The Friends Author:Rosa Guy Phyllisia Cathy--She is fourteen. Her problems seem overwhelming: New York, after life on her sunlit West Indies island, is cold, cruel and filthy. She is insulted daily and is beaten up by classmates. What Phillisia needs, God not being interested, is a friend. — Edith Jackson--She is fifteen. Her clothes are unpressed, her stockings bagging wit... more »h big holes. Her knowledge of school is zero. She has no parents, she swears and she steals. But she is kind and offers her friendship and protection to Phillisia.
"And so begins the struggle that is the heart of this very important book: the fight to gain perception of one's own real character; the grim struggle for self-knowledge." --Alice Walker, The New York Times« less
ISBN-13: 9780440226673 ISBN-10: 0440226678 Pages:192 Reading Level: Young Adult Rating:
This is one of the very few books that I was just not able to finish reading.
The dialect used for the main characters was hard for me to understand and the plot seemed to jump around so much that I never knew what was happening at any given time.
For fourteen-year-old Phyllisia Cathy, the problems that she has as well as her lifestyle have become increasingly overwhelming. Having recently arrived from an island in the sunlit West Indies - along with her mother, father and sixteen-year-old sister, Ruby - Phyllisia finds it a very difficult adjustment to live in New York. After growing up in such an idyllic paradise, she finds New York cold, cruel and filthy; nothing at all like her previous home. She is insulted daily and is constantly beaten up by her classmates. What Phyllisia desperately needs, as it seems divine intervention is currently unavailable, is a friend.
When she first started out searching for a friend, Phyllisia would never have put fifteen-year-old Edith Jackson's name anywhere near her list of potential candidates. Edith's clothes are unpressed, her stockings worn and baggy with big holes. She is nothing but a ragamuffin in Phyllisia's mind. Edith's knowledge of school studies is essentially zero; she barely goes to class. She has no parents, she swears and she steals. But she is the only one kind enough to offer her friendship and protection to Phyllisia when she needs it most.
I must say that I found this to be a very intriguing book. In my opinion, it was a deeply thought-provoking and engaging story with a moral; told from a very different perspective. This is a story that I wasn't expecting to be as poignant as it was and I give this book an A+!
