A Girl Named Zippy

3 1/2 stars

I just reread this book. I saw it at the library and even though I knew I had read it, I couldn't remember anything about it. So I thought, "why not?"

It was amusing and poignant, both. I'm a couple of years older than Kimmel but basically grew up in the 60s and 70s. I'm from Indiana! Though not the small town rural Indiana of Kimmel's tale, rather the cold, hard, industrial Great Lakes north. Life was a bit different for us kids up there.

I can't believe all the 1 and 2 star ratings. I thought it was fine. It was laugh out loud funny in spots. The tales about animals and the blythe ways they were dealt with, that so many people objected to, is just the way it was back then for a lot of families. Rural and farm people weren't too soft and fuzzy about them critters. We were city slickers but we just about never brought our cats to the vet unless they were almost dead and it wasn't until I was a teenager that we ever got an animal "fixed".

A good read if you are looking for something nostalgic that doesn't ask a lot from you. Unless you get easily upset about the way animals are treated... Then beware.

I loved this memoir, and am now hunting down the sequel. It's beautifully written, all from the point of a view of a small child. The portraits of her family and neighbors are beautifully drawn. I enjoy books with unreliable narrators, where you are given a misleading portrait and must work out the gaps and misleading bits for yourself. In this book, the child's viewpoint is honest, but limited by her understanding of the world (as deftly shaped by the adult writer, of course). It has all the enthusiasm and drama of a small child, for example, rushing to someplace a long way away, more than two blocks!
The small town and its residents are portrayed with love. Her parents have flaws and virtues, and she clearly thinks the virtues outweigh the flaws. I love this bit "On my end-of-the-year report card all she wrote was 'Is disruptive in class. Colors outside the lines. Talks out of turn.' When I showed it to my parents, they read it out loud to me, and my mom said, 'Good for you sweetheart.' And my dad gave me a little pat on the back."