Julie Demers

Told in the first person, [Little Beast] is the story of a girl who at the age of eleven sports a full beard. Set in 1945 in rural village in Quebec, the story feels like a folk tale of some kind as the things mentioned that might link to the 1940s are rare. While her mother tried to hide and protect her, the father abandoned the family. Threatened, the girl is now on the run, traveling through the wilderness, narrating both her backstory and that of her travels.

The writing in the book at times is compelling, there is some creative formatting of text, and I found the descriptions of the wilderness especially vivid. However, while I found the girl’s story interesting, I could not help but think something about the story wasn't working well for me, perhaps I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that the girl’s story was an anachronism of sorts, or perhaps that feeling in the reader is meant to mirror the girl’s feeling of not belonging….… (más)