This novel — the tale of a riotous 50′s girl gang in Upstate New York led by “Legs” Sadovsky – won’t exactly approximate the world of Girls, but if we know anything about Hannah, it probably reflects some corner of her secret fantasies (we know it reflects a few of ours). Not to mention the book’s portrayals of young female friendships and bonding — they may be outlaws, they may get in trouble, but these girls love each other.
as seen in the above description foxfire is about a girl gang set in the 50's and i have to admit that due to the time period i difficulty visualizing the setting for the book. my mind kept on visualizing the time period as the 70's. i think of the 50's as such a wholesome era even though it probably wasn't, certainly not in this book. i then started to visualize the setting of girl, interrupted once legs went into red bank correctional facility for girls. i then also started to see angelina jolie as lisa from girl, interrupted as legs. you have to agree with me that jolie would have been perfect as her for if there was a movie adaption of foxfire. (omg!!!! i just googled and discovered on the foxfire wikipedia page that a movie was made in 1996 and guess who played legs?!?!?!? angelina jolie!!!!!!! lol, i swear to god i had no idea that this movie existed when i read this book and made the above comment!) (also i just looked and the trailer for the jolie film set place in the 90s, but there was another film that i just saw the trailer for that was made in 2012 that looks like a better adaption of the book.)
back to the novel, so living in a gang-infested community, resulted in my disapproval of foxfire. i understand how gangs are created by individuals from broken homes in attempt to have a family. gangs are where they find the love they lack, but the violence and crime that are a result of gangs is inexcusable.
back to the novel, so living in a gang-infested community, resulted in my disapproval of foxfire. i understand how gangs are created by individuals from broken homes in attempt to have a family. gangs are where they find the love they lack, but the violence and crime that are a result of gangs is inexcusable.
i was quite frightened of foxfire toward the end. the petty crimes that foxfire started off with, painting that pervert teacher's car and protesting the animal store were invigorating to read about especially since they were girls with limited rights and voices, yet here they were standing up against injustice. oates created such great imagery for their antics. i imaged the girls in cat and dog masks ala breakfast at tiffany's protesting outside of the pet store. i also enjoyed the scene at the train tracks with the painted car. i have admit that based on these acts, teenage me would have wanted to join foxfire but everything beyond that was too extreme for me.
i, like maddy, would have bailed. the turning point for me was when they attacked maddy's uncle, yes he deserved it, but the wildness that occurred as they beat him was frightening. up until then everything seemed like a fair punishment but their beating of him went too far. i mean he did deserve it, trying to molest his niece, but i think the lost of self and mob mentality is what scared me. all the other crimes that followed pushed me into the adult category of the book, i started to view foxfire as hoodlums.
before i go on, i have to add that oates created some serious twist and turns in this book. there were times that i was reading and was like omg! i can't believe this is going on or what the f***!?!?! the story was definitely entertaining and intriguing though i wasn't 100% on foxfire's side.
though i must admit that hoodlum an extreme term for legs. she was definitely a diamond in the rough. she was a good kid born into a poor situation, as demonstrated in father's story of her birth. legs was truly unwanted, which given this background sheds light on her wanting to create the foxfire commune and care for her half-sister. this side of legs makes it difficult to paint her as a harden criminal. she was very generous as giving what money (regardless of where it came from) to others. she was compassionate, not being racist towards blacks and befriending the ex-priest. her heart was in the right place, but due to her lack of proper upbringing she went about things the wrong way.
before i go on, i have to add that oates created some serious twist and turns in this book. there were times that i was reading and was like omg! i can't believe this is going on or what the f***!?!?! the story was definitely entertaining and intriguing though i wasn't 100% on foxfire's side.
though i must admit that hoodlum an extreme term for legs. she was definitely a diamond in the rough. she was a good kid born into a poor situation, as demonstrated in father's story of her birth. legs was truly unwanted, which given this background sheds light on her wanting to create the foxfire commune and care for her half-sister. this side of legs makes it difficult to paint her as a harden criminal. she was very generous as giving what money (regardless of where it came from) to others. she was compassionate, not being racist towards blacks and befriending the ex-priest. her heart was in the right place, but due to her lack of proper upbringing she went about things the wrong way.
for example, the hooking, though in a certain light a great means of exploiting men who exploit women, however, it was extremely dangerous. the girls were lucky that majority of their hooking did not end up like maddie's. as a female, it was great to see the girls turning the tables on the men that they hooked but being a watcher of "law and order: svu", i only thought of how those hooking attempts could have gone wrong. even the idea of the foxfire homestead ,which can be seen as the girls finally creating the type of home they never had, is an example of legs' good intentions that were not execute according to plan. (which is something we will see again and on a larger scale.) as a youth, its a great dream to live with your best friends, i mean college was a blast for me, however, all i could think as i read that legs was going to turn into charles manson, which she kind of did. my hippie tendencies causes me to think communes can be lovely places, however, logic tells me that it is one step away from helter skelter.
in the end, legs turned into a crazed cult leader, overwhelmed by a desire for money and to an extend power, she ended up making a stupid (for lack of a better adjective) plan. in an attempt to get money, legs decided to kidnap and hold for ransom the rich father of her friend, a good christian girl that she met through a program at the correction facility. they kidnap him and hold him for ransom but due to his faith in god (believe it or not) he does not succumb to fear and thus the girls do not get their money. in the end, a reckless error made by a young girl (in the end they are all just children) shot him, foiling their ransom plan. due to this, legs becoming a fugitive, some believed she survived though she is claimed to be dead.
foxfire was a very entertaining read, but not necessarily my cup of tea. maybe it's because i am just too much of a goodie too shoes because unlike flavorpill, i was more appalled than secretly wishing i could be apart of foxfire. it was sad to see legs end up the way she did. i did admire her free-spirit and grab life by the balls mentality, but in the end, she turned into a monster. as a female, i was disappointed to see legs go out like that. shouldn't we, girls, be allowed to be as reckless as the boys yet still have a place for us in society? though i must admit that legs ending had to be just as mysterious as she was, i mean, i can't imagine her in some 9 to 5 functioning like a proper societal women. in my eyes, she was in that photo for cuba. i mean that ending makes the most sense. legs still inspiring hope for the girls of foxfire.
ps for those of you who are wondering, i did not see joyce carol oates when i was in nyc. i decided to try to win lotto tickets for kinky boots instead, which i did win!
in the end, legs turned into a crazed cult leader, overwhelmed by a desire for money and to an extend power, she ended up making a stupid (for lack of a better adjective) plan. in an attempt to get money, legs decided to kidnap and hold for ransom the rich father of her friend, a good christian girl that she met through a program at the correction facility. they kidnap him and hold him for ransom but due to his faith in god (believe it or not) he does not succumb to fear and thus the girls do not get their money. in the end, a reckless error made by a young girl (in the end they are all just children) shot him, foiling their ransom plan. due to this, legs becoming a fugitive, some believed she survived though she is claimed to be dead.
foxfire was a very entertaining read, but not necessarily my cup of tea. maybe it's because i am just too much of a goodie too shoes because unlike flavorpill, i was more appalled than secretly wishing i could be apart of foxfire. it was sad to see legs end up the way she did. i did admire her free-spirit and grab life by the balls mentality, but in the end, she turned into a monster. as a female, i was disappointed to see legs go out like that. shouldn't we, girls, be allowed to be as reckless as the boys yet still have a place for us in society? though i must admit that legs ending had to be just as mysterious as she was, i mean, i can't imagine her in some 9 to 5 functioning like a proper societal women. in my eyes, she was in that photo for cuba. i mean that ending makes the most sense. legs still inspiring hope for the girls of foxfire.
ps for those of you who are wondering, i did not see joyce carol oates when i was in nyc. i decided to try to win lotto tickets for kinky boots instead, which i did win!
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