On the surface it is a depressing story about a girl who seems to have trouble telling the difference between the real world and make believe. She sees monsters when bad things happen, which is a nice metaphor. But it takes a serious turn when she has a shotgun in her hands.
Digging a little deeper it's a feminist perspective on home life for a young girl and her mother. And the situations that unfold when a new family moves in next door with a pretty but independent-thinking neighbor's wife.
The drama around the danger of the neighbors being communist was surprising. As well as the misogyny from the young heroine's father. It all works up towards an ominous conclusion so it's never boring. But where it goes is quite unsettling.
The children in her neighborhood school are no less brutal and political than my childhood was. But it's a very dark story for a group of pre-teens.
Digging a little deeper it's a feminist perspective on home life for a young girl and her mother. And the situations that unfold when a new family moves in next door with a pretty but independent-thinking neighbor's wife.
The drama around the danger of the neighbors being communist was surprising. As well as the misogyny from the young heroine's father. It all works up towards an ominous conclusion so it's never boring. But where it goes is quite unsettling.
The children in her neighborhood school are no less brutal and political than my childhood was. But it's a very dark story for a group of pre-teens.