Elaine BealeBesprekingen

Jesse Bennett is a girl caught between a rock and a crazy place in 1970s England. Her mother suffers with a mental disorder and her father is coping by ignoring the severity of the problem. Jesse doesn't fit in at school or at home. When the family moves, Jesse hopes for a new start where no one knows about her crazy home life. Then she meets Amanda and her inner life is sent spiraling through confusing emotions. A girl so desperate for love and acceptance, she would do almost anything.

The characters felt authentic. I was invested in Jesse's struggle and rooting for her to overcome. As things unfolded, there was no good alternatives for her. But the story was missing something to really draw me in to loving it. It was fine and good but it wasn't spectacular.½

This astonishing novel was like anything I've ever read before. It would be easy to peg it as a coming-of-age novel, but it's so much more than than. The dual difficulties of family mental illness and burgeoning sexuality (and gender awareness) add up to a complex drama that I could hardly put down.

This book was difficult for me to get through. Set in the 1970s in England, it's about a young girl dealing with her mentally ill mother and well-intentioned father. It wasn't the subject matter that made it difficult - I think it just kind of dragged on. I did like the book, ultimately, I just think the pace was a bit slow.

This story of Jesse, a thirteen year old girl in England, who is growing up with a mother that is suffering from a mental illness and who is facing personal decisions about her own sexuality. I thought the story was strong in setting and mood. I felt the landscape of 1970's England and the hopelessness, frustration and cruelty of the characters, as well as the the humor (although there wasn't a lot of it in this story) came through. Where the story was weak was in character development. I wasn't able to put myself into Jesse's, or any of the other characters, mind. I was an outsider looking in and it made it difficult to become emotionally involved. I enjoyed the plot, I find it positive to find a book that can discuss sensitive issues, especially those facing teens, and deal with them in a realistic manner even if it seems "mature material'. I didn't have any trouble reading this book and while it wouldn't be one that I would recommend to everyone as a general great novel, I could see myself recommending it to certain readers who, like myself, want to read books dealing specifically with mental illness or sexuality issues. I rate it 3 1/2 stars.½

An interesting read. The story of young Jesse, a teen girl, struggling to fit in as she tries to hide her mothers mental illness and her own growing homosexual feelings. I find it interesting how the illness of the mother, who spends her life trying to destroy herself and her family, could possibly be influencing Jesse's feelings toward members of the opposite sex as she looks for a motherly love in others.

There were many characters in the book and the development of each was pretty good. There were all walks of life represented here I think.

I finished the book feeling uncertain if it was written for teens or for adults but know that I would not want my teen reading it.

Another Life Altogether by Elaine Beale

How I loved this book!! Years ago when I began to realize that were I to read non-stop, I could not possibly read even a small portion of all the good books published, I developed a trustworthy method of avoiding inferior writing. Acknowledging the diminishing amount of time left to me to enjoy good, if not great, authors, I would read the opening page and then at random a second page somewhere in the book. If the writing intrigued me on both pages, I was in for the long haul. If not, adios. Another Life Altogether would have passed my primitive little test without any difficulty. From the opening lines readers know that they are in safe hands. Elaine Beale is an extremely gifted writer.

Jesse Bennett knows she is different from her friends and not just because her mother is mentally ill and her uncle is in jail most of the time. Jesse is different inside, different in the way she views the world, different in the way she feels toward boys and especially different in the way she feels toward one particular girl, Amanda. Jesse wants to be just like everyone else. She wants to be popular, one of the gang, but from the outset, it is clearly impossible.

Beale fills her novel with a wide range of characters, many of them wonderfully developed. I especially liked Jesse’s Aunt Mabel who lives her life with great zest in literary counterpoint to Jesse’s mother. Jesse’s new friends, Malcolm and Dizzy, provide evidence that Jesse has become socially mature enough to choose her friends more wisely than she did at the novel’s beginning. Subtle clues prepare the reader for the story’s climatic moments and for the ultimate resolution of Jesse’s dilemma.

Set in the English provinces in the 1970s, this novel tells the story of Jesse Bennett, a troubled teenager trying to hide her mother's mental illness from the cruelty of her classmates. Deep in the throes of manic depression, Jesse's mother alternates among the local mental hospital, her bed, and tearing apart the family. Jesse's father copes by ignoring the issue, and leaves Jesse home to manage the house and her mother. A move to the countryside has vaulted Jesse into the popular clique at her new school, but her new friends are profoundly cruel to outsiders, especially Malcolm, an openly gay student. To complicate Jesse's life she develops a tremendous crush on her best friend's sister, and begins to realize that she might be a lesbian. Family, sexuality, and basic human decency wreak havoc on Jesse's conscience, as she tries to rationalize her relationship with her cruel but powerful new clique. This novel brings into stark relief the rigid social hierarchies and cruelty of high school. Jesse's story makes clear how easy it is for children to get lost. It also reminds the reader that for all of the problems and injustices that remain, we have made some real progress in educating children about sexuality. The ending was abrupt and unbelievable, but I enjoyed the reading.½

I give this book 3 stars because the language itself is quite lovely. The story, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. Jesse is a fairly standard teenage-girl-who-finally-learns-to-stand-up-for-herself-and-for-what's-right. She's a sympathetic character, but not a very interesting one. She seems like a dynamic character only because all the others are flat as pancakes (her parents don't so much grow as characters as just randomly start acting differently toward the end). Ultimately, though, it's hard to feel too much for Jesse, because she doesn't respond to her predicament in a believable way.

The story is set in a small town in northern England in the mid-70s (complete with some great descriptions of the clothes) and for that time and place, and what we know of her upbringing, Jesse takes her "predicament" far too easily in stride. We see very little internal struggle with her situation; the only real conflict in the story is how long she'll let things drag on. This does not make for very captivating reading.

Another Life Altogether by Elaine Beale tells the story of Jesse Bennett, a 13 year old girl. Jesse's life is complex and heartbreaking. She lives with a bi-polar mother and a father who largely turns his back on the problems. At school, Jesse is bullied and has difficulty finding her place. She is increasingly confused about her sexual orientation, which complicates matters further.

With all these things going on, one may assume that this novel is emotionally gripping. One would assume incorrectly. It seems that by trying to tackle so many issues at once, none of them is fully developed. As a result, the book falls flat.

Like the main character, Jesse, Another Life Altogether is awkward and ungainly. And like Jesse's mother, who suffers (I'm guessing, it's never explicit) as a manic-depressive, the book soars from unbelievably grim circumstances for Jesse to neatly-contrived solutions to her problems. I found myself wondering several times during the novel if it is, in fact, intended for adults or is a YA novel. Immaturity comes to mind as a descriptor--of the writing, the plot, and certainly the characters.

I was a little disappointed in this Speigel & Grau effort; their titles are usually spot on!