Carrie Snyder (1) (1974–)

From the outset we know that Francie has a gun and that she is racing to dispose of it somewhere safe. She’s in grade seven and she’s got a solo in the school concert that evening, which is really scary, whereas this heavy gun is just a thing, a non-living thing. How Francie got into this predicament of racing through town carrying a gun is sort of complicated. It probably begins with her best friend, Alice, because lots of things do, but it inevitably involves many adults, the most dangerous and unpredictable of whom is undoubtedly her father, Luce.

Told in alternating chapters, in the nominal present when Francie has the gun, and the recent past in the few weeks leading up to the precipitous event initiating Francie’s armed journey, we move from each character’s point of view to the next. Sadly, all of the adult women are hard pressed either by poverty, poor life choices, or the threat of violence (principally from Luce). Only Francie and her friend, Alice, have the active imaginative lives that reveal that life still holds open possibilities for them. Though perhaps the current events are about to either close off some options or introduce a new burden that will have to be carried into adulthood.

Carrie Snyder’s writing is never less than professional. She has a fine ear, especially for the young girls, and she understands how to build pace and tension. Any weakness here is, I think, the standard weakness that this narrative structure imposes. Inevitably we only get a superficial engagement with the many characters whose points of view we momentarily share. But that is balanced by our close connection to Francie, whose vulnerable state is so well rendered.

Easy to recommend.… (meer)