A Girl Could Stand Up

By Leslie Marshall

Book Overview

A debut novel of startling originality that follows a young girl''s passionate and eccentric quest for invincibility, courage, trust, and love.Leslie Marshall''s first novel is a startling, fresh, totally captivating new voice. With Elray Mayhew, she has created perhaps one of literature''s more unforgettable young heroines. Elray Mayhew loses her parents on her sixth birthday at an amusement park going through the Tunnel of Love. The boat the three of them are in is leaking and Barkely and Jack''s feet are on the wet floor so that when the electrical moon falls from the ceiling and into their laps, they are electrocuted. Elray survives intact except for a crescent shaped scar on her right underarm. In following years she can touch the scar and communicate with them, receiving instructions, or offbeat and amusing comments, in their distinctive voices.Elray, orphaned, is now in the custody of two uncles, brothers each of Barkley and Jack. Harwood is a macho, heavily-drinking photographer who travels about the world on assignments. Aunt Ajax, as he prefers to be called, is a cross-dressing gay man who gives up his fringe existence in New York to come to Washington, move into Barkley and Jack''s old house in the Cleveland Park, and throw himself full throttle into motherhood, albeit, at times, a misguided version of it.Elray doesn''t speak for days and spends most of her time hiding in a crawlspace under the house. During a gathering after her parent''s funeral she''s there, listening to everyone shuffle above her and hearing them call her name, when she lets out her second massive scream. It''s her voice returning, her Aunt Ajax, one of her new official guardians, runs to check on her. Following her is her Uncle Harwood, official guardian #2. The three of them, camped out under the house, decide to mark the day as Crawlspace Day. Crawlspace Day will be celebrated annually to mark the day that their lives became entwined, and she''ll receive, belatedly, her cake and her gifts, all under the house.By the time she''s twelve, Elray is spending all her time creating adventures and going on solo explorations. One day, creeping through the crypts of the Washington Cathedral that is near Half-Moon Street, she comes eye to eye with Raoul Person, a boy just her age as awkward, precocious, and alone as she is. Their story is the beating heart of this novel. They connect immediately, and together they form a partnership to practice "the art of invincibility"-something they''d both been trying toconquer-and christen themselves The Invincible Heels. He''s her fellow knight and from crafting amateur black and white movies, to imitating their actual deaths in makeshift coffins, to a harrowing midnight swim across the Potomac when Elray just escapes drowning, they challenge each other to confront their fears.Although they remain close, as they move into the period termed "The Vertical Bog"-Elray''s wry code for puberty-they drift apart. Her interest in filmmaking deepens, and Raoul begins running after the girly-girls. Elray withdraws, mourns Raoul, and hears less and less from her parents when she touches her scar-she''s growing up. She still feels like a failure after their harrowing crossing of the Potomac, combined with typical low self-esteem of her age group, she decides to master her largest fear-going back to Glen Echo and riding again through the Tunnel of Love. Harwood accompanies her, and afterwards, she finally feels like a young adult.And happening all at the same time, Elray''s paternal grandmother-long thought dead-resurfaces and sues for custody of her granddaughter (she claims to have faked her death in a fire at Blackie''s House of Beef to free her family from her destructive drinking and gambling ways). Elray, at this fragile stage in her life, delights in the weirdness of the situation and welcomes the elegant, grand, smoking and dancing old woman, while unwittingly betraying her family by disclosing all their secrets to her. These family skeletons are then hurtfully exposed at the custody trial-along with Elray and Raoul''s films that showcase their countless unsupervised hours. As her peculiar adolescent life flashes before her, Elray embraces the situation and invites not only her grandmother, but the pregnant Rena (who, after having a secret affair with Harwood, falls in love with Ajax) to live with them. As the new-fangled family gets adjusted to their new circumstance, Rena and Ajax announce that theyare in love and proceed to get married.In the meantime, her films having made a splash at the trial, Elray embarks on a film career with the new camera she receives on her sixteenth birthday. After a brief infatuation with a pretentious film professor, Elray winds her way back to Raoul. Just as she finds bliss and comfort in his arms and decides to finally unveil the very real Raoul to her family, she is confronted with a very dramatic scene of Rena in labor and Granny having a heart attacccccck simultaneously. In a wild ambulance ride, Granny finally passes on and Rena gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl, who seem to embody the spirits of Elray''s mom and dad.We end with Elray writing a letter to her niece and nephew as Raoul, now her husband, and Harwood, are off in China on an archeological dig. Rosie and Valentine are turning 18, and in her letter she explains that her gift to them is their family''s story-this novel.A Girl Could Stand Up is exquisitely tender and moving. It is an inspiring reinvention of the very notion of family-think of the Sopranos or the Osbournes-but is loving and exhilarating, as well. It is a celebration of people who don''t follow the rules, don''t adhere to the status quo, and are all the more compelling for it. You''ll cheer them on, want to pull them right out of the book, and invite them over for dinner.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802141390
• ISBN13: 9780802141392
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Uniquely Wonderful

I LOVED this book! It was clever, zany, and impossible to put down! It's about a six year old named Elray who is orphaned at age 6 and left to be raised by her two hilarious uncles. The book follows her hysterical journey from childhood into young adulthood, and documents all of her extraordinary adventures. The book is full of unique characters and comical situations. It is unlike anything I have ever read before. I hope that Leslie Marshall comes out with another book soon because I can't wait to read it!

Out of the ordinary

this book is about a six-year old girl who lost her parents in a tragic accident and then her two uncles one a cross dresser and the other a photographer whose a carefree bachelor were appointed as her guardians. this book describes these eccentric characters and their life in the little girls narration. how she copes with her parents death and how she adjusts to this different life style. her friendship with Raoul, their weird adventures. Marshall has written this book in an unusually remarkable manner creating a mixture of drama, mystery and amazingly fantasy all woven together. you cant help being entranced when reading this book. imagining it was like literally being under a spell. realistically you might not agree with the characters way of living and might not even like the end on a basis of principle but still you cannot help liking all the characters. Although you can tell this was her first novel because the writing style and story-telling structure of the book was a little complicated. its an intense book, not your usual bedtime story.

Uniquely warm and charming

I was so disappointed when I finished this book. I grew to love the characters and was so sad to see them "go". This book definitely is oddball and the storylines are not ordinary or obvious. But as kooky as they are, the characters are so well-drawn and interesting, that they soon become irresistable. I especially enjoyed the main character, Elway, and her imaginative - and non-judgmental - outlook on life. Leslie Marshall is a wonderful writer - she has a very poetic, yet humorous style. There are smiles and laughs and surprises throughout. Just buy it. It will be one of the most enjoyable books you'll ever read.

Great fun

Quick read, never lags. Quirky characters and a few plot twists. Shame on Publisher's Weekly for giving away so many plot details. I'm glad I read the book before reading their review. A little fanciful, but where's the harm in that?

fantastic storytelling

"...the raw challenge of a bizarre situation that had the appeal of possibly yielding a giant pot of gold." In some ways, this quote is an apt description of this novel. Reading this book is much like going on an amusement park ride -compulsive, silly, ridiculous, gripping, pleasurable, exhilarating. There are great moments of emotionally charged tension and anticipation that inevitably lead you somewhere unexpected. I loved the sense of adventure and the humor and weirdness of it. And the love story between Elray and Raoul is magical.