Tania-Ellen+Foster

**// "And I will crawl in and make room for myself. My heartcan be the one that beats. And hers has stopped" (Gibbons 10) // //Kaye Gibbons wrote “Ellen Foster” which was a story based on the hard life that she knew only too well. Her birth name was Berta Kaye Batts, she was born in North Carolina into a distorted family. Her dad like Ellens’ dad was an abusive alcoholic. However her hard life did not end there, her mom committed suicide when Gibbons was still a child. So by the age of 10 she had been through a suicide, an abusive father and uncaring relatives. Later she attended North Carolina State and North Carolina Chapel Hill, were she studied American and English literature. At the age of 26 she took inspiration in her life to write the story of Ellen Foster. Gibbons said in an interview that this was a healing process for her. She has written other books since that are based on some of her other experiences or the experiences of southern women. As time went on she received many awards for some of her novels. Her novels have been very successful they have been translated into many languages. She has also received many awards for some of her novel like “Ellen Foster” and “Charms for the Easy life”. At present time she has three daughters and has currently pleaded guilty to the accusations of the misusage of drugs.//
 * //Ellen Foster //**
 *  Kaye Gibbons


 * // Synopsis //**

This story is about a young girl that has to experience many horrible things though out her life. takes place in the south Ellen Foster was about 10 years old, when her world began to spiral out of control. “Everything was so wrong like somebody had knocked something loose and my family was shaking itself to death” (Gibbons 2). Ellen was forced to mature at an early age because of the circumstances that she lived in. At the beginning of the book she has to take care of her beloved young mom who is very weak because of a severe illness. Her dad is not much help, because he is a helpless, uncaring, drunk. Every day Ellen has to live in this depressing environment, where both she and her mom are mistreated by the dad. When Ellen’s mom decides she can not longer take the agony she decides to take her life. After the death of her mom Ellen is left to deal with her drunken and abusive dad. This many be too much for the average person to handle but Ellen’s problems are just getting stared. Her dad becomes more out of control that usual, and it gets to a point where she can no longer stay there. She decides to run away while her dad is away. The first attempt at running away fails because she really has no place, so she is force to go back to the house. Here she gain experience in how to defend herself from her dad. During the school year a teacher becomes aware of a bruise on Ellen’s arm. Ellen is quickly removed form the dangerous environment and placed in a temporary house with the art teacher. Through out the book she had to deal with bullies, uncaring family members and guilt. Through out the story one can not help but be taken in as we see the main character matures, strengthens and becomes wiser at such and early age. As she tells us her story the reader is able to compare the current life she has with the Foster family, and the life that she had before that. This book is sure to catch any readers’ interest. As it is packed of moments filled with sadness and happiness. **//

Criticism //** What worked: This story if great because it a story about a girl that many people can relate to. Author Kaye Gibbons make this story much more interesting by using events from her life and putting them into the story. By doing this the story seems much more credible. This story is also affective because it is being told by Ellen Foster. By doing this the author allows the readers connect more with the main character, because the readers know exactly what Ellen is thinking at all time. This leads the readers to experience more emotional impact to things occurring in the story, because the author can better relate to the main character. What did not work: Something that did not work was that the flashback could easily be confused with the present. So the reader had to pay close attention to what was going on. At first glance the story seemed to all take place in present time. The verb tenses is what made this story more confusing.

Literary information //** Genera: fiction Published: In the United Stated by Vintage books in 1987

Why read this book? //** This book is perfect for anyone that is looking to be entertained. The story is filled with all kinds of emotions. After reading this book it is hard not to feel inspired by Ellen Forster. Through out the story the message of not giving is clear. This message becomes even clearer as we see this young girl getting up and trying to have a good life over and over again. So if the reader is feeling down I highly recommend this book  Cari-Ordinary People Amanda~ Beauty by Robin McKinley For more information about the author and other books by her visit []
 * // Interesting Links: //**

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“ Kaye Gibbons’s Extended Biography” __Harcourt Publishers.__ March 12, 2009 [] Miller, Pamela “Kaye Gibbons’s novel draws from her life” __Startribune__. January 15, 2006. March 11, 2009 [] Walker, Marlon A. “Author Kaye Gibbons pleads guilty in drug case”__Fox9News.__ March 10, 2009. March 12, 2009 <[] >
 * Works Cited **