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Finished Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek for the New Author Challenge. 

I forget how I first heard about this book, but it was an impulse buy.  As it turns out, it was a great impulse; this is the best book I've read in a long time.

It's about Ellie, a young girl.  It's mostly told in flashback, about how her family splintered apart.  (Ellie lived with her father--who's in love with someone else, a girl not much older than Ellie--and her mom, who's mentally ill.)  After her father leaves (a fact that you learn on the first page, so it's not a spoiler), it's her job to keep her mom as sane as possible. 

This is a depressing book and it's hard because you can't swoop in and save Ellie from her life.  That said, it's so amazingly good and I'd recommend this to everyone.  Also, this is Jayne Pupek's first novel and I can't wait to see what else she writes.  This doesn't read like a first novel at all.

Next up is Blue Like Jazz, which my awesome friend Bekki sent me. :) 

Tomato Girl

Jayne Pupek