Review of Make Lemonade

Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book primarily because it is one of the books that my summer school students decided to read. I enjoyed it more than I initially though I would.

The voice of the narrator, Lavaughn, is strong and reads like someone who doesn't necessarily have a great education, but sometimes Wolff seems to go too far. At times Lavaughn seems a little slow mentally and naive considering the environment she has been raised in. While I certainly understand that her mother has attempted to shield her to the hardships of poverty that surround the family, Lavaughn seems to miss facts about Jolly's life that are clear to the reader, but not clear to the narrator, including the filth and abuse that encapsulates Jolly's life. The writing of a narrator that can reveal facts to the audience without herself understanding them is difficult and the skill required to do so is laudable; however, I believe that Lavaughn should understand many of these ideas. I have found with my encounters of teens in poverty that, for the most part, they are far from naive and understand the world far better than I did during my high school years.

Feeling invested in the characters is what drove me through the book. It was an easy read despite the difficult subject matter. I can understand how Wolff has received the praise she has. Certainly a great book for teens. I hope that my students enjoy it enough to seek out the next books in the series (I didn't know that it was a series until I added it on Goodreads). I thought that the conflict at the end of the book was a little forced. It almost seemed like an afterthought and came across rushed. I did, however, enjoy the resolution after said conflict. I liked the open-ended nature. It wasn't happily-ever-after, while it did leave me with a feeling of completion as if it were the end of at least this part of the story for Jolly and Lavaughn. I would recommend this read to students as well as those who enjoy youth fiction (it really wasn't quite YA to me).

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