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Is Britney Spears the voice of a new generation...of authors? Now in bookstores, her deftly typed A Mother's Gift, cowritten by her mother, Lynne, may be the first Great American Novel of the 21st century. Like the poetry of Suzanne Somers, Gift is sure to become a staple of high school English classes for years to come, so we've developed a study guide. (Remember, this aid is intended to be used as a supplement, not as a substitute.) -- Karen Valby
A BRIEF SYNOPSIS
Living in tiny Biscay, Miss., the novel's PROTAGONIST, Holly Faye Lovell, is a flaxen-haired 14-year-old with an angelic voice, a working-class boyfriend, and a doting mother, Wanda. If only Mom didn't have that gross birthmark on her face! When Holly is accepted to a prestigious school for the arts, she must come to terms with her backwater roots and blemished mother. Wanda confronts her own demons and reveals her secret. She saved the infant Holly from a raging fire and claimed the orphaned baby as her own. Her face was scarred by the flames. Holly realizes the breadth of Wanda's selfless love and returns the gift (note the novel's evocative TITLE) with a rousing rendition of ''Wind Beneath My Wings.''
SYMBOLISM
Like Hester Prynne's A in The Scarlet Letter, Wanda's scar represents the stamp of Holly's condemnation.
SIMILES
-- ''It rained like cats and dogs that afternoon.'' -- ''Holly could feel the muscles in her face slide like raindrops on a window.''
HYPERBOLE
''[Hottie] Billy Franklin is here. I. Am. Going. To Die. Now.''
ALLUSION
''As Holly stepped out of the car [at the arts school], she felt like Rose when she first saw the Titanic.''
REVIEW QUESTIONS & ESSAY TOPICS
1) The Spearses portray turn-of-the-millennium Mississippi as a gossipy cesspool without a Wal-Mart. Compare this depiction of Southern life with those of William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, and Carson McCullers.
2) Contrast Holly Faye's COMING-OF-AGE story with Scout's journey in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.
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