16 May, 2001: Figgs & Phantoms
This book is another Ellen Raskin oddity; it features some of the hallmarks of her y.a. books -- a bizarre cast of characters; a young, female protagonist and her older, male partner in crime -- but where Raskin's other novels that I've read have been focused on external mysteries, this one is entirely internal. Mona Newton is the teenaged scion of a vaudeville family, the Figgs. Her uncle, the aged near-midget Florence "Baby Flo" Figg, is dying. What follows is an exploration of grief, the love of books, and the Figg family's private religion -- for, after death, Figgs go not to Heaven but to Capri. As their guide to Caprification states, "It was night. I was lost. Then I saw the tree that grows wild and free welcoming me with open arms." Although this is possibly Raskin's oddest book and the idea that life is for living is always welcome, the meditations on reading do come close to being overly didactic. Of course we love books, Ellen! Why do you think we read yours?