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  • This book was a struggle to get through. I can't believe I kept reading it. I really enjoyed the main character's voice. I just wanted the best for her. Sometimes I rooted for her and her mother and other times I wanted her to runaway and start fresh without her!Quotes and Questionsp. 2-- "The cat w ... Continue

    This book was a struggle to get through. I can't believe I kept reading it. I really enjoyed the main character's voice. I just wanted the best for her. Sometimes I rooted for her and her mother and other times I wanted her to runaway and start fresh without her!Quotes and Questionsp. 2-- "The cat was supposed to be a present to butter us up about moving--that was one of those things I figured out later, likea missing puzzle piece you find in a dusty corner behind the door a long time after you've given up without finishing and put the puzzle away."--How often does this happen to you (realizing the true motive behind an action/gift)?p. 98--"...I had this feeling: I didn't want to leave anything, not a box or a book or a sock or even a hair clip, along the way on this trip. It's not that I cared so much about that stuff. But there were just certain times it seemed important to keep everything together, your life all gathered up around you like a blanket, and not start losing little pieces of yourself along the road."--I thought this was an interesting thought coming from a twelve-year-old. What experiences does a young girl have to have to think this way? Would any 6th grader think this way? Explain.p. 107--"In California, there had been Grandma, and I knew how to get me and Rona to her house on the bus. There was Empey's market, and I could walk there, and usually I could find thirty-three cents somewhere in the house for a box of macaroni and cheese. In Utah, there had been Aunt Bridge and Mark, so it hadn't felt like if things went really wrong, we might just disappear completely and never be heard from again. But if something bad happened to us in Iowa, I didn't know if I'd be able to figure out what to do."--Why should a twelve-year-old have to be worrying about these things?--Marie, Colleen's friend does not like Rona very much. Why does Colleen deny this when Justine approaches her, but acts as if she realizes something is not right (as she does on p. 119, Collen purchases a pack of cigarettes to deal with the stress, even though she hasn't smoked in quite awhile).--Why is Marie so cruel to Justine and Rona? Why does Colleen deny it or not see it?--What is wrong with Colleen? Are we as the reader ever going to get clued in to what is wrong with her? I think that is one of the most frustrating thing and the reason I keep reading to find out what is wrong with her.--How does the story of Zebulina parallel the story of Justine?

    

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• ― SheReads said on Mar 5, 2007 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

In an affecting novel reminiscent of Mona Simpson’s Anywhere But Here, gifted author Stephanie Rosenfeld introduces us to one of the most memorable characters in recent fiction. Wise beyond her years and yet touchingly naïve, twelve-year-old Justine Hanley searches for what’s true and simple—as her madcap mother leads her and younger sister Rona across the country in search of grand adventure and the next great boyfriend.

Colleen Hanley is a creative, tender, and completely lost soul. Possessing an astonishing ability to busily do just about nothing all day, she can’t manage to find a job—or the motivation to hold on to one. With her ex-husband preaching to her about his newfound religion, and a recent string of horrible dates weighing her down, Colleen has decided she’s had enough of California.

Justine knows it’s coming—the signs are obvious. So when Colleen wakes her and Rona up early one Saturday morning, she’s hardly surprised she must go to the library and endure the familiar moving ritual. Colleen pages through maps and tourist books and phone books, looking for their next home. This time, the destination is Massachusetts. They’ll stay with Colleen’s old friend Marie, her husband, Bill, and their kids. Colleen promises it will be the beginning of the rest of their lives. But Justine knows that the truth never just comes waltzing out of someone’s mouth through a smile-shaped opening.

Once mother and daughters hit the road, another story begins to unfold in the guise of the pioneer diary of Zebulina Walker, whose westward journey offers an intriguing counterpoint to Justine’s sudden eastbound voyage. Away from California, as Justine desperately tries to navigate the changing terrain of home, family, and adolescence, Colleen slips further into despondency. Forced to take over all responsibilities, Justine realizes it’s up to her to make sure their little family survives this “grand adventure.” Now if she only knew how to do that. . . .

Smart and poignant, charming and witty, Massachusetts, California, Timbuktu is a wonderful debut novel, a mother-daughter story that proves it’s always those who give you the most trouble that end up getting access to the purest part of your heart.

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