almost feels like we’re being encouraged to pay homage to the fighting spirit of people who know there’s little point to what they’re doing, but do it anyway.
Tiffany is a girl who you warm to. There’s a softness under this brash exterior, and she has a curiosity about her that suggests she’s smart enough to escape this place – but if she stays it’ll be out of love for those around her. Finding out about her ‘small crimes’ and what each actually represents was a fascinating process. While her brother and mother had a certain grotesque element to them, by the end there was a definite shift in Tiffany’s thoughts about them.
In some ways this reminded me of something by Steinbeck, but with more modern issues. It might not be to everyone’s tastes but I found myself quite charmed by it.