This book is No. 123 in the New Canadian Library. It was written in 1972 but it is set during World War II. The book’s title refers to the main character, Pandora Gothic (which I think is a great name), who was born in 1937 to Adelaide and Lyle Gothic, their fourth child.
Pandora has two older sisters, Adel and Ada (always referred to as Adel/Ada), who are twins and there was a boy born before Pandora who died. Pandora was a disappointment to her sisters who wanted another brother to replace the boy who died. She was probably also a disappointment to her parents who mainly ignored her and when they didn’t ignore her they were scolding or disciplining her. But Pandora is an exceptionally bright girl and she manages to make her way in the world despite the hurdles thrown in her way. Most of the book deals with Pandora’s life from the time she starts kindergarten until she is through Grade Two. The casual cruelty young children inflict on each other is so well described that I winced to recognize scenes that were familiar from my childhood. However, there are also scenes of unadulterated humour that had me snickering. I think I would have wanted to be friends with Pandora when I was young.
The historical setting and the neighbourhood Pandora lives in (with all the streets named after the places in Monopoly) are also well described. She matures throughout the book and there are signs by the end that her parents and maybe even her sisters recognize that Pandora is a force to be reckoned with. There is no doubt that the choice of Pandora’s name is deliberate. At the end of the story of Pandora’s box only one thing remained and that was hope. So at the end of this book we have hope for Pandora’s future. ( )

Remember this one well from the long ago. Always felt there was more to this story than I was able to put my finger on. Something horrible that bothered me a lot. I also remember that the ending was explicit in saying that there was "a different kind of life" for a girl like Pandora, and how I hoped that would be true for me too.

Well no wonder. My spider senses were right on. Pandora's life really did have monsters under the bed. Went looking for cover images and find that the author's career has covered a lot of child abuse and incest books, plus some recovered-memory annotation for "Pandora," her first novel.

Go early reading me for having been able to react to the subtext. Even the author was a little surprised, I guess.

Worth reading again, if only there were more hours and less chores in my day.

A sort of a coming of age novel. The lesbian sex scene was a bit of a surprize in a well remembered memoir sort of tale. Quite readable. ( )