Book Review: Mailbox

Title: Mailbox
Author: Nancy Freund
Release Date: May 10, 2015
Rating:


Brief overview: Mailbox takes place in the late 1970's and reflects the thoughts of an adolescent girl, Sandy, as she navigates growing up in a changing world. Sandy narrates the book in the form of short stories from her daily life.

Themes: Growing up, faith, morality, family

Main character: I loved this character! The author writes Sandy so well. She is smart, an avid reader and a bit of a know it all. She loves words and explaining them and at one point she even explains how to run a business. She is brought up in family that is not particularly religious but has a strong sense of love and values and allows her to choose her own beliefs. Sandy explores growing up on her own terms, from sending away for pamphlets about tampons to coping with loss. She is searching for a sense of meaning. Like any girl her age she wants answers to life's questions, and she sets out to find them through her own experiences (with a little help from Judy Blume).

Impressions: This book is written in the format of brief stories that capture moments in time. Although a coherent story develops, the focus is less on plot and more on character and themes. Sandy learns about the bad things in life (like perverts on elevators), suffers losses, and deals with her changing body and the changing world around her. This book catches a fleeting moment between the  innocence of childhood and the grown up world. It is so brilliantly voiced and authentic. As a reader I felt taken back to both my own adolescence and also to a period in history that felt vivid to me, although I wasn't born until over a decade later.  I believe that this is a book that everyone can relate to in some way. Author Nancy Freund has the ability to make the voice of one character sound like the voice of an entire generation.

If you like Mailbox, you might like:
Generation X by Douglas Coupland

P.S. Looking for more from Nancy Freund? Find her website here. And remember to  for more reviews and other book related posts.