The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

 By: Heidi Durrow

Location: FIC DUR

Genre: Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Race

Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Change

Inspired by a true story of a mother's twisted love, "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky" paints the haunting portrait of a young orphan's quest for truth. A bizarre mystery surrounding a family tragedy forms the centrepiece of Rachel's struggle as an astonishingly beautiful mixed-race child in a mostly black community. As terrible secrets begin to emerge, Rachel learns to swallow her grief and construct her self-image in a world that wants to see her as either Black or White.

Reviews- Britany McCann

'm not sure how this book found its way into my life, but I am glad it did. I didn't know anything about it before starting and didn't realize it had won any award until about a third of the way through when I was talking about it.

Rachel, a young, lost, hurting mixed-race girl (Danish/African American), is thrust into the world of a predominantly African-American community in 1980s Portland. The reader is experiencing this intro into a culture she was mainly removed from. To be honest, the initial interpretations through Rachel's eyes are a bit disconcerting and off-putting. Luckily, I decided to keep going.

As the story unfolds, snippets of the past are shown through multiple narrative points to help the reader guess some unspecified tragedy that led Rachel to live with her grandmother. As Rachel grows and struggles with the mystery, and more of it comes to life, we see Rachel's attempt to grasp for control in her adolescent life destructively.

These characters are flawed, and Rachel's mother's voice of the past is the most heard and has a major impact on Rachel as she makes her foray into motherhood. Much could be speculated and deduced from the possible comparison between these two. As the story unfolds, we see that the majority of these characters come from one broken home or another. Generational behavior patterns and struggles with coping mechanisms come to light along the way.

Issues for me as a reader: the overall prevalence that Rachel was somehow more "elite" than "normal/regular" black people, as well as the repeated words and actions that showed that she was "more beautiful" for being mixed instead of "full black." Her father didn't have more of a voice in the narration when he was such a large part of the story. The lack of accountability or consequence to a character played the hell out of Rachel. (I will admit that this is likely the true case, but it was irksome all the same).

The unveil was heartbreaking, and I could feel it in my heart. Heidi W. Durrow did well with this; I still felt that connection even if there were gaps in much of the story. There is much to talk about in this book, especially for me as a single white mother of a mixed son and the struggle to help him be his most authentic self. I understand the confusion and the protective desire (though to a healthier extent) and the distress of constantly having my parentage questioned due to the difference in skin tones.

Among the seriousness, a funny quote stood out:
"One time, I found my mom's birth control and a fake penis."

This is worth the read, and I can see why it was chosen for the Bellweather Prize.