Natalie Barletta – Opinions Editor
The term ‘white trash’ seems to be thrown around quite rapidly these days as an insult. What do you think of the term ‘white trash?’ While consulting the dictionary, it’s just a fancy term for poor white people that live in the south. The novel ‘Fancy White Trash’ by Marjetta Geerling explores this idea of what is ‘white trash’ by looking at a family.
‘Fancy White Trash’ is told in the point of view of Abby Savage. Abby is a 16 year old girl who lives with her mother and sisters. Her parents are divorced, however, her mother and her father still harbor affection for each other.
Abby’s mother and sisters have the reputation of being extremely ‘easy’ with their sexual partners. Her sister Shelby was pregnant at a young age, and her other sister Kait was 18 and pregnant. Abby’s mother is also pregnant. It is believed that Kait’s baby and Abby’s mom’s baby is both by the same father. Not much is mentioned about Shelby’s baby’s father other than they are divorced.
All three women are in love with the same guy, someone who Abby calls ‘The Guitar Player.’ The conflict between the women became so intense that they engaged in an insane screaming match fighting over him and who he loves more. Abby is destined to not become like her sisters, and be the first Savage girl to go to college and get out of their small town.
Abby had also created a list of ten ‘rules’ for her to follow during a relationship to help her avoid her sisters’ fates. Basically the rules are to not be too clingy, and other relationship patterns of her sister and mother. The rules begin to be compromised when Jackson, Abby’s best friend’s brother, begins to come into play.
Abby and Jackson have had a relationship go on, and they both clearly share feelings for each other. However, Jackson had also slept with Abby’s sister Kait, who Abby believes that he is the father of her baby. Therefore, Abby won’t think twice about getting involved with him, because she didn’t want to get involved with the father of her niece.
Honestly, I really did not care for this book whatsoever. There were times throughout the book that I contemplated stopping reading because it didn’t hold my interest whatsoever because it felt like it was dragging on and on.
It took a while for the story to actually get interesting, in my opinion. You had so many storylines, and it was really confusing for me to follow. First, you have Abby and what she is thinking. And then you are being thrown into the world of the mother and sisters who clearly are not making the greatest decisions. Clearly, there was a lot going on. However, I didn’t care for all of it, because as a reader, I would get extremely confused by the way that the story read.
I also found some of the characters to be obnoxious. I really didn’t like how Abby’s mother acted throughout the story. There was a scene where the Guitar Player was trying to get with Abby when mistaking her for her daughter Shelby. When Abby goes to tell her mother, she takes his side over hers. I also found the mother to be obnoxious because she essentially is pregnant with a guy that your daughters are interested in. I also found all of Abby’s sisters, Kait and Shelby, to be annoying because it seemed that all they were concerned about was getting a man and satisfying him, and not much else.
Needless to say, I do not recommend this book. It would be safe to say that if you’re in the market for really good young adult literature, than you should not look at this book. Although the title and the summary that the book has looks interesting, the book itself was lacking interest for me.
*I give this book 2 out of 5 owls.
Photo Credit: Natalie Barletta
