Talking Volumes: Kaye Gibbons

Kaye Gibbons took her own sweet time in getting around to writing a sequel to her debut novel, Ellen Foster–twenty years, actually, but who’s keeping track? The Life All Around Me catches up with Ellen Foster while she’s still in her teens, so if it’s been two decades for you as well, it may behoove you to reread the first book before plunging into the latest. Don’t think of it as required reading so much as an opportunity to revisit one of the best and earliest works in the “sick and twisted American childhood” genre (which seems to be dominated by Southern women). Gibbons’ elegant and emotional prose creates oddly uplifting material out of tales of child abuse, which is no small feat. Fortunately, her protagonist has moved beyond all that in this book, and applies all of her hard-earned wisdom and pluck on her way to a spectacular new grown-up life. You’ll doubtless hear more about the travails of Gibbons’ heroine, and about the other, highly praised volumes she wrote during the incubation of her long-awaited sequel, at this reading and discussion.