The cute baby picture was enough to grab my attention, and the title was even more intriguing: A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana . Since I love subtle word-plays like Mary Engelbreit's "Life is just a chair of bowlies," anyone who spoke of "Growing up Small" must have a unique perspective on the world. I certainly wasn't disappointed, as this childhood memoir delivers Midwestern charm and humor by a pint-size agnostic with a knack for trouble and accidents. It had me laughing to the point of tears on several occasions. Being a country girl from the Midwest myself, I could certainly identify with elements of her story. It was the perfect light and fun read in between book club selections.So when I checked out Angela's Ashes for September's book club meeting, I couldn't pass up the sequel to Zippy: She Got Up Off the Couch
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This installment is even funnier than the first - I was again laughing so hard I cried, and that was only in the Preface! Haven "Zippy" Kimmel relates her own and her family's story with an honest charm and unique perspective that finds the humor in painful and tragic events and makes even simple incidents hilarious. She Got Up Off the Couch refers to her mother, a woman who had made a lasting imprint in the corner of the couch where she sat for years with her phone, books, and fried pig skins, seemingly a permanent fixture in Zippy's life. But Delonda did get up off the couch, learned to drive, went to Ball State, earned a Bachelor and a Master degree, and became a teacher.
Interestingly, Zippy lives in destitute surroundings, similar to Frank McCourt, but she doesn't seem to mind one bit. It doesn't bother her to wear the same pair of pants for the second half of fourth grade or the same outfit for most of fifth grade. It doesn't matter if her hand-me-down saddle shoes have seen better days - she'd rather not wear shoes anyway. The menagerie of animals that find shelter in their unheated house provide an interesting diversion, apart from the mice that give her nightmares. If her house is too dilapidated to have friends over, she still has plenty of friends who welcome her to their homes, where their mothers feed and bathe her and ensure her general survival. In contrast to the simple innocence of Zippy, however, Haven hints at a mounting undercurrent of tension between her parents as her domineering father and now educated mother develop new lives apart from each other.
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This installment is even funnier than the first - I was again laughing so hard I cried, and that was only in the Preface! Haven "Zippy" Kimmel relates her own and her family's story with an honest charm and unique perspective that finds the humor in painful and tragic events and makes even simple incidents hilarious. She Got Up Off the Couch refers to her mother, a woman who had made a lasting imprint in the corner of the couch where she sat for years with her phone, books, and fried pig skins, seemingly a permanent fixture in Zippy's life. But Delonda did get up off the couch, learned to drive, went to Ball State, earned a Bachelor and a Master degree, and became a teacher.Interestingly, Zippy lives in destitute surroundings, similar to Frank McCourt, but she doesn't seem to mind one bit. It doesn't bother her to wear the same pair of pants for the second half of fourth grade or the same outfit for most of fifth grade. It doesn't matter if her hand-me-down saddle shoes have seen better days - she'd rather not wear shoes anyway. The menagerie of animals that find shelter in their unheated house provide an interesting diversion, apart from the mice that give her nightmares. If her house is too dilapidated to have friends over, she still has plenty of friends who welcome her to their homes, where their mothers feed and bathe her and ensure her general survival. In contrast to the simple innocence of Zippy, however, Haven hints at a mounting undercurrent of tension between her parents as her domineering father and now educated mother develop new lives apart from each other.
She Got Up Off the Couch
fits excellently with the theme that Captive Thoughts Book Club is pursuing this year: "the various roles and influences of women in classic and modern literature using both fiction and non-fiction genres." I would certainly recommend it to our members (like Zippy it's a quick read that is easy to fit in between other book club titles) and to anyone else who would like a humorous and, at times poignant view of a 1970's childhood in rural Indiana.
3 comments:
You read good books...
I loved Zippy--I really need to read the follow-up!!
I love books that make me laugh. These two are definitely going on my list.
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