Ambrose by Allegra Goodman, 2024
The magic trick:
Failing parents who aren’t outright monsters; they’re just not giving their daughter what she needs
I’m never mad about a new Allegra Goodman story. This one probably isn’t one of my favorites of hers. But that’s OK.
It’s very much a story from the perspective of our middle-school protagonist Lily. She seems like a good kid? She is writing a story about a princess named Amber Rose (Ambrose) who turns into a swan every night. The problem is the adults in her life – her divorced parents and various teachers – don’t seem to have the time for Lily. She is mostly on her own as she navigates the anxieties and loneliness of childhood.
Crucially, the adults here are not monsters. They’re not abusive or even absent. They are there and mostly listening and mostly saying the right things. But it’s just not quite enough. The “right things” they say are layered with their own anxieties or grievances. None of it is quite what Lily needs.
The portrayal is all the more realistic for its placing of the adults in that all-too-common middle ground between terrible and effective.
And that’s quite a trick on Goodman’s part.
The selection:
“Just keep it on the newspaper,” Debra tells her.
Lily shoots her mom a look, because everyone remembers how Lily opened nail polish on the couch and splattered the cushions, but she has not ruined anything in years.
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