Shout Her Lovely Name by Natalie Serber

Author:Natalie Serber
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Adult
ISBN: 9780547634524
Publisher: Harcourt
Published: 2012-06-26T04:00:00+00:00

Spring came so early that by April the volunteer flowers—daffodils, cornflowers, dandelions—out by Nora’s sofa were already withered. For months she’d been sneaking the girls’ updated journals outside, and as a result, she was panicked and enthralled by all that could happen in a teenage life. You just never knew.

Unlike her mother, Nora read all the pages—heady and alarming stories of dates gone bad, overcrowded apartments, broken wrists, calls to God, formal dances, withdrawal method, probation, and VD—whether there was a star or not. After her fuck entry, Celia starred all her pages. Her brothers had beaten a boy she spoke to at church. Elena had cut off the end of her braid during science period. Celia found her locker filled with kitty litter. She didn’t trust any of the girls at school. She wanted heels. Her father would not allow her to wear store-bought clothes. She had to wear the shapeless dresses her grandmother sewed for her. Her mother had no say because her mother was dead. Boys and wine were the only things that made Celia happy, so she started sneaking out her bedroom window. Happiness was worth risks, she wrote in one entry.

Nora thought about that for a long time. The statement seemed essential and romantic.

When Celia was caught with a boy, her father, a welder, blackened her eye, then installed bars on her window to keep her in and to keep thieves out. She was miserable, and her brother supplied her with reds. She mentioned suicide. It was so huge, Celia’s isolation, that Ruby had created a contract in the journal. Next time I want to swallow reds, I will call Miss Hargrove. In return, Ruby promised discretion. They both signed it, Celia in her flowery cursive, Celia Delgado.

Elena had written exactly four entries, all marked with stars. She wrote about a boy, Hugo, who was twenty and deluged her with warm kisses. Hugo tattooed her name on his arm twice . . . once was not enough for him, Elena wrote. Next she wrote about sitting by herself in the last row at Our Lady of Solitude, staring at the back of Hugo’s mother’s head, afraid to look inside the casket. Then she wrote to say her family was sending her away indefinitely to visit an aunt in Juárez. Ruby responded to that entry. I am so sorry. If there is anything I can do to help, anything at all, let me know. You have choices. She’d signed her note Ms. Hargrove and then she’d crossed that out and written Ruby, along with their address. The fourth entry said only goodbye and thank you.

The journal idea was working. Nora felt glad her mother wanted to aid and comfort the girls. It made her mother seem stronger somehow, as if there was enough of her to go around. Sometimes, late at night, her mother sat alone in their living room, on the brink of something Nora did not understand. The first time Nora felt her mother awake in the apartment, she tiptoed to the threshold of the living room but found the sofa empty.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.