Worthwhile, but Not For Everyone

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County
by Tiffany Baker
Hardcover: 341 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 8, 2009)
Rated 4 stars of 5 possible

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County explores the prejudices and discriminatory practices used against a girl born with a hormonal disorder that causes her to become enormous. How she deals with the townspeople makes an intriguing story, but some parts push the suspension of disbelief a little too far.

For instance, in one chapter, the main character talks about things that happen before she was born. She could not possibly know these things from personal experience, yet she speaks as if she were watching on the sidelines or directly involved. She does not say "I was told..." or any similar phrase to qualify her narration of these events. Fortunately, the chapters in this book are not extremely long and the author does not obviously continue this disturbing practice in later chapters.

In all, the novel is a nicely paced, smoothly narrated page turner that I found well worth reading. Most parts of the story are so realistically told that I had to keep reminding myself "this is fiction."  The author does a credible job of making the reader a part of the world of this story, which has an appropriately satisfying ending.  Recommended to readers age 14 and up who are looking for something very different to read and who can tolerate the bit of pushing on the suspension of disbelief envelope which happens early in the story.