Tomato Girl: A Novel

by Jayne Pupek

For eleven-year-old Ellie Sanders, her father has always been the rock that she could cling to when her mother's emotional troubles became too frightening. But when he comes under the thrall of the pretty teenager who raises vegetables and tomatoes for sale at the general store that he runs, Ellie sees her security slowly slipping away. Now she must be witness and warden to her mother's gradual slide into madness. Told from Ellie's point of view, Tomato Girl takes the reader into the soul of a terrified young girl clinging desperately to childhood while being forced into adulthood years before she is ready. To save herself, she creates a secret world, a place in which her mother gets well, her father returns to being the man he was, and the Tomato Girl is banished forever. Tomato Girl marks the debut of a gifted and promising new author who has written a timeless Southern novel.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Chick Lit, Family, Coming Of Age, Mental Health, Book Club

305 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 26, 2008

About the author

Jayne Pupek is the author of the newly released novel "Tomato Girl" (Algonquin Books, 2008) and a book of poems tiltled "Forms of Intercession" (Mayapple Press, 2008). Her writing has appeared in numerous literary journals. A Virginia native, Jayne has spent most of her professional life working in the field of mental health. Read more about Jayne on her blog "Notes on the Writing Life". http://jaynepupek.blogspot.com/

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update: Kindle $1.99 special today. I thought I would share how great this book is... just on sale today. This is the only book the author wrote because she passed away after she wrote it. It’s wonderful and worth $1. 99.
I paid more when LisaVegan recommended it to me.



THIS IS THE BEST BEST BEST BOOK!!!!
“There are times when words won’t make a bad thing better. Those are the saddest times."
READERS WILL LOVED *Ellie*. She's 11 years old. We are thankful that she learned about "chalk doors".
All children should learn about "Chalk Doors"......
I'll say no more....other than DO NOT MISS THIS NOVEL!!!!

Kudos to the author Jayne Pupek! Brilliant writing! - emotions were on fire!
HIGHLY-HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.....with my friend *Lisa* to THANK.....
.....who recommended it to me!

Huge hugs of love to my friends!!!! This book is SOOOOO WONDERFUL!!!

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

*****UPDATE Where was I when Jayne died in 2010? I just found out and feel really sad. She was such a wonderful writer, and even replied to me kindly. I hadn't realized, I was searching to see if she had written anything new. I am really sad. This has been a throw away day.




Wow, I did not expect this story to turn into what it did. I found it gruesome and tender. I longed to climb into the book and rescue Ellie, to pull her out of the derangement surrounding her mother and away from the selfishness of her father. Pupek humanized the 'other woman' (the tomato girl) so well that while wanting to hate her, I had to feel sorry for her instead. Ellie's mother's madness breaks your heart throughout and having seen madness in my life I think Jayne Pupek did a fantastic job writing about it.
I especially loved the spiritual magic sprinkled in with the character Clara as well as the racism that she slipped in. I thought this would be a sweet chick lit read but I was wrong. Tomato Girl is an engrossing read for men and women alike. It is one of the saddest books I have read in a long time, and I cannot wait to be 'unsettled' and 'deeply touched' again by this gifted writer!

[Staci · Rating 4 out of 5]

just picked this up from my local library, really looking forward to this read!

O.K. I sat outside all afternoon and read this book. I couldn't stop!! But Jayne, I'm mad!! Oh, how could you make Ellie's world so horrible!!? There are so few good people in Ellie's life. You made me totally hate Rupert! I wanted to knock his lights out....and Tess...omg...I don't want to go there. No wonder Ellie's mom was CRAZY!! I heard Ellie in my head, her voice comes out strong and clear. You can't help but love this little kid. Great book Jayne!! Bravo!

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful novel. It’s reminiscent of other Southern coming of age novels such as Bastard Out of Carolina, but it’s definitely original. The writing was excellent and there are many beautifully written passages, and the tale is so vivid that as I read I was easily wrapped up in Ellie’s life.

This is in the end a hopeful story, but it’s a very emotionally wrenching book to read. Abandonment is a central theme. Even though the protagonist is eleven, this book is very dark and I would never recommend this book to anyone under the age of twelve, and many readers might argue that this book is for adults and possibly older young adults only.

To me, Ellie sometimes seemed too mature/worldly and sometimes too immature/naïve for an eleven year old, but given her brutal life situation, having those contrasting aspects to her character makes perfect sense.

The story details show psychological astuteness, and they confirmed my belief that most children (and adults) can get through the most unbelievably horrifying circumstances if adequate support is available. The story is told first person by eleven year old Ellie, and she is terrific and worth rooting for. Most of the characters are tremendously interesting, whether they are sympathetic characters or those depicted as less likeable.

On a side note: I got an upside down library copy of this book, something I’d never seen before. In order to read it I had to look at the back cover upside down and start from there. I guess the cover was upside down during the book assembly process. I never got used to it and always opened the book to upside down text first. But I’m easily entertained and enjoyed the anomaly.

[Zinta · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I’m the girl they found standing on the table. The girl who traced the cracks in the wall with her mother’s blood.”

How we hope little Ellie will come through the dark places of her 11 years of life whole again, as whole as one might expect from the insanity she has survived. We want to believe. Throughout the entire novel, “Tomato Girl,” author Jayne Pupek’s first, we have been holding our breath with that hope. A former social worker, Pupek has, after all, described this little girl and the wrenching abuse surrounding her at every turn to such effect that we feel almost as if we share that life.

It is a deeply uncomfortable place to be. But Pupek has not meant us to be comfortable. Far from it. We have only that shred of hope that in the very first page, we are invited to read the notebook in which Ellie writes as a form of therapy. That means—Ellie has survived long enough to even get to therapy. Even as she sits in the cellar writing among the glass jars of pickled tomatoes, some of which begin quite eerily to look like the face of a pickled fetus.

One of those pickled objects had been. Baby Tom, her stillborn brother, had been in one of those jars because his mother, Ellie’s mother, couldn’t bear to part with him. And if that was not unbearable enough, consider scenes of a mother gone mad with some inner torment, taunted by a husband who is not only sleeping with a teenage girl, not so very much older than Ellie, but has even brought that girl into their home. To live. With him. Moving out of his marital bed into the sewing room. One can feel the palpable madness swirling off the written page like an evil vapor. Oh, the torments we inflict one upon the other …

Ellie observes all of this with the hopeful heart and naïve eyes of a young girl. Since the book is written in first-person narrative, we sense far more quickly than Ellie does exactly what it is that she is seeing. There’s a Lolita thing going on here. A brewing pedophilia. A middle-aged man sinking into perversion and temptation, leaving despair and madness in his wake. Ellie can only wonder why Daddy talks so long at the hardware store, where he is a long-time clerk, with the “tomato girl,” who brings her crops of reddened, plump fruit to sell. Ellie sees the way Daddy’s eyes linger overlong. That he sometimes touches the girl. That the girl touches him, and then, Ellie glimpses a quick kiss, and she struggles to understand. Tess, the tomato girl, comes from an abusive home, too. Daddy later tries to explain away his growing obsession with the primping teen girl—a cute blonde with too much make-up and earrings that dangle to her bare shoulders, snapping gum and paging through women’s magazines, oh so teen—by telling Ellie he is taking Tess in to save her from her abusive father. As if he were somehow saving one girl from an abusive father while inflicting it upon his own daughter. Oh, the power of rationalization …

Tess has occasional epileptic seizures, and while she is so incapacitated, her father has indeed taken, shall we say, advantage. Pupek develops here with expertise the mind games men play when they want their piece of female flesh. Tess’s father manages to tell himself he has the right, she’s his girl. Ellie’s father manages to paint himself a hero in his own eyes, bringing the teen into his own bed, under his own roof, insisting upon the compassion of his wife and young daughter. While his wife spirals into a demented and suicidal state—she can’t be fooled—Ellie, like most any child, dotes on her father and works and works to please him, to remain in the circle of his wandering eye, daily forgiving him, even as her understanding grows. She needs to forgive him. For her own sanity. This is her Daddy. And he does, after all, keep telling her how he loves her. How he needs her to be good. To be kind to sweet Tess. And the boundaries continue to be pushed farther and farther.

As such scenarios must, they eventually end in a splash of unspeakable suffering and an explosion of violence. There is a murder, there is a suicide, there is more than one emotional breakdown, and there is, in the center of it all, little Ellie, trying desperately to hold an unraveling world together. No one survives intact. By conclusion, the reader is exhausted with emotion, sighing with relief at one’s own saner world, but the realization remains: such things happen. Every day. In more and more homes, and perhaps even in the one next door. As our family protective services agencies are near bursting with cases of abuse, too many still going unreported, and domestic violence is on the increase, and values fall by the wayside in how we treat those in our primary relationships in pursuit of baser pleasures … the story of Ellie and Tess, the tomato girl, may grow as common as tomatoes.

Pupek, also a published poet, has made a worthy contribution with her first novel. Not only as a literary accomplishment, but also a social one.

~Zinta Aistars for The Smoking Poet, Fall 2008

[GUD Magazine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tomato Girl is a fairly standard coming-of-age story, occasionally daring in some aspects, but, on the whole, rather mediocre. It covers territory that many such stories do -- parental sex and infidelity, insanity, viewpoint-character bad behavior -- but delves into them more deeply and disturbingly than a lot of adult novels about preteen girls would dare or care to, usually without losing its sense of realism.

But it's that 'usually' that makes all the difference; Tomato Girl is a thoroughly almost-good novel. On so many levels, it reaches for and almost achieves something special, but falls just short. The experience of reading this author's first published novel was, in fact, rather like watching someone play a sport they're just good enough at to have gotten onto the team; you can see so many ways they could fail, but they succeed just often enough that you still get the feeling of having your hopes dashed when they flub it. And unfortunately, being able to see the author's process so easily kept me from really getting absorbed in what might otherwise have been quite a captivating novel.

The novel begins with a prologue from the point of view of the narrator, Ellie, as an adult, then jumps in near the end of the main story arc for the first chapter, then begins at the beginning in the second chapter. I assume this time-layering and difficult, stuttery distance is supposed to give us a feeling of what it must be like to be an early-middle-aged woman trying to face the events of a traumatic childhood, but it is not skillfully enough done, and merely serves to make the book difficult to get into. Likewise, I can see why the author chose to tell the reader nearly everything that's going to happen in the story in that first chapter (Ellie's father will fall in love with a teenage tomato-grower, get sick of dealing with Ellie's crazy mother, run away with the tomato girl under unpleasant circumstances, and leave Ellie to deal with the increasingly out-of-control mother (who keeps a baby in a jar) on her own, with emotional support only from an elderly psychic with the wrong color skin) -- it gives us a sense of the narrator and her direct matter-of-factness, and a proper feeling of impending doom -- and, done right, I could see it working very well. But in this case, it merely serves to rob the book of suspense and make any foreshadowing that happens later seem irrelevant. All in all, there are just too many amateurish mistakes for the author to get away with the out-of-the-ordinary structural and dramatic choices that ought to have made this novel special and memorable.

However, there are enough good things about it to make it worth reading if you're into emotional twistiness. The narrative is reasonably evocative, if a bit repetitive, the setting is thorough, and the characters have some depth and grab. Tess, the tomato girl, is interestingly portrayed and recognizable -- even if you don't really want to recognize her -- and the narrator's unusually-but-humanly flawed parents and friend(s) make a good supporting cast. (In fact, I found Ellie to be the weakest character, though I assume she is meant to be the strongest.) Those supporting characters, along with some memorable, emotionally-charged images, are the novel's strongest points.

[Reviewed for GUD Magazine by Julia Bernd.]

[Alice Osborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jayne Pupek's "Tomato Girl" was a book I couldn't put down. Well-paced, funny, and authentic with vulnerable and memorable characters, Pupek throws the proverbial rocks at her protagonist, 11-year-old Ellie Sanders throughout the book -- Ellie's troubles never seem to relent, except when she lets them go at the end. Beginning in a circular fashion with her mentally ill mother("a lily caught in a hurricane was how Daddy described Mama. If we calmed the winds around her, she would be fine") having a breakdown at the outdoor food market in town, Ellie recounts the events that led to her father leaving the family with "The Tomato Girl" a 17-year-old, fragile epileptic incest survivor. Then Pupek rushes furiously to the end where Ellie is taken into foster care and is told to let go of her troubles by Clara, a clairvoyant who saves Ellie's spiritual soul.

The heart of the book takes place during Holy Week. Ellie's pregnant mother, Julia, falls down the cellar steps trying to retrieve an onion (Ellie believes this is her fault because she wanted to rush to her dad's store and pick out a new Easter chick instead of getting her mother that onion). Rupert Sanders manages the general store in town and has gotten close to Tess, the tomato girl, who sells him her produce. After Julia falls, Rupert has Tess come home with him (to help out his wife), which leads to tragedy for everyone involved. Ellie is now caught in the hurricane of her father's creation, as she struggles to help her mother, compete for her father's love with Tess, and witness her mother attack Tess and her father, both verbally and physically. She manages to hold on because of her two constants: Jellybean her baby chick and Mary Roberts, her know-it-all best friend, but these two don't remain by her side as the narrative unfolds.

I loved how Pupek named all of her chapters: "Market Day," "Bad Letters," "Spoon,"The Gun," which allowed some clever foreshadowing. Pupek is also a poet and her taut verbal skills shine throughout the novel, especially when she uses analogies ("She (Julia) buys cabbages as twisted as a man's fist. Red radishes the size of a doll's heart.")without ever going overboard. Her images are grounded in the real world so I always could picture myself in the scene with smells, tastes and texture.

"Tomato Girl" is sad, yet hopeful and is the book that should have been "The Secret Life of Bees". It's one of the best books I've read all year and I'm rooting for it to be a big hit.I'm writing a much longer review on "Tomato Girl" for The Pedestal Magazine's August issue, please stay tuned.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The voice that greets me in Tomato Girl is so rich and authentic that I am not surprised to find that the author is a native of Virginia. Jayne Pupek is a poet (Forms of Intercession) and author, whose writing has appeared in many literary journals. My first thought upon finishing her debut novel was, "How can I ever read another book again?" My second thought: "How can I write a review of this book? What words could I put on paper that would come close to expressing the emotional impact that resonates in the pages?"

Have you ever picked up a book, read the first few pages, and knew this was a book that you wanted to stretch out as long as possible, savoring not only the story but the language? Tomato Girl is one of those novels. The reader will experience the urge to rush ahead and find out what happens, but don’t give in to this urge. Tomato Girl is like a fine, aged wine, or maybe a better comparison is a cold bottle of root beer, pulled out of the cooler that sits on the front porch of the General Store.

The story begins in Granby, Virginia in 1969. Ellie narrates the story from a first person point of view. This allows the reader a front row seat to the events taking place. The voice of Ellie is that of a typical 11-year-old girl, who loves spending time at her daddy’s General Story, where she makes herself useful. It’s the complete dedication to and love for her father, Rupert Sanders, that captures my heart. He is the solid foundation in her life. Her mother, Julia, dips in and out of moods that confuse Ellie, but that also reveal fierce love and loyalty. Ellie understands she has two mothers - the sad one and the happy one - with only a fine line separating the two.

Ellie follows her father’s lead in managing Julia’s mood swings. Even though she questions his methods, she finds a way to justify them in her mind. Soon her fragile excuses come crashing down around her when she sees her father is consumed with lust for the Tomato Girl, a pretty young teenager, who comes to take care of Julia after an accident. Pupek writes with such compassion that even the worst characters in this book are understood.

In so many ways this simplistic yet intricate cast of characters captures a time in history when so many were removing their rose-colored glasses, and for the first time, actually seeing the lives they inhabited. The town becomes a living breathing place. Ellie, Clara, Julia, and even Tess are not merely characters, but close friends. I long to know what happens to Ellie when she’s grown, what will happen after I finish the last page.

Tomato Girl has the potential to become a best seller, if given the proper exposure. Just one other novel has touched me in the same way as Tomato Girl, a novel that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1962: To Kill a Mockingbird. I do not make the comparison lightly. I can’t begin to praise the author’s language enough. She writes:

"Although it was dark, a street lamp shone bright enough for me to see the small clusters of blooms. I heard a cooing sound, then saw small gray wings flutter in the middle of the bush. When I reached out to touch the bird, she flew away. As she lifted into the sky, I held my hands up to try and grab her. Her wings beat faster, and she flew out of reach. She called out once more, and then, a single pale feather floated into my hands."

Readers, you must buy this book. It is a novel that you will read more than once and keep on your shelves as a classic.

[Jayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

COS Productions has made a video/book trailer for Tomato Girl. Please take a look on my GoodReads Profile or go to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-foLb...

Thanks!

Jayne

Disclaimer: I'm partial to this book because I wrote it.

People who enjoy stories in the Southern Gothic tradition will likely enjoy "Tomato Girl." The book will be released later this month, but is available now for pre-order at Amazon, B&N, and Powells. Many thanks to those of you who have already added it to your 'to read' lists.

Review by Beth E. Andersen - Library Journal

The wonder of it all is that Ellie Sanders was able to maintain her charming, tenderhearted outlook for the first 11 years of her life. She and Rupert, her strong, protective father, have their hands full managing her mother Julia's wild bipolar mood swings. Then Rupert brings home Tess, the beautiful, epileptic 18 year old who provides tomato plants to Rupert's store. Pregnant Julia has fallen down the basement stairs, and Tess is there to care for the family. Then every kid's worst fear becomes Ellie's reality. She struggles mightily to manage the kind of cruel confusion caused by parents who force their children to cover for their mistakes. Rupert loses the battle of decency, succumbing to the unique idiocy of blinding infatuation, leaving Ellie alone with her mother while he flees the law with Tess. Only the loving kindness of an elderly black couple saves Ellie from the ensuing cascade of tragedies, a salvation complicated by the racial divide in Ellie's Southern community. Pupek's debut is a wrenching, stunning, and pitch-perfect novel that captures the best of Southern literature's finest storytelling colors. Highly recommended.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This is some dark, dark stuff. When I first picked up the book, judging (of course) by the cover and the jacket blurb, I think I was expecting a light, semi-comedic, Joshlyn Jackson type, small rural town novel.

This. is. not. that. book.

Poor Ellie, is dealing with an unstable mother (trying to keep her out of an instituion), manipulating, yet loving father(trying to keep him out of jail) who's diddling an abused teenager (with daddy issues), all the while trying to keep her home in order, not to mention all the normal ups and downs of pre-adolesence.

While at times, Ellie loses some of her rationality and reason, (let's face it, who wouldn't), we never stop being on her side.

Pupek has a strong sense, though, of small-town justice and insularity(?)--the desire of those who live in small towns to deal with problems in their own time and means. This is done without much judgement.

Very interesting book, Ms. Pupek. It kept me up to the wee hours of the morning last night.

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really cared about Ellie (the child in this book) She had so much to deal with and she still was a good kid. She handled mental illness, her dad cheating in the same house as her mom and death of a beloved pet with grace. Good southern book.

[Jessie Terwilliger · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much to say about this book but I'll start with DROP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING RIGHT NOW AND GO READ THIS BOOK! This book is sad, endearing, emotional, and the characters are ones that you will grow attached to quickly and easily.

11 year old Ellie has so much to deal with, her mama who keeps a dead baby in a jar, her daddy who loves the tomato girl, and all of the secrets she has to keep in order to keep the peace at home and keep up appearances to the people who know her outside her home.

I'm incredibly drawn to Ellie and the way that she deals with the heavy burdens she is given. The story is so intense and raw, and the writing style is simplistic and complex all at once, as it is written from Ellie's point of view so the metaphors are all things that you would relate to as a child but maybe not think of first as an adult.

If you dont take something away from this book, there is something wrong with your soul.

[Madam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tomato Girl has all the elements of a good novel: a mentally ill mother, a tempted father and a little girl trying to hold everything together as her world is shattered, saved only by a wise old black woman. But first-time novelist Jayne Pupek fails to build an adequate story, randomly splashing out cardboard characters in clichéd situations and failing to provide even the most rudimentary conclusion. Other novelists – Kaye Gibbons, Jill McCorkle, Elizabeth Berg – have visited this basic premise with far more fruitful results. Pupek obviously hoped to ride their coattails – a wish surely shared by her editors at Algonquin – but she fails in every respect.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek was so captivating that I could not put it down and read it in two days. The story is told through the eyes of Ellie Sanders, the main character who is an eleven year old girl. Ellie is forced into adulthood way too soon due to her parents behaviors. He mother has emotional troubles that are unpredictable and sometimes frightening for Ellie. She adores her mother and has taken on more of a caretaker role to her. There are moments and memories of wonderful times with her mother and Ellie treasures them. She realizes after spending time at her best friends Mary's house, that mothers are supposed to make lemonade and take care of you, not the other way around. Ellie clings to her father for solidity and strength hoping for a normal life as other children have. Her father takes care of her and her mother and they learn to hide some of the things that her mother does. This all changes for Ellie when her father becomes smitten with a young girl who raises and sells tomatoes to the general store that Ellie's father manages. Ellie calls Tessa the Tomato Girl and blames her for disrupting her home and luring her father away from their family.

Ellie has to watch as her mother's sanity gradually slips away. The story takes place in the 60's in the south and includes racial elements respective of that time. There are many wonderful people that take Ellie under their wing and I especially enjoyed reading about Clara-The magic lady and Jericho, Mr Morgan and her teachers that watched out for Ellie and loved her. Ellie creates a secret world to save herself behind the chalk door. Here's a passage that I loved that shows the power of our hearts and minds:

"The Chalk door is good magic to shut out cruel deeds and words from others. That was a gift from Mr. Morgan, something he wanted you to use to protect yourself from rumors and name calling. But you use the chalk door to hide. To learn real magic, you have to face things that scare you. You have to face the hurt inside here," she says pointing to my heart, "if you are ever to be rid of it."

I believe that everyone has a chalk door that they can choose to hide behind and this was such a powerful analogy. This is just one example of the beautiful writing of Jayne Pupek's novel Tomato Girl.

I enjoyed reading each chapter and looked forward to the chapter titles to give me an idea of what was ahead. One of my favorite chaper titles was "Chalk Doors, Chocolates and a Kiss". When I finished the book, I did return to the prologue and re-read it and gained a further understanding of the book.

This is a powerful book in so many ways. The subject matter can be difficult to read but it is written in such a way that pulls you in and you are drawn to Ellie and the other characters in the book. There is a sense of hopefulness that draws you along through Ellies voice to the end. It is hard to imagine that a child would have to endure some of these experiences that Ellie goes through but there is a reality and truth to this story that children do experience these things and can endure. There is a positive note to the sadness told in this story with a bittersweet ending. I highly recommend this debut novel by Jayne Pupek for the depth of emotion and truth it shares, that we can endure a childhood that presents so many challenges. This is one of my favorite books that I have read this year and I look forward to more books written by Jayne Pupek.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been avoiding writing a review about the book Tomato Girl, by Jayne Pupek, because that would mean it was time for me to move on to something else. I did not want to move on. I love loved loved this book! I read it once (in one day), but then the following day I went back and placed sticky notes on at least 10 pages, so that I could reread some of the haunting passages again, and keep them for the future.

Tomato Girl is about Ellie Sanders, an 11-year old girl growing up in a dysfunctional family. It is not an easy read, but I found myself anxiously waiting to turn each page. It is a heartbreaking account of mental illness and how it can tear apart a family. The prologue is only one page, and yet it made my jaw drop open.

FROM THE PROLOGUE.............Jars line my cellar shelves. Some are filled with fists of yellow-veined tomatoes. Others hold small onions and chopped leeks, white pearl onions floating in an opaque sea. Sometimes the light falls on a jar of boiled quail or the slick dark meat of a rabbit. There are unexpected moments when I see the slit of an infant's mouth, or the curl of a tiny fist behind the glass, and I run up the steps, back into the open light of sky...........I need to tell what I remember, I need to tell the story of a girl whose world unraveled like a torn scarf.............

What I loved best about this book (well there are so many things to love), but especially that the story is told through 11-year old Ellie's eyes, and how she views the world she lives in. There are loads of clues the reader will pick up on, but naive Ellie does not (at least not initially). Ellie is so genuine; you just want to sweep her away ......off to a normal childhood as she is faced with far too many difficult adult issues. The novel takes place in 1969 in a fictional town in Virginia, so there is a whole racial element to the story as well.

I thought it was brilliant how the heart of the story takes place during Easter week. There is a part when Ellie thinks about her "God Promises"....so touching. There are so many beautiful passages and analogies in this book. I do not want to quote any more as I don't want to spoil it for others.


I have read over 100 books in 2008 and this is my favorite so far. It is an amazing debut novel. I look forward to more books by this talented author. PLEASE read this book; it is one book that will resonate long after the final page has been turned.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jayne Pupek can write! Tomato Girl is a beautiful novel related by an eleven-year old narrator, Ellie, whom I loved from the moment she admitted "I can't tell them about Mama's moods, or how she keeps Baby Tom in a jar." I was captivated by her story, and so curious to learn it that I had trouble setting the novel down.

Though young, Ellie is a perceptive narrator, and I enjoyed meeting the adults in the book through her eyes. I saw how and why she adored her father, though his actions were irresponsible, sometimes cruel, and sometimes criminal. Her mother suffers from madness, and as I watched her condition deteriorate through her daughter's eyes, I felt my concern intensify into something approaching terror. Ellie is a child forced to shoulder burdens that even an adult—and especially the adults in the story--have trouble carrying. I couldn't help but feel compassion for her. I wanted things to work out for her; I was completely sucked into her world.

The story is very dark at times, but the book remains hopeful, often because Ellie brings a light to the events through her unwavering love for her family and her childish innocence. The characters are complex, the setting well described, the voice one you will not likely forget. Tomato Girl is a wonderful debut novel by a writer who knows her craft. I'm already looking forward to Pupek's next book.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jayne Pupek is a wonderfully descriptive writer. I'd read anything else she wrote. This was such a good book, hard really to describe how the story makes you feel, it's so intense. I think what struck me the most, besides how very, very accurate her portrayal of an abused little girl feelings were, was that her characters were so real, so human. She captured so perfectly what it's like for a child, to so desperately love someone, even when they're making her suffer so much. And the bargaining with God, the belief that it's her own fault. So many things that show such true insight. Jayne, I bet you were a hell of a social worker. You sure are a hell of a writer.

[Kelly Sandberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been holding off on my review of this book, but Wow! I'm not quite sure what to say without giving plot away, but this is a touching yet riveting story about a young girl and her family. This book contains emotion, mental illness, sadness, and finally acceptance. I would recommend Jayne Pupek's novel to anyone who desires an excellent read! Way to go Jayne, I loved it!!

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sad coming of age book. Ellie is a brave girl suffering the consequences of her parent's misguided love. But it is a hopeful book too about how people can overcome tragedy and not let it define them. I'd like to see how Ellie makes out.

[Paige Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a book that’s going to rip your heart out, this is the one. Beautifully written and yet so devastating and unbelievably heart wrenching. I needed this poor 11 year old girl to have a single win and yet the author didn’t want that for her character. I will keep the character, Ellie Sanders with me for a long time, and always hope that she will find some happiness in her fictional afterlife beyond this book. - this book would have been 5 stars, but the ending left me feeling uneasy, I know not every book can have a happy ending but I felt so confused by the end of this tale. Absolutely stunning writing though, and I would recommend to anyone who is looking to feel a mix of emotions in a fast read .

[Lisa Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning this is very sad. My heart went out to Ellie through this whole book.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still thinking about Ellie Sanders. She is NOT the Tomato Girl. That was the first thing that dismayed me in this book. It was a book full of dismaying situations, horrific circumstances and god-awful events. Still, I recommend it. For some, though, this could trigger stuff. Beware.

I was dismayed she was not the Tomato Girl because I love Tomatoes, that heroic fruit who bravely claims the veggie title when upon it is imposed. So opening to page 1 my assumption was that Ellie was the Tomato Girl, a role with which I was ready to empathize. So be ready. She is not the TG.

The writing in this book is haunting and powerful. The characters are not easy to push into stereotypic roles, although I gave it my best. A father I should despise, I felt sorry for and looked every which way for a plot line that would save him. Tess? I knew just how she felt. Exactly. Poor chick. Mama Sanders? I knew her best. Ellie? Her, too.

This was just the right book for me in October of 2020. A time of great uncertainty in my life, when things are outrageously out of order for all the work I've put in through these many years - beautifully upended, with no end in sight. This book shows me that things can get worse, and a still a little hope can set all to rights with the assistance and aid of support groups.

I'll read it again one day. It will be a dim day or night, when I need to know I really am not all alone.

4.5 stars, rounded up and facing all their fears.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not want this book to end! Jayne Pupek is a fantastic writer, and I look forward to reading more of her books (you are writing more books, Jayne).

Some may say that this is a typical "coming of age" book. I disagree. What Ellie Sanders had to deal with on a day-to-day basis is a far cry from what most girls her age should experience. I loved the characters in this book, and wish it was at least 200 pages longer.

Jayne's first debut work of fiction stands right up there with "Fried Green Tomatoes," "The Secret Life of Bees," and "Cold Sassy Tree."

I loved this book!!!

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tomato Girl ended up being much more than I expected. I picked up the audio version at the library and tossed it into my stereo to help occupy myself on a particularly tedious drive. Instead, I found myself bringing cds inside and laying down on the couch to finish the story (a first!). 11-year-old Ellie Sanders is a unique voice, but not unbelievable. As the prologue states - this is the story of a girl whose world unraveled like a scarf. I was completely absorbed by Ellie's story. Intense, yet beautiful, Ellie's is a world that some of us don't really think of as real, and that others of us know all too well.

[Kathy Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

childishly written. The girl is supposed to be 11 but the writer makes her sound more like 6 or 7. she is always in someones lap and people often wash and dress her as if she was a small child. She starts her first period and the neighbor lady washes her girl parts for her! In what planet does that happen?

She is nervous scared of eveything. Pretty annoying . There is constant tragedy with never a breather in between. Its basically a very sad and depressing book written from a child's prospective.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book for many reasons. The writing is beautiful. The main character, Ellie, is stunningly real. She speaks in the voice of every child who has tried to keep secrets about mental illness in the family. The author has a perfect grasp of the mind of a child who has to deal with trying to keep herself and her parent alive and is failing. This was a painful and important book to read. I look forward to hearing more from this author. Bravo for an excellent first book!

[Corky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually finished this about 2 weeks ago but have not been able to make my notes until now.

This is an excellant first novel - well written, well developed, very dysfunctional characters and a story line that is reminiscent of an Oprah book!

The Tomato Girl is Ellie Sanders' coming of age story. Suffering tragedy after tragedy, Ellie survives with the aplomb and dignity of an adult far wiser than her years. Ellie's story is what makes this an astonishing and heart warming read.

[melanie (lit*chick) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clean prose, vivid and lovely writing. I was swept along in young Ellie's story, despite all of her hardships there were glimmers of hope. I couldn't put it down until I knew the end. A tender and rewarding read.

Bravo, Jayne!!

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This book was very good. One of the best of the year bhard to read in places. Heartbreaking to me because things like this arevnot fiction. Don't miss this one. It's a star !!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book! The story is compelling and beautifully written.