 cover of 1987 hardcover version of Ellen Foster | |
| Author | Kaye Gibbons |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel Drama |
| Publisher | Vintage Press |
Publication date | 1987 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 1-56512-205-4 |
| OCLC | 14167235 |
Ellen Foster is a 1987 novel by American novelist Kaye Gibbons. It was a selection of Oprah's Book Club in October 1997.
Gibbons wrote Ellen Foster at age 26 while studying American literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[1] Reportedly, at age 25 she approached professor Louis Rubin, who had just started the publishing company Algonquin Books, and presented him with the first 30 pages of the novel. After fellow student Lee Smith introduced Gibbons to her agent, Liz Darhansoff, Darhansoff agreed to represent her, and Algonquin would publish the book.[2]
Gibbons has said she wrote Ellen Foster quickly, in about six weeks.[3] Though the book is fictional, and Gibbons initially denied that it was autobiographical, she has since been more open in the press about its autobiographical elements.[4] In 2015, she said of the story: "My emotional goal with [Ellen Foster] was to heal my mother's suicide."[5]
Ellen Foster received the Sue Kaufman Award for First Fiction from the Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Louis Rubin Writing Award from the University of North Carolina.[1]
The novel follows the story of Ellen, the first person narrator, a young white American girl living under unfavorable conditions somewhere in the rural South.
The novel is not written in standard English. It is often grammatically incorrect (a egg sandwich, growed, etc.) and generally tries to render the language of a 9- through 11-year-old girl who, in spite of being clever and ambitious, is relatively uneducated.
The novel is most likely set in the late 1970s, due to the fact that Ellen states the following on page 48 when talking about her teacher-"She lived in the sixties. She used to be a flower child but now she is low key so she can hold a job."
Two time levels are intertwined throughout the book: one presenting Ellen's life from her present point of view, living with her "new mama"; and the other one telling Ellen's story from her mother's death and leading up to the present. The two time levels are united at the end of the novel, when Ellen is about twelve years old.
Ellen is an only child who does not have a real home, even at the time when both her parents are still alive. Her father is "trash" and has a drinking problem, and the whole atmosphere is one of domestic violence. Her mother has a heart condition caused by "Romantic" Rheumatic fever and, when the novel opens, has to stay in the hospital. From an early age on, Ellen's thoughts center on how she could get rid of her father—she imagines killing him one way or another. When her mother is released from hospital Ellen's father treats her as badly as before, and it is up to Ellen to protect her mother from him. Soon, however, she takes an overdose of pills and dies while Ellen is lying next to her.
After her mother's premature death, Ellen, who is only eleven years of age, takes charge of the meager household finances. She starts accumulating money, as she realizes she will need money to have a better start later in life. In spite of her unhappy childhood Ellen is a smart girl; she borrows books from the library and is rather creative when it comes to spending her spare time. Her best friend, Starletta, is a young black girl who has poor, but kind parents. She is attracted to them although she has been brought up detesting "niggers" and although she herself cannot overcome all the racial prejudice that has been inculcated in her mind all her life. Ellen says she would never sleep in a "colored house". Also, she refuses to eat or drink anything when she is at Starletta's, remembering the myth that if a person uses the same glass or cup as "coloreds", the germs they have left on it will spread onto their lips and they will turn as dark as they are.
On the other hand, her father himself has his "colored buddies" with whom he drinks. Ellen's odyssey (almost in a picaresque vein) starts the night Ellen's father mistakes her for her mother.
The New York Times praised Gibbons' debut, particularly its "lively humor" and Ellen's strength as a heroine.[6] Kirkus Reviews also praised the book: "A child's-eye tale of evil giving way to goodness -- and happily far more spunky than sweet."[7]
Gibbons wrote a sequel to Ellen Foster, The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster, in 2006. It picks up Ellen's life story from where Ellen Foster left off. She now lives in the Sand Hills Piedmont region of North Carolina; Ava Gardner's birthplace (near Smithfield, North Carolina) is down the road from her house. The story follows Ellen's teenage years living with her foster mother and applying to Harvard University at age 15.[4]
On December 14, 1997, a made-for-television film based on the book was aired on CBS as a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, and is now on DVD. The movie was directed by John Erman, screenplay by Maria Nation and William Hanley. The movie is rated PG-13 for some abusive treatment of a child, and is 120 minutes including commercials. Production took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Cast: