This novel grabs the reader’s attention literally from the first page, where the main character, 8-year-old Chrissy, murders a 2-year-old child. As the reader recovers from the reading, the narrative branches out into two lines: the continuation of Chrissy’s story after the crime described above and the description of the life of the now-grown-up Chrissy.
Little Chrissy comes from a very dysfunctional family. She is brought up, if you can call it that, only by her mother, who really doesn’t care so much about the child that she doesn’t even feed her daughter. Chrissy is left to herself, all day long disappearing into the street or visiting peers, trying either to entertain herself or to find something to eat. Therefore, Chrissy’s subconscious envy of the children who are loved, to whom her parents give the best of everything, something Chrissy is deprived of. And little Steven, in fact, is despicable to her because of the way her parents shake on him. By killing him, Chrissy feels almost like a god, especially since no one suspects her guilt.
Years later, spent in a reformatory, Chrissy, now hiding from journalists under the name Julia, has become a mother herself. She’s raising a daughter, Molly. Julia/Crissy tries her best to be a better mother to her, but she fears that she just can’t do it.
The novel evokes dual feelings. On the one hand, it is a portrait of an unwanted, abandoned child, who no one raised, no one loved. And it is not surprising that nothing good came out of little Chrissy, not surprising her envy and dislike of other children, not surprising her antisociality and cruelty.
In a way, it’s a pity for the girl, because she didn’t become like that on her own volition. But since she has never known love or involvement, how else could she have developed such feelings for others?
On the other hand, the author portrays the grown-up Chrissy as a completely changed, well-adjusted person. She loves her daughter, she realizes the gravity of her crimes, she is practically a different person. Which begs the question, is it realistic? It’s hard to say, and that’s why it was hard for me to make up my mind about the heroine.
Chrissy, as a neglected and therefore embittered child, was pitiful, but her cold-blooded murder of a child undid everything. At the time Chrissy was thrilled with what she had done, which eventually made her reconsider her behavior, given that she had simply been locked up and not really raised in the reformatory. Can a child who didn’t know love, affection, and care as a child become an adult have those feelings for someone? I do not know, the case here, of course, individually, but too rosy picture turned out in the final of the book. Still, it was very interesting to read, and food for thought the book gave not a little, so that it is definitely worth reading.
