*sigh*

I picked up the book Towelhead: A novel because I was intrigued by the New York Times' review of the movie directed by Alan Ball (of Six Feet Under and American Beauty). I also picked it up, because I'm always interested in how authors' portray the burgeoning sexuality of preteen and teen girls especially now that teenagers seem more sexualized than ever. Towelhead did a good job of exploring 13-year-old Jasria's sexuality. The proof is by how uncomfortable I felt reading this book.

In order to truly understand Jasira's reasoning, one has to remember what it was like to be a teenager. As an adult, I can see the faulty decisions of my adolescence with 20/20 hindsight. Back then, the decisions seemed okay. Towelhead was so uncomfortable because so much of the confused sexual feelings and experimentation was familiar to me.

I couldn't stop reading this book, and completed it in just one day. I wanted to rush to the end to see if this girl would ever get her head on straight. (To say yea or nay would spoil the ending.) Although I could relate to Jasira's sexual naïveté, I did become disgusted by it. Even at 13-years-old, I knew the difference between a "good" touch and a "bad touch" even though I was taught, like Jasira, to be ashamed of even the good touches. But that was probably supposed to be a reflection on Jasira's parents’ lack of parenting.

*SIGH* With all that said, I can't say whether or not I liked the book. It was just too disturbing. Once I get over the shock of it, I'll come back and rate it.
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I thought this book was written really well and I actually really enjoyed it, but it was hard to read at times. There was a lot of sad content that had me cringing. I kept forgetting it wasn't a memoir and I felt so bad for the author, but remembered it wasn't...thankfully for her! SPOILERS (kind of) I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is sensitive to animals getting hurt (not abuse though) or sexual assault of a child or sexuality of a child. ( )

This story broke my heart. A young girl whose parents recently went through an ugly divorce, moves to Texas to live with her Lebanese-American dad. It is a story that is raw, intense, and extremely emotional. It makes you think deeply about children, especially tween and young teen girls, and their need for appropriate affection and understanding.

Warning: contains graphic scenes. ( )

I found this book very difficult to read. ( )

Towelhead is a stunning first novel from Alicia Erian. Told from the point of view of 13 year oldJasira, we see first hand her struggle to come to grips with a life that has become anything but normal. Read The Rest Of This Review: [http://books.bgwe.org/?p=7] ( )