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Monday, November 10, 2014

First Friday Five Favorite Things - Crazy

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by Linda Phillips


This past Friday, November 7, Marcy and I posted our answers to Linda’s debut novel in verse, Crazy. Today, you get to read Linda’s favorite's. 

Great picks, Linda! We learned even more about your characters through your answers.

We hope our readers enjoy the story as much as we did.


1) What is your favorite line or paragraph from the novel as it relates to the main character's development and/or growth?

As for the main character’s growth and development, it would have to be the very end of the book, in the last piece called “Figurines and Forgiveness.”  Laura has just asked forgiveness in her own way: 

“I’m not sure if she gets it at all,
what I am trying to say,
but the important thing is
I get it
and I did what
I needed to do,
and it feels as good
as anything I have ever done.”


2) What is your favorite chapter ending or cliffhanger?

Probably the most emotional and high-tension poem of the book is “The Sound of Breaking China.” It’s a cliffhanger in the sense that the reader doesn’t know how Laura will react, but can expect that it will be bigger than the reaction she had to the first breakdown.

“The ambulance and the police get there as we pull up.
Someone makes me stay in the car,
makes me drink something, holds my hand,
tells me it’s going to be all right,
tries to turn my head when

they take her away.”


3) Who is your favorite secondary character and why?

Of course that would have to be Beth, Laura’s cocky, irreverent best friend, who knew her well even though Laura never shared any part of her mother’s illness.  Beth was Laura’s voice of reason, always with a dry sense of humor. 


4) What is your favorite line or paragraph of description?

I love the description of Laura’s parents and a brief glimpse of their relationship in “Puzzling Music.”

“I stop playing after I hear them leave, and I
watch the old Studebaker chug down the hill
in the bright moonlight
with the frozen snow glistening all around
like precious jewels.
I catch the silhouette of the two of them
in the front seat.

It occurs to me
that the love they share
is both mysterious and haunting

like the song of the reed flute.”


5) What is your favorite line of dialogue?

And speaking of Beth, this is my favorite dialogue sequence in the poem called, “The Call.”

“He called.  HE CALLED!”

“What? Stop shrieking.  I can’t understand you.
Speak clearly into the microphone, madam.
Did you say some is bald?  Who is this, anyway?

“Beth, stop playing with me, you dimwit.  You know
who this is and what I said.”

“So darling Dennis finally called.  So?”
Beth is unable to hide her biased opinion.


Congratulations to Linda and her debut novel Crazy. Kudos to Linda for this book being selected as a Junior Library Guild selection. Way to go!
To read more about Linda Phillips debut YA novel Crazy please go to:

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