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Touch
What really happened at the back of the bus?Something happened to fourteen-year-old Maisie Willard—something involving her three friends, all boys. But their stories don't match, and the rumors spin out of control. Then other people get involved . . . the school, the parents, the lawyers. The incident at the back of the bus becomes the center of Maisie's life and the talk of the school, and, horribly, it becomes news. With just a few words and a touch, the kids and their community are changed forever.
Did they, or didn't they?
Did she, or didn't she?
From nationally acclaimed author Francine Prose comes an unforgettable story about the difficulties of telling the truth, the consequences of lying, and the most dangerous twist of all—the possibility that you yourself will come to believe something that you know isn't true.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published June 16, 2009
18 people are currently reading
909 people want to read
About the author
Francine Prose
154 books865 followersFrancine Prose is the author of twenty works of fiction. Her novel A Changed Man won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Blue Angel was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent works of nonfiction include the highly acclaimed Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director's Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent book is Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932. She lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
April 22, 2010
I must be getting tired of YA literature, because this one just didn't do it for me. Or maybe I'm still recovering from the emotional slap in the face that was Speak. Either way, I just wasn't a fan.
It was mostly the main character - although unreliable narrators can be good in a story, I didn't feel that way about Maisie. She didn't just lie to the other characters in the book, she lied to the reader. She gives us her account of an event, spends the story vehemently insisting that it's true, and then at the end is like, "Nope, here's how it really went down." I realize that this was done on purpose, what with the book's repeating "what happened and what didn't, nature of truth etc etc" theme, but it was still annoying. And, I'll be honest: Maisie was kind of a bitch. She's mean to everyone, especially her stepmom Joan, who according to Maisie is a self-centered idiot who is evil personified. Had the story been told by someone other than a petulant teenager, we probably would have gotten to see Joan as she really was - a slightly dim but well-meaning individual who genuinely wants the best for her stepdaughter. But since Maisie's telling the story, Joan gets referred to repeatedly as "the Wicked Witch" and is constantly mocked for everything she says and does. I started feeling sorrier for her than I did for Maisie, and wished Joan would just haul off and smack Maisie in her smart mouth. I mean, for God's sake, she baked Maisie a cake and the girl's response is literally, "Cool. Can I go now?"
The other characters aren't much better. The core relationship, the one that sets up the story, is this lifelong friendship Maisie's had with three boys: Shakes, Chris, and Kevin. Shakes gets the majority of the attention, by which I mean he gets to be two-dimension on occasion. Chris and Kevin are barely even people - they're more like cardboard cutouts that the other characters have to be careful not to knock over. Know how much personality they get? One is classified by Maisie as "funny", and the other gets "nice." I honestly could not tell you which was which. I don't know about you, but when I think of friends I've had since childhood, a lot more adjectives come to mind than just "nice" or "funny." And that, I think, is the main problem I had with this book: we're supposed to believe that these four kids had a great, wonderful friendship that was rudely torn apart when the one girl in the group grew breasts. But I never really understood why these people were friends, or saw them doing anything that demonstrated this awesome bond they supposedly had. And Maisie repeating over and over that they were her best friends in the whole wide world didn't do much to convince me.
I'm sorry, Francine Prose. After your book, Reading Like a Writer, rocked my world, I expected so much from this story. Maybe too much. I still think you're awesome, though.
Read for: Social Justice in Young Adult Literature
It was mostly the main character - although unreliable narrators can be good in a story, I didn't feel that way about Maisie. She didn't just lie to the other characters in the book, she lied to the reader. She gives us her account of an event, spends the story vehemently insisting that it's true, and then at the end is like, "Nope, here's how it really went down." I realize that this was done on purpose, what with the book's repeating "what happened and what didn't, nature of truth etc etc" theme, but it was still annoying. And, I'll be honest: Maisie was kind of a bitch. She's mean to everyone, especially her stepmom Joan, who according to Maisie is a self-centered idiot who is evil personified. Had the story been told by someone other than a petulant teenager, we probably would have gotten to see Joan as she really was - a slightly dim but well-meaning individual who genuinely wants the best for her stepdaughter. But since Maisie's telling the story, Joan gets referred to repeatedly as "the Wicked Witch" and is constantly mocked for everything she says and does. I started feeling sorrier for her than I did for Maisie, and wished Joan would just haul off and smack Maisie in her smart mouth. I mean, for God's sake, she baked Maisie a cake and the girl's response is literally, "Cool. Can I go now?"
The other characters aren't much better. The core relationship, the one that sets up the story, is this lifelong friendship Maisie's had with three boys: Shakes, Chris, and Kevin. Shakes gets the majority of the attention, by which I mean he gets to be two-dimension on occasion. Chris and Kevin are barely even people - they're more like cardboard cutouts that the other characters have to be careful not to knock over. Know how much personality they get? One is classified by Maisie as "funny", and the other gets "nice." I honestly could not tell you which was which. I don't know about you, but when I think of friends I've had since childhood, a lot more adjectives come to mind than just "nice" or "funny." And that, I think, is the main problem I had with this book: we're supposed to believe that these four kids had a great, wonderful friendship that was rudely torn apart when the one girl in the group grew breasts. But I never really understood why these people were friends, or saw them doing anything that demonstrated this awesome bond they supposedly had. And Maisie repeating over and over that they were her best friends in the whole wide world didn't do much to convince me.
I'm sorry, Francine Prose. After your book, Reading Like a Writer, rocked my world, I expected so much from this story. Maybe too much. I still think you're awesome, though.
Read for: Social Justice in Young Adult Literature
March 4, 2009
Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
Sorry, there's no cover art available yet for TOUCH by Francine Prose, but I recommend it as a good read no matter what they decide to do with the cover. Prose is the author of such YA titles as AFTER and BULLYVILLE, and TOUCH is sure to please her previous fans and help create new ones.
TOUCH is the story of trauma and its ability to manipulate the truth. Maisie has three very good friends - Shakes, Chris, and Kevin. They've been friends since preschool, and even though this friendship between one girl and three guys may seem strange to some, it totally works for them. That is, it works until the year Maisie goes to live with her mom and stepdad.
After a bitter divorce that started with Maisie's mother leaving her husband to find a different life, Maisie has lived with her dad and Joan, his new wife. Uncomfortable with her stepmother, Maisie decides to spend her 8th-grade year living with her mother in Wisconsin. As with many such experiments, Maisie learns the grass is not always greener on the other side, and she returns to live with her father when the school year is over.
Things would probably have just gone back to normal, except while living in Wisconsin, Maisie has blossomed as a young woman. She returns feeling the same but looking a bit different. She has boobs. Her three childhood friends have changed a bit, as well. They now have a young man's appreciation for things like boobs. Although they try to resume their friendship as before, it is strained at best.
Maisie and Shakes have always had a special bond. When school starts in the fall, they find themselves boarding the bus first. As the only two people riding for a good twenty minutes, they head to the back seat. Amazingly, they are able to remain seated there even when the seniors climb aboard.
As the weeks pass, Maisie and Shakes stumble across a way to pass the time before the other students are picked up. It begins with experimental kissing and soon turns into twenty-minute make out sessions. They are very careful to time their groping to end just before others begin to board the bus, but one day they are caught. It is quite a shock for everyone, but especially for Chris and Kevin, who never thought about Maisie as girlfriend material.
Once the secret is out, the friendship takes a turn that shocks the entire school community. Maisie has become the subject of cruel gossip and speculation because she seems to have allowed the three boys to stray beyond the bounds of decency. What really happened in the backseat of the bus? Can Maisie really remember things objectively, and can her life ever return to normal?
Francine Prose takes readers into the mind of a confused young girl. Maisie is trying to justify her actions and the decisions that led to those actions. She battles with her angry feelings toward her friends, her parents and stepparents, her fellow classmates, and herself.
Coping with trauma and moving on are the central issues of TOUCH. Teens will no doubt see a bit of themselves and also their peers when they read about Maisie's ordeal.
Sorry, there's no cover art available yet for TOUCH by Francine Prose, but I recommend it as a good read no matter what they decide to do with the cover. Prose is the author of such YA titles as AFTER and BULLYVILLE, and TOUCH is sure to please her previous fans and help create new ones.
TOUCH is the story of trauma and its ability to manipulate the truth. Maisie has three very good friends - Shakes, Chris, and Kevin. They've been friends since preschool, and even though this friendship between one girl and three guys may seem strange to some, it totally works for them. That is, it works until the year Maisie goes to live with her mom and stepdad.
After a bitter divorce that started with Maisie's mother leaving her husband to find a different life, Maisie has lived with her dad and Joan, his new wife. Uncomfortable with her stepmother, Maisie decides to spend her 8th-grade year living with her mother in Wisconsin. As with many such experiments, Maisie learns the grass is not always greener on the other side, and she returns to live with her father when the school year is over.
Things would probably have just gone back to normal, except while living in Wisconsin, Maisie has blossomed as a young woman. She returns feeling the same but looking a bit different. She has boobs. Her three childhood friends have changed a bit, as well. They now have a young man's appreciation for things like boobs. Although they try to resume their friendship as before, it is strained at best.
Maisie and Shakes have always had a special bond. When school starts in the fall, they find themselves boarding the bus first. As the only two people riding for a good twenty minutes, they head to the back seat. Amazingly, they are able to remain seated there even when the seniors climb aboard.
As the weeks pass, Maisie and Shakes stumble across a way to pass the time before the other students are picked up. It begins with experimental kissing and soon turns into twenty-minute make out sessions. They are very careful to time their groping to end just before others begin to board the bus, but one day they are caught. It is quite a shock for everyone, but especially for Chris and Kevin, who never thought about Maisie as girlfriend material.
Once the secret is out, the friendship takes a turn that shocks the entire school community. Maisie has become the subject of cruel gossip and speculation because she seems to have allowed the three boys to stray beyond the bounds of decency. What really happened in the backseat of the bus? Can Maisie really remember things objectively, and can her life ever return to normal?
Francine Prose takes readers into the mind of a confused young girl. Maisie is trying to justify her actions and the decisions that led to those actions. She battles with her angry feelings toward her friends, her parents and stepparents, her fellow classmates, and herself.
Coping with trauma and moving on are the central issues of TOUCH. Teens will no doubt see a bit of themselves and also their peers when they read about Maisie's ordeal.
November 27, 2009
I felt like I was in stuck in some sort of time loop thing (like Sam and Dean were in a previous episode of Supernatural, if you know what I'm talking about) the entire time I was reading. The story jumps from all different points of time, back and forth, back again, and so forth. Maisie's recount of the "bus incident" is like a scratched DVD with a mind of its own: it plays the first scene, then replays itself, but with an added twist. So each time Maisie tells her story, it's another version of it. It gets confusing, and I don't know what to believe anymore. I guess that's the point: some lies are blurred into truths, and vice versa until we no longer can distinguish what is what anymore.
The way it's written just didn't work for me. Everything felt repetitive, starting from Maisie's dialogue, the actions she takes, and the way the bus story keeps getting retold. I didn't really like Maisie, who seemed so strong one minute, then completely a let down the next. Shakes was a disappointing character as well; all I felt was pity for him, and that was just because he had some kind of twitch disorder. I didn't see much of a personality from him. And don't even get me started on the other two guys: they were so flat they were practically transparent.
The way it's written just didn't work for me. Everything felt repetitive, starting from Maisie's dialogue, the actions she takes, and the way the bus story keeps getting retold. I didn't really like Maisie, who seemed so strong one minute, then completely a let down the next. Shakes was a disappointing character as well; all I felt was pity for him, and that was just because he had some kind of twitch disorder. I didn't see much of a personality from him. And don't even get me started on the other two guys: they were so flat they were practically transparent.
December 18, 2009
Original/full review here: http://thebookpixie.blogspot.com/2009...
Review
Touch had a very edgy and gripping premise that really made me want to pick it up and read it. However, I find this totally irrelevant as I felt the actual story carried it out very inadequately, failing to meet it's potential.
Maisie, though she could at times be funny, was not a very likable character and I felt totally detached from her and her story. I hated the fact that she didn't try to take more control over her life and what was happening to her. And yes, her step mom was a pain, but she still could have tried to make things work between the two of them a little better. Also, the way she kept changing her story was annoying. I can understand how at first she wanted to say nothing happened. What I didn't understand was why she didn't just tell the truth after that. She only caused herself a whole lot more trouble by lying and making things out to be worse than they were. Another thing, why did she just let the guys touch her like that when she knew she didn't like it? She didn't even bother saying no. Maisie should have had more respect for herself than that and as a result, I found it hard to feel any kind of sympathy towards her.
I feel the story would have been a lot more believable if the three guys hadn't been her best friends. Maybe it is just me but it seems hard to believe that four kids would grow up together, having always been best friends, and then as soon as the girl of the group grows boobs, things change SO dramatically. I can understand her and Shakes getting kind of romantic, I actually liked that. However the whole part of where her other two guy 'best friends' get jealous, grab and fondle her boobs while Shakes sits by and does nothing, and then spread nasty rumors about her is so unrealistic. Not saying it could never happen, because after all, stranger things have. I'm just saying that it seems so forced and very improbable. Touch did atleast have a good overall message about lying, why some people do it, and what happens as a result.
Then there were the flashbacks. At times I felt like I'd read the same thing three times because of them, being more disruptive than anything. And speaking of disruptive, the poor syntax and numerous typos made this book even harder to get into. I am fully aware that the copy I read was an ARC, however it read more like a rough draft then something that was only one step away from being a finished copy.
In my honest opinion, the ending was the redeeming quality of this book for two reasons. One, because I actually liked the overall ending, including the fact that Maisie finally realized and told the truth. And two, for lack of a better way of phrasing it, because it was over and I could move onto something else.
So as you've probably already figured out, this is not a book I liked or will be re-reading. Would I recommend it? Uh, no. If Touch had been written for me I would say it was a waste of time and paper. However, it wasn't written for me and so long as there is atleast one person out there who enjoys Touch, or any other book, it was anything BUT a waste.
So it wasn't for me but who knows, maybe you'll be one of the people who likes it.
Review
Touch had a very edgy and gripping premise that really made me want to pick it up and read it. However, I find this totally irrelevant as I felt the actual story carried it out very inadequately, failing to meet it's potential.
Maisie, though she could at times be funny, was not a very likable character and I felt totally detached from her and her story. I hated the fact that she didn't try to take more control over her life and what was happening to her. And yes, her step mom was a pain, but she still could have tried to make things work between the two of them a little better. Also, the way she kept changing her story was annoying. I can understand how at first she wanted to say nothing happened. What I didn't understand was why she didn't just tell the truth after that. She only caused herself a whole lot more trouble by lying and making things out to be worse than they were. Another thing, why did she just let the guys touch her like that when she knew she didn't like it? She didn't even bother saying no. Maisie should have had more respect for herself than that and as a result, I found it hard to feel any kind of sympathy towards her.
I feel the story would have been a lot more believable if the three guys hadn't been her best friends. Maybe it is just me but it seems hard to believe that four kids would grow up together, having always been best friends, and then as soon as the girl of the group grows boobs, things change SO dramatically. I can understand her and Shakes getting kind of romantic, I actually liked that. However the whole part of where her other two guy 'best friends' get jealous, grab and fondle her boobs while Shakes sits by and does nothing, and then spread nasty rumors about her is so unrealistic. Not saying it could never happen, because after all, stranger things have. I'm just saying that it seems so forced and very improbable. Touch did atleast have a good overall message about lying, why some people do it, and what happens as a result.
Then there were the flashbacks. At times I felt like I'd read the same thing three times because of them, being more disruptive than anything. And speaking of disruptive, the poor syntax and numerous typos made this book even harder to get into. I am fully aware that the copy I read was an ARC, however it read more like a rough draft then something that was only one step away from being a finished copy.
In my honest opinion, the ending was the redeeming quality of this book for two reasons. One, because I actually liked the overall ending, including the fact that Maisie finally realized and told the truth. And two, for lack of a better way of phrasing it, because it was over and I could move onto something else.
So as you've probably already figured out, this is not a book I liked or will be re-reading. Would I recommend it? Uh, no. If Touch had been written for me I would say it was a waste of time and paper. However, it wasn't written for me and so long as there is atleast one person out there who enjoys Touch, or any other book, it was anything BUT a waste.
So it wasn't for me but who knows, maybe you'll be one of the people who likes it.
March 8, 2017
Masie, Shakes, Kevin, and Chris have been best friends since they were in diapers. In eighth grade Maisie moves to live with her mother. When she moves back at the beginning of her freshman year of high school, things have changed. She in particular has matured and the boys aren't looking at her in the same way. One fateful day in the back of the bus on the way to school, a line has been crossed that can't be undone. This is a must read YA novel for teens. This story rings true about the traumatic repercussions of unwanted advances.
December 9, 2009
Four friends...friends since preschool see their lives and relationship disintegrate as they reach their teens. Kevin, Chris, Shakes (Edward), and Maisie are dealing with hormonal angst when they start high school. Shakes and Maisie draw closer than friendship dictates and their relationship takes on a new level. Whether spurred on by jealously, hormones, or peers, Chris and Kevin assault Maisie on the bus. They are enamored with her 'big boobs' as Maisie calls them, and they ask to touch them. Assuming that Shakes will come to her defense or at the very least that they are kidding her, she asks for 'a moment to think about it'. But, Shakes lets her down, and the groping begins. As with any traumatic experience... descriptions, timetables, and truth gets stretched or hazy. The versions of all the participants do not mesh. Of course, the incident gets back to the principal through the tattle-tale lips of Daria (Chris's girl friend). It becomes a classic tale of he-said, she-said, with seemingly non-caring lawyers and therapists licking their lips with potential fireworks in the courtroom.
When Joan, Maisie's step-mom gets involved, it becomes a legal circus of sorts and meanwhile Maisie is shunned, avoided, and ostracized by her classmates. No one wants to come near her with a ten foot pole. She's lost everything...her friends, her Dad (as he is avoiding talking to her), but especially her special bond and friendship with Shakes.
The ending makes my back bristle and I am appalled by it. I am not sure that the scenario that truly played out was the right one for the story. This is a lot to talk about and think about in this book about self-acceptance and self-esteem.
When Joan, Maisie's step-mom gets involved, it becomes a legal circus of sorts and meanwhile Maisie is shunned, avoided, and ostracized by her classmates. No one wants to come near her with a ten foot pole. She's lost everything...her friends, her Dad (as he is avoiding talking to her), but especially her special bond and friendship with Shakes.
The ending makes my back bristle and I am appalled by it. I am not sure that the scenario that truly played out was the right one for the story. This is a lot to talk about and think about in this book about self-acceptance and self-esteem.
July 11, 2009
Touch by Francine Prose was one of those books that received so much attention before the release. I was super excited to begin the book because how can you not with that summary!?
First person view is the most unreliable source as Prose demonstrates. In this type of book she picked the right match. Both the reader and the narrator have trouble understanding what truly happen in the back of the bus, and somewhere in the multiple retellings Maisie lost the truth. In an ongoing therapy session we uncover Maisie’s life before and after the incident. There is also, however, a downside to first person because of bias attitude particularly to the stepmother.
The theme is more cynical than the average “the wheels on the bus go round and round” childhood song. No in this back of the bus we break out the attorney. I kind of expected some gut wrenching emotions because of the serious topic but the narration kept it going from that path.
The characterizations for some were wonderful. I enjoyed the ironic nature of her mother’s new husband to Maisie’s character. While she grows, he reverts back to that of a child. I liked some, but didn’t like others.
One thing that I disliked was how the story went back and forth. You were taking 2 steps forward then 1 step back, retelling the same thing over, and over again. Then the ending told the whole story again but in the truth. Left me a bit sad that in the end it was a hoax—that Maisie wasn’t really the complete victim that she led along.
Overall: Disappointed
First person view is the most unreliable source as Prose demonstrates. In this type of book she picked the right match. Both the reader and the narrator have trouble understanding what truly happen in the back of the bus, and somewhere in the multiple retellings Maisie lost the truth. In an ongoing therapy session we uncover Maisie’s life before and after the incident. There is also, however, a downside to first person because of bias attitude particularly to the stepmother.
The theme is more cynical than the average “the wheels on the bus go round and round” childhood song. No in this back of the bus we break out the attorney. I kind of expected some gut wrenching emotions because of the serious topic but the narration kept it going from that path.
The characterizations for some were wonderful. I enjoyed the ironic nature of her mother’s new husband to Maisie’s character. While she grows, he reverts back to that of a child. I liked some, but didn’t like others.
One thing that I disliked was how the story went back and forth. You were taking 2 steps forward then 1 step back, retelling the same thing over, and over again. Then the ending told the whole story again but in the truth. Left me a bit sad that in the end it was a hoax—that Maisie wasn’t really the complete victim that she led along.
Overall: Disappointed
January 31, 2019
i could only read to the 60% mark and then i was over this.
this was a very repetitive read. while it wasn't awful, it definitely doesn't deserve more than two stars.
i totally understand that this situation (middle school age/young highschool age kids touching each other)can be hazardous and even hurtful, but this was played out just a bit too much. The stepmother was...too much. Maisie..well..she is just at typical girl really. at first she had no idea that her assault was even harmful. and that is real. reading this put me back in my middle school days when i first was touched by a boy a school. you think, "well, they want to touch me so why not let them? but i don't want to feel like an object. and i also don't want people to get the wrong idea about me." then you start to question your identity, "am i a whore for letting someone touch me? is anyone going to believe that i didn't ask for this?" i think this book would be good for someone going into highschool-going into eighth grade but nothing lower than that. this is a good book to help girls realize that sometimes it is not your fault. it was a very childish recount of a minor assault but definitely worth the read for someone wondering about their own childish sexual experiences.
this was a very repetitive read. while it wasn't awful, it definitely doesn't deserve more than two stars.
i totally understand that this situation (middle school age/young highschool age kids touching each other)can be hazardous and even hurtful, but this was played out just a bit too much. The stepmother was...too much. Maisie..well..she is just at typical girl really. at first she had no idea that her assault was even harmful. and that is real. reading this put me back in my middle school days when i first was touched by a boy a school. you think, "well, they want to touch me so why not let them? but i don't want to feel like an object. and i also don't want people to get the wrong idea about me." then you start to question your identity, "am i a whore for letting someone touch me? is anyone going to believe that i didn't ask for this?" i think this book would be good for someone going into highschool-going into eighth grade but nothing lower than that. this is a good book to help girls realize that sometimes it is not your fault. it was a very childish recount of a minor assault but definitely worth the read for someone wondering about their own childish sexual experiences.
December 17, 2024
Have you ever read a Drama in a book but can’t find the right one? When I first started reading this book I wasn't sure if I was going to continue, but I did. A great quote from this book is “Did they, or didn't they?” I feel as if this quote relates to a lot of people. Touch by Francine Proses, her book is fiction. This is about a girl named Maisie who tells her real life stories, but no one believes her.
In my opinion, I really like this book. Like I said , I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue. I did and I really started to enjoy it with all the details and very descriptive words. Touch is a great book. I would recommend this book to anyone in high school grades 9 and up. This book contains thing kids should not read but I really thing most high schoolers will really like this book
In my opinion, I really like this book. Like I said , I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue. I did and I really started to enjoy it with all the details and very descriptive words. Touch is a great book. I would recommend this book to anyone in high school grades 9 and up. This book contains thing kids should not read but I really thing most high schoolers will really like this book
Read
November 12, 2021The book Touch is a great book that puts you in the mind of a teenage girl who has three best guy friends and who's growing older. This book teaches many lessons, and keeps you wanting to read more.
May 10, 2014
Touch is a story about freshman Maisie who growing up has been friends with three boys Chris, Kevin and Shakes. They have been friends since diapers. Things change when Maisie moves to live with her mom, and comes back her freshman year. She grew up and the boys do not know how to handle the change. One morning, things take a turn on their friendship. Something happens on the bus that causes the friendships to be questioned and tested. Maisie struggles with what really happened and what she wanted others to hear. She deals with the torments of classmates and her own friends. She also tries to struggle with the personal gain of her own family members.
I enjoyed Touch. Sometimes you read so many different young adult books that it’s nice to read a young adult story that touches on a difficult subject. You see how things in Maisie’s world got turned upside down and how she struggled to come with the truth. Some points in the novel I wanted to throw something at kids in her school because of how cruel they were. Such a sad truth that teens act this way at times. I wanted to strangle Maisie’s step mom. She was on her own crusade in making history with Maisie’s case when Maisie just wanted things to go away and she can go back to her life.
I like that Maisie did get closure that she needed with Shakes. She realized what they had become and that things will never return to how they once were, but things were said that made their friendship close on a good note.
It was a quick read, but enjoyable.
I enjoyed Touch. Sometimes you read so many different young adult books that it’s nice to read a young adult story that touches on a difficult subject. You see how things in Maisie’s world got turned upside down and how she struggled to come with the truth. Some points in the novel I wanted to throw something at kids in her school because of how cruel they were. Such a sad truth that teens act this way at times. I wanted to strangle Maisie’s step mom. She was on her own crusade in making history with Maisie’s case when Maisie just wanted things to go away and she can go back to her life.
I like that Maisie did get closure that she needed with Shakes. She realized what they had become and that things will never return to how they once were, but things were said that made their friendship close on a good note.
It was a quick read, but enjoyable.
December 18, 2015
Grade: C+
Something happened in the back of the bus between Maisie and her former three best friends. Or did it? At first she denies being assaulted, but then the boys admit to fondling her and what happened or didn't happen spins out of control.
Maisie is an angry, uncooperative narrator with plenty of reason. Abandoned by her mother her lives with her workaholic father and stepmother who's more concerned with appearances and her personal agenda than looking out for Maisie's feelings and her best interest. After spending 8th grade with her hapless mother and angry stepfather, she returns to Pennsylvania to start high school with a set of Hollywood breasts. Her best friends since preschool take have entered adolescence as well and everything has changed. I had a lot of empathy for Maisie even when she didn't make the best decisions, because she had no where to turn. Neither her mother nor stepmother taught her to respect her body and herself.
I hated the ending of TOUCH but I can't say much more without spoiling. Francine Prose's readable prose kept me interested, though early on I predicted the resolution to the story. Maisie was a complex character, her friend Shakes had some depth, but the other characters felt one dimensional and stereotypical.
THEMES: friendship, family, stepfamilies, adolescence, divorce, sexual abuse.
Some readers will identify with TOUCH and with Maisie, but others may not like her character.
Something happened in the back of the bus between Maisie and her former three best friends. Or did it? At first she denies being assaulted, but then the boys admit to fondling her and what happened or didn't happen spins out of control.
Maisie is an angry, uncooperative narrator with plenty of reason. Abandoned by her mother her lives with her workaholic father and stepmother who's more concerned with appearances and her personal agenda than looking out for Maisie's feelings and her best interest. After spending 8th grade with her hapless mother and angry stepfather, she returns to Pennsylvania to start high school with a set of Hollywood breasts. Her best friends since preschool take have entered adolescence as well and everything has changed. I had a lot of empathy for Maisie even when she didn't make the best decisions, because she had no where to turn. Neither her mother nor stepmother taught her to respect her body and herself.
I hated the ending of TOUCH but I can't say much more without spoiling. Francine Prose's readable prose kept me interested, though early on I predicted the resolution to the story. Maisie was a complex character, her friend Shakes had some depth, but the other characters felt one dimensional and stereotypical.
THEMES: friendship, family, stepfamilies, adolescence, divorce, sexual abuse.
Some readers will identify with TOUCH and with Maisie, but others may not like her character.
June 14, 2015
This book was a very difficult one to get through emotionally. It's certainly not a happy contemporary. I really liked the way it was written. I enjoyed this book for the most part, but I'm not a fan of how it ended. First of all, Maisie didn't really get a happy ending, which sucks. Also, I don't like the fact that Shakes and Kevin completely left. I mean, I know it made things easier for her and everything. But it's one thing to just stop being friends, but it's a whole other thing when they completely leave where you are, because no matter how obvious it seems that the friendship is over, that's the real sign that nothing will ever be the same again. And I'm really sad that their friendship ended the way it did. People who have been friends for so long should treat each other better in the first place, and they should be able to get through anything together, including growing up. And I'm really sad for Maisie and Shakes, because I feel like they could have had something really special. So I don't want to say that I liked this book, because there was too much sadness for that, but I did enjoy reading it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2016
I feel bad for the main character Maisie. but i didn't like her at all. even before the incident happened to her, she is always complaining about something or the other in her life. especially about her stepmother. her stepmother this, her stepmother that. half of the book is based on how pretentious her step mom is!!! & how horrible it is for her to deal with it!!
now about the incident that happens at the back of the bus. Maisie continuously lies about it, until in the very end of the book. because she is in denial of it. because at first she thinks, its her duty to protect these guys because they are her friends since nursery??
& then later on she lies because she is angry with them, that they are spreading lies about her. umm hello?? these guys are jerks!!! stop feeling bad & stop with the sympathy because they definitely didn't deserve it!
the only thing i liked in the book was that Maisie didn't want to run away or hide but face the situation as it was.
now about the incident that happens at the back of the bus. Maisie continuously lies about it, until in the very end of the book. because she is in denial of it. because at first she thinks, its her duty to protect these guys because they are her friends since nursery??
& then later on she lies because she is angry with them, that they are spreading lies about her. umm hello?? these guys are jerks!!! stop feeling bad & stop with the sympathy because they definitely didn't deserve it!
the only thing i liked in the book was that Maisie didn't want to run away or hide but face the situation as it was.
July 20, 2011
Another fairly good novel by Francine Prose. I like how well she managed to mirror a situation so closely to real life - the characters seemed authentic. However, she leaves every story with very little in the way of a resolution. Something this important, a good lesson for kids to understand as they grow older and begin to develop into the little adults they want to be, should not be done so lightly. The character made a bigger problem of her little lie than the fact that three boys fondled her chest and made her hate herself and her body in the process. An important point Francine should have reiterated and pressed at the end - it doesn't matter the circumstances, it's your body and if you don't want people touching it, then their touch is wrong.
January 28, 2011
I read this book to see if it is appropriate to place on the shelf in a MS library. I think so, but some colleagues are reading it too so I will get other opinions. Another good read for middle school kids and how puberty, divorce, step-parents, and the media can affect teens lives.
June 8, 2025
I was really into this until the end, and then everything kind of fizzled out. The author gave Maisie a strong voice, and I found her to be a very realistic character. All her actions, from the way she reacts to Joan and the way she turns all her emotions inwards to how she responds to her assault, while not necessarily the right choices, felt believable for a high school-age character. She's far from a perfect person, but I believe she was written well.
Where the book lost me was in the last ten or so pages. Maisie has her epiphany of what really happened on the bus so near the end of the novel that there isn't much time to unpack the effects the truth has on her, her family, and the boys who assaulted her. The book up till this point has chronicled every detail of Maisie's life, whether true or not, and for the final chapter to summarize the effects of the lies told in just a few pages with no further contemplation from Maisie was too clean of a conclusion. The author may have been trying to make a point that for Maisie the hardest part of the assault was not knowing what truly happened, what memories were real and which she gaslit herself into believing were true; for her, just knowing was enough. However, I think healing from an assault is much more complex than the ending presents it to be, which is a shame because up until this point in the novel I thought it portrayed the complexities of it in a realistic and approachable manner. I needed more from the ending than this book was giving me.
Where the book lost me was in the last ten or so pages. Maisie has her epiphany of what really happened on the bus so near the end of the novel that there isn't much time to unpack the effects the truth has on her, her family, and the boys who assaulted her. The book up till this point has chronicled every detail of Maisie's life, whether true or not, and for the final chapter to summarize the effects of the lies told in just a few pages with no further contemplation from Maisie was too clean of a conclusion. The author may have been trying to make a point that for Maisie the hardest part of the assault was not knowing what truly happened, what memories were real and which she gaslit herself into believing were true; for her, just knowing was enough. However, I think healing from an assault is much more complex than the ending presents it to be, which is a shame because up until this point in the novel I thought it portrayed the complexities of it in a realistic and approachable manner. I needed more from the ending than this book was giving me.
July 17, 2018
I'm really surprised at all the negative reviews of this book, so much so that it has a rating below 3 stars. If the concept didn't seem an important one, that would have probably kept me from getting it for my class library and reading it. I found the book to be a really important and well-told YA book. Teaching 9th-graders, I see the way so many girls are insecure in their new bodies and the attention that they receive. They don't feel like the young adults that their bodies suggest they are and feel more like the kids they so recently were. I think the narrator really captures that feeling. The friendship between her and Shakes feels real and touching, which makes it really heart-breaking, what happens. The way in which well-meaning (well, in this book, not so well-meaning) adults co-opt her story and try to turn her into a symbol or a crusader when that is not what she wants also feels really spot on. I found myself tearing up reading about her final bus trip. Overall, a well-written book that I have no doubt will really resonate with girls in my class when I bring it into my library next school year. Give this book a chance if you are a teen or are buying for teens.
May 22, 2022
No. Just no. This was so poorly and clichely written it is actually upsetting. Beyond the use of slurs, I definitely felt this book holds some capacity of being offensive. I hate books that throw away the plot at the very end, especially when it invalidates every emotion the character felt through the whole book. I hated this ending because it essentially was like I just went through something fairly traumatic oh but it’s okay because I didn’t say no. And then the boys moved away and now I have to think about the truth. AND THE FACT THAT MAISIE WAS PUNISHED AT THE END WITH THE ESSAY??? I also HATED the whole evil step mom trope. I get it, but it was poorly done and WAY too exaggerated. I wouldn’t have been half as bad if it was more subtle. Idk the book just seemed kind of halfassed tbh:/
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2019
Touch was so difficult to get through. Such a short book should've taken me a day to read. However, because of the writing style and narrator, I kept getting annoyed and bored and had to put the book down multiple times.
The story is DRAGGED on with absolutely no pay out. It's frustrating hearing the same things repeated and the mundane things over explained.
I'm sorry this review isn't very informative but due to the writing style I don't feel like much stood out in my mind as important enough to specifically speak on.
Touch is about a young girl who dealt with an awful situation and dealt with it by making us sit through repetitive chapters for 262 pages. The end.
The story is DRAGGED on with absolutely no pay out. It's frustrating hearing the same things repeated and the mundane things over explained.
I'm sorry this review isn't very informative but due to the writing style I don't feel like much stood out in my mind as important enough to specifically speak on.
Touch is about a young girl who dealt with an awful situation and dealt with it by making us sit through repetitive chapters for 262 pages. The end.
May 25, 2019
This book was interesting. I liked that it showed how perceptions can all be different in the same situation. I finished this book really quickly because it was interesting but also not at the same time. I think it would be good for a much younger audience.
March 7, 2017
This was a hard book to read. I forced myself to finish it, hoping it would somehow get better. It never did. I couldn't connect with Maisie at all. She was just so whiney, which seeing how her mother and stepmother behave and how her father seems to completely ignore their ridiculous behavior, I guess she was doomed.
The ending was horrible. Even after Maisie came clean about what really happened, assuming she told the truth that last time, what those boys did was inappropriate. Writing essays? Seriously? That is NOT a punishment. Those boys got off too easy. They should have been punished when the incident occurred. Then at the end when Maisie had to ride the bus, it says that she sat directly behind the bus driver...and Shakes sat with her! Again, SERIOUSLY?! The bus driver had to have known about the incident because I'm sure she was questioned at some point by the principal, and she still allowed one of the boys accused of sexually assaulting Maisie to sit with her?! Despite the fact that Maisie lied repeatedly, I feel like all of the adults in this story failed her. The school brushed off the incident, her stepmother seemed more interested in being involved in that type of court case than how the incident really emotionally affected Maisie, her dad didn't seem to care at all, and her mother seemed more upset about left out. Her lawyer didn't care about her. Her therapist seemed to only ask the same questions over and over, instead of trying to draw Maisie out in different ways. All of this bothers me because the ending doesn't solve any of these issues. Pretty much the boys, as well as Maisie, have to write essays and then everyone moves on like nothing happened. For the boys, I'm sure they will be fine. Maisie, on the other hand, has A LOT of issues that just got swept under the rug like it was no big deal.
I think this book shows a good example of how things can get way out of hand with one small lie, and how one wrong word or accusation can hurt a lot of people. However, I don't feel like this was the best situation to use for that example, especially for the younger teen readers that may pick up this book.
The ending was horrible. Even after Maisie came clean about what really happened, assuming she told the truth that last time, what those boys did was inappropriate. Writing essays? Seriously? That is NOT a punishment. Those boys got off too easy. They should have been punished when the incident occurred. Then at the end when Maisie had to ride the bus, it says that she sat directly behind the bus driver...and Shakes sat with her! Again, SERIOUSLY?! The bus driver had to have known about the incident because I'm sure she was questioned at some point by the principal, and she still allowed one of the boys accused of sexually assaulting Maisie to sit with her?! Despite the fact that Maisie lied repeatedly, I feel like all of the adults in this story failed her. The school brushed off the incident, her stepmother seemed more interested in being involved in that type of court case than how the incident really emotionally affected Maisie, her dad didn't seem to care at all, and her mother seemed more upset about left out. Her lawyer didn't care about her. Her therapist seemed to only ask the same questions over and over, instead of trying to draw Maisie out in different ways. All of this bothers me because the ending doesn't solve any of these issues. Pretty much the boys, as well as Maisie, have to write essays and then everyone moves on like nothing happened. For the boys, I'm sure they will be fine. Maisie, on the other hand, has A LOT of issues that just got swept under the rug like it was no big deal.
I think this book shows a good example of how things can get way out of hand with one small lie, and how one wrong word or accusation can hurt a lot of people. However, I don't feel like this was the best situation to use for that example, especially for the younger teen readers that may pick up this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2019
I just couldn’t get into this book. It took me forever to read. The end was pretty disappointing as well.
June 7, 2025
2.75/5 ⭐️
It’s important to teach consent at a young age but the entire time I was reading this I just needed Law and Order SVU to show up 🤣
It’s important to teach consent at a young age but the entire time I was reading this I just needed Law and Order SVU to show up 🤣
April 15, 2013
"Are the boys who assaulted you present in the courtroom?" "Your Honor, I object to counsel's use of the word assault." "Objection sustained." "Are the boys who molested you present in the courtroom?" "Objection,Your Honor. Molested is inflammatory." -Chapter one Page 1
This book was fascinating and unbelievable! I thought "Touch" was a great book. Teenage girl Massie is now a freshman in her school. She is a freshman along with three of her best friends, these best friends aren't girls, they are boys. Their names are Kevin, Chris, and Shakes. Massie is not the same Massie that she was when it was years ago when she was little. She has matured physically and mentally. Her breast have gotten larger, and her face has changed, she is still the same person, she is just maturing into a young lady. It was like morning time, and Massie and Shakes ended up kissing. This kissing wasn't just kissing they were like tonguing down each other (Making out). They have done this a couple more times, and the other two boys have caught them in the act. Their whole mood and attitude towards Massie has changed, because they are now jealous that it wasn't them. They ended up touching Massie, and Massie thought it was just all fun and games until Massie hears all these awful rumors. One of the rumors was that she paid them to touch her, because she was basically desperate for attention. Then they said she was also paying the other boys in the school to do it. Massie doesn't wanna get her friends in trouble, so she starts telling lie after lie, and it all becomes suspicious. Will the truth finally be revealed? When the truth is revealed, what is gonna happen to Massie?
First off, I just thought this book was great! I think Massie was my favorite until she started lieing.... Like what did she have to lie for ? She should have just told the truth, but I feel like if Massie kept up that animosity up for so long, it would be a great book and it was, it was a great book. I think this story has given me another reason to stay away from boys... I feel like even though they are your best friends, you shouldn't get too close with them.. What I didn't understand was, why she was making out with Shakes... What kind of name is shakes??? When I picture these boys, I picture them to have messed up hair cuts, and dirty baggy clothes. I think this book is appropriate for my age group, because it teaches a whole moral lesson, it teaches young girls and young boys what happens in the real world, and life is not about rainbows and stars.. I just think this got too out of hand, I think the whole situation was just blown out of proportion.... *Spoiler* "At first I was nervous about telling the truth, especially now that I finally knew what the truth was.....................................................................................................................................I still believe that there's such a thing as the truth, and I still never try to lie......... I was, every time I told and retold the story of how some boys, my former best friends, touched me on the bus. " I mean that ending was just excellent! I think the author did a great job, and I look forward to reading more of her books, because this has left me speechless. The one thing I had was so many questions, it was like every chapter was just leaving me confused. I guess that's what the author wanted for her book. It was a great read, and I recommend this book to everyone that is becoming a young adult, it will teach a lot!
This book was fascinating and unbelievable! I thought "Touch" was a great book. Teenage girl Massie is now a freshman in her school. She is a freshman along with three of her best friends, these best friends aren't girls, they are boys. Their names are Kevin, Chris, and Shakes. Massie is not the same Massie that she was when it was years ago when she was little. She has matured physically and mentally. Her breast have gotten larger, and her face has changed, she is still the same person, she is just maturing into a young lady. It was like morning time, and Massie and Shakes ended up kissing. This kissing wasn't just kissing they were like tonguing down each other (Making out). They have done this a couple more times, and the other two boys have caught them in the act. Their whole mood and attitude towards Massie has changed, because they are now jealous that it wasn't them. They ended up touching Massie, and Massie thought it was just all fun and games until Massie hears all these awful rumors. One of the rumors was that she paid them to touch her, because she was basically desperate for attention. Then they said she was also paying the other boys in the school to do it. Massie doesn't wanna get her friends in trouble, so she starts telling lie after lie, and it all becomes suspicious. Will the truth finally be revealed? When the truth is revealed, what is gonna happen to Massie?
First off, I just thought this book was great! I think Massie was my favorite until she started lieing.... Like what did she have to lie for ? She should have just told the truth, but I feel like if Massie kept up that animosity up for so long, it would be a great book and it was, it was a great book. I think this story has given me another reason to stay away from boys... I feel like even though they are your best friends, you shouldn't get too close with them.. What I didn't understand was, why she was making out with Shakes... What kind of name is shakes??? When I picture these boys, I picture them to have messed up hair cuts, and dirty baggy clothes. I think this book is appropriate for my age group, because it teaches a whole moral lesson, it teaches young girls and young boys what happens in the real world, and life is not about rainbows and stars.. I just think this got too out of hand, I think the whole situation was just blown out of proportion.... *Spoiler* "At first I was nervous about telling the truth, especially now that I finally knew what the truth was.....................................................................................................................................I still believe that there's such a thing as the truth, and I still never try to lie......... I was, every time I told and retold the story of how some boys, my former best friends, touched me on the bus. " I mean that ending was just excellent! I think the author did a great job, and I look forward to reading more of her books, because this has left me speechless. The one thing I had was so many questions, it was like every chapter was just leaving me confused. I guess that's what the author wanted for her book. It was a great read, and I recommend this book to everyone that is becoming a young adult, it will teach a lot!
November 11, 2011
What do you do when no one knows the truth – not even yourself?
Touch by Francine Prose
HarperTeen, New York, 2009.
“Touch” by Francine Prose may peak interest by the title alone, but the novel itself addresses many issues that young adolescents face in today’s society, such as acceptance, puberty, and family disputes. Maisie Willard was best friends with Shakes, Chris, and Kevin from pre-school until she moved to Wisconsin to live with her mother for a year. When she returned, raging hormones caused her and Shakes develop a “romantic” relationship in which she allowed him to fondle her breasts. Chris and Kevin harassed Maisie to do the same, and the occurrence, along with a vicious rumor, became public. When parents and lawyers got involved, Maisie was blinded by her anger and hurt and was unsure of what exactly transpired. Even though she endures taunting from her peers, pressure from her stepmother, and feelings of loyalty and resentment towards her former friends, Maisie must find a way to uncover the truth about what really happened.
The backbone of this novel lies with the emotions of Maisie. Prose accurately portrays a teenaged girl torn between her duty towards her friends and the resentment she feels after they disrespect her body. Even after the incident, she still sees them as her best friends, saying, “My three best friends touched my breasts on the back of the school bus” (4). However, by the end of the novel, referring to Shakes, she says, “It’s too late for us to be friends. I’ll never trust him the way I used to” (244). Prose also effectively shows the emotional turmoil a teenager would feel after the divorce of her parents. Maisie constantly thought, “If Mom and Dad are still so obsessed with each other, they should have stayed together” (19). Most children would yearn for their parents to reunite as Maisie did. Maisie was the only round character in the novel, seeing as the novel revolved around her emotions and thoughts. Her mother, father, and even Chris and Kevin, seemed underdeveloped as characters.
The plot of this piece is unique in the sense that it involved a girl’s breasts being violated. Many novels focus on rape or molestation, but this novel still had some innocence in the act. The boys were simply curious but did not want to cause physical harm. However, the novel could have focused on outer issues as well. Maisie’s home life was elaborated on at the beginning of the novel, but in the middle was almost nonexistent. She could have formed a relationship with the stepmother and forgiven her mother for leaving. Also, the facts that Maisie had known the boys since pre-school and that they had touched her breasts were constantly repeated, seeming repetitive after some time.
“Touch” is a fast read filled with a range of emotions, and for a novel about sexual assault, still has an air of innocence. Although the entire novel focuses on that one incidence, other issues are introduced that a young reader might find intriguing and could relate to. I was able to relate to Maisie because I was also teased at school concerning my weight. Prose has inspired me to write about the bullying I endured when I was younger, in hopes that young children will read my piece and will be able to overcome the taunting they may have to bear.
Touch by Francine Prose
HarperTeen, New York, 2009.
“Touch” by Francine Prose may peak interest by the title alone, but the novel itself addresses many issues that young adolescents face in today’s society, such as acceptance, puberty, and family disputes. Maisie Willard was best friends with Shakes, Chris, and Kevin from pre-school until she moved to Wisconsin to live with her mother for a year. When she returned, raging hormones caused her and Shakes develop a “romantic” relationship in which she allowed him to fondle her breasts. Chris and Kevin harassed Maisie to do the same, and the occurrence, along with a vicious rumor, became public. When parents and lawyers got involved, Maisie was blinded by her anger and hurt and was unsure of what exactly transpired. Even though she endures taunting from her peers, pressure from her stepmother, and feelings of loyalty and resentment towards her former friends, Maisie must find a way to uncover the truth about what really happened.
The backbone of this novel lies with the emotions of Maisie. Prose accurately portrays a teenaged girl torn between her duty towards her friends and the resentment she feels after they disrespect her body. Even after the incident, she still sees them as her best friends, saying, “My three best friends touched my breasts on the back of the school bus” (4). However, by the end of the novel, referring to Shakes, she says, “It’s too late for us to be friends. I’ll never trust him the way I used to” (244). Prose also effectively shows the emotional turmoil a teenager would feel after the divorce of her parents. Maisie constantly thought, “If Mom and Dad are still so obsessed with each other, they should have stayed together” (19). Most children would yearn for their parents to reunite as Maisie did. Maisie was the only round character in the novel, seeing as the novel revolved around her emotions and thoughts. Her mother, father, and even Chris and Kevin, seemed underdeveloped as characters.
The plot of this piece is unique in the sense that it involved a girl’s breasts being violated. Many novels focus on rape or molestation, but this novel still had some innocence in the act. The boys were simply curious but did not want to cause physical harm. However, the novel could have focused on outer issues as well. Maisie’s home life was elaborated on at the beginning of the novel, but in the middle was almost nonexistent. She could have formed a relationship with the stepmother and forgiven her mother for leaving. Also, the facts that Maisie had known the boys since pre-school and that they had touched her breasts were constantly repeated, seeming repetitive after some time.
“Touch” is a fast read filled with a range of emotions, and for a novel about sexual assault, still has an air of innocence. Although the entire novel focuses on that one incidence, other issues are introduced that a young reader might find intriguing and could relate to. I was able to relate to Maisie because I was also teased at school concerning my weight. Prose has inspired me to write about the bullying I endured when I was younger, in hopes that young children will read my piece and will be able to overcome the taunting they may have to bear.
October 20, 2013
Prose’s Touch is a True Eye-Opener
Have you ever gone through a bad experience and found yourself thinking it is absolutely terrible? Well, the reality of life is that someone else out in the world is most likely going through something even worse, even though what you experienced might have been terrible. Maisie(the main character) experiences something no teenage girl should ever have to go through. But throughout the book Maisie realizes how her situation compares to others in the world. Prose does a good job of putting real life evidence into her realistic fiction book, which makes this story seem very real and almost as if the reader is experiencing everything along side the main character. Throughout Touch Maisie's eyes are finally opened and the true message of the story is revealed.
Maisie experiences something on the back of the bus that no teenage girl should have to experience. She wants to just forget about the situation entirely but her step mom Joan wants something serious to be done about it. Maisie is put in a long process of “recovery” and therapy. Her therapist helps her to discover what truly happened that day, so everyone can be put in their rightful place. After Maisie’s entire experience she learns something very important.
I turn on the news to learn what is going on in the world. And when I see the people who are poor, or who have just lost someone in their family, or who are in the middle of a war raging around them- well I don’t know how to explain it, but I just feel sorrier for them than I did before(Prose 212).
Throughout Maisie’s experience her eyes have been opened to what other horrible things are going on in the world. Now, after what she has gone through she feels even sorrier for these people than she would have if nothing would have happened to her in the first place.
I would recommend this book to teenage girls. This is because the book’s topic in general is very mature and is best suited for girls in their teens. I would give this book a 3 out of 5 stars. In my opinion the book was described very thoroughly and was full of detail. Also Prose did a good job of making the message of the book very prominent and strong. But overall I did not like the topic of the book, and because of this,this book was not very enjoyable to read.
Have you ever gone through a bad experience and found yourself thinking it is absolutely terrible? Well, the reality of life is that someone else out in the world is most likely going through something even worse, even though what you experienced might have been terrible. Maisie(the main character) experiences something no teenage girl should ever have to go through. But throughout the book Maisie realizes how her situation compares to others in the world. Prose does a good job of putting real life evidence into her realistic fiction book, which makes this story seem very real and almost as if the reader is experiencing everything along side the main character. Throughout Touch Maisie's eyes are finally opened and the true message of the story is revealed.
Maisie experiences something on the back of the bus that no teenage girl should have to experience. She wants to just forget about the situation entirely but her step mom Joan wants something serious to be done about it. Maisie is put in a long process of “recovery” and therapy. Her therapist helps her to discover what truly happened that day, so everyone can be put in their rightful place. After Maisie’s entire experience she learns something very important.
I turn on the news to learn what is going on in the world. And when I see the people who are poor, or who have just lost someone in their family, or who are in the middle of a war raging around them- well I don’t know how to explain it, but I just feel sorrier for them than I did before(Prose 212).
Throughout Maisie’s experience her eyes have been opened to what other horrible things are going on in the world. Now, after what she has gone through she feels even sorrier for these people than she would have if nothing would have happened to her in the first place.
I would recommend this book to teenage girls. This is because the book’s topic in general is very mature and is best suited for girls in their teens. I would give this book a 3 out of 5 stars. In my opinion the book was described very thoroughly and was full of detail. Also Prose did a good job of making the message of the book very prominent and strong. But overall I did not like the topic of the book, and because of this,this book was not very enjoyable to read.
August 14, 2009
Touch has a really good premise. I like the description, reading about the mystery of what happened that fateful day on the bus. But... the book fell flat for me. The description on the cover flap is the high point- the actual novel is more meh.
The writing is good. It sounds young, it's clipped with short sentences, but that's the point (I'm assuming). Maisie is, after all, only 14. She's not some wise-old adult. She doesn't have a mature voice, and that's fine. Although sometimes, Maisie would come to some revelation, and would try to be wise. I didn't think that really worked, but it was only a few times, so it wasn't too bad.
The characters aren't bad. But they're not all that interesting either. Maisie tries to be tough- and for the most part, she handles everything pretty well. But she's immature and tends to wallow in her pity. She's somewhat close-minded, as she can't seem to understand that her step-mother isn't really all that bad and actually is trying to help in her own way. (Or at least, I think so.) Maisie has 3 childhood friends, all boys. Two of them aren't very important and don't have any personality but that they can be rude and well, like young teenage boys. Shakes, on the other hand, is distinguished by the fact that he has some slight problems. He doesn't walk properly, he has to think before he speaks, he shakes and twitches, which is where his nickname came from.
The ending was a split between predictable and unexpected. Mostly predictable, although some things were a surprise. I guess though, that's life. The ending is realistic and resolved, but it doesn't feel complete. I was a bit put out at the ending. But then again, I had to force myself to finish this book. I feel like there was supposed to be this major twist- Maisie figuring out the truth- but it was so obvious it was coming, that I wasn't very interested or stunned.
Overall, Touch is decent. But it's by no means amazing. It's a tale of a girl who maybe something happened to on the back of a bus, and the discovery of figuring out the truth. Read if you find that you're interested in the description, but don't get your hopes up all that high, is what I say. The novel isn't nearly captivating enough to live up to the description.
The writing is good. It sounds young, it's clipped with short sentences, but that's the point (I'm assuming). Maisie is, after all, only 14. She's not some wise-old adult. She doesn't have a mature voice, and that's fine. Although sometimes, Maisie would come to some revelation, and would try to be wise. I didn't think that really worked, but it was only a few times, so it wasn't too bad.
The characters aren't bad. But they're not all that interesting either. Maisie tries to be tough- and for the most part, she handles everything pretty well. But she's immature and tends to wallow in her pity. She's somewhat close-minded, as she can't seem to understand that her step-mother isn't really all that bad and actually is trying to help in her own way. (Or at least, I think so.) Maisie has 3 childhood friends, all boys. Two of them aren't very important and don't have any personality but that they can be rude and well, like young teenage boys. Shakes, on the other hand, is distinguished by the fact that he has some slight problems. He doesn't walk properly, he has to think before he speaks, he shakes and twitches, which is where his nickname came from.
The ending was a split between predictable and unexpected. Mostly predictable, although some things were a surprise. I guess though, that's life. The ending is realistic and resolved, but it doesn't feel complete. I was a bit put out at the ending. But then again, I had to force myself to finish this book. I feel like there was supposed to be this major twist- Maisie figuring out the truth- but it was so obvious it was coming, that I wasn't very interested or stunned.
Overall, Touch is decent. But it's by no means amazing. It's a tale of a girl who maybe something happened to on the back of a bus, and the discovery of figuring out the truth. Read if you find that you're interested in the description, but don't get your hopes up all that high, is what I say. The novel isn't nearly captivating enough to live up to the description.
November 10, 2009
What really happened that day in the back of the school bus? This story is tragically realistic, and it is written well for its intended age group. It can be hard to find something for junior high and early high school students on a tough topic like inappropriate touching or sexual assault without being a full-on troubling teen novel about rape, incest, or other disturbing sexual violence. While its important to hear the voices of female victims of any type of assault, "Touch" tells a more subtle story that unfortunately may be much more common and easily-dismissed than we might think.
Maisie has always been best friends with Shakes, Chris, and Kevin. It never seemed to matter before that she was the only girl. They did everything together, up until Maisie left for a year to spend 8th grade with her mother out-of-state. She returns for 9th grade to find that her old friends can't seem to see past her newly-developed chest, and she now feels painfully alone and alienated by her own body. What initially begins as consensual cuddling with one of her old friends on the morning bus ride transforms into an ugly incident of unwanted chest-groping from all three of her so-called best friends, with subsequent spreading of dirty rumors about her around school. Maisie feels confused and hurt and unable to distinguish between truth and lie as she recounts her story. After a witness tells the principal, Maisie's overzealous stepmother quickly jumps in, ever so eager to sue the school and anyone else she can blame. Between Maisie's stepmother, her therapist, the taunting kids at school, and Maisie's underlying feelings of betrayal yet lingering loyalty to her old friends, Maisie tries to piece together the events that led to what really happened on the bus. I was impressed with how Prose was able to take a really complicated and multi-layered issue and present it as an authentic-sounding yet simple narrative of a young freshman. Maisie's realizations about herself as a victim and the people around her ring true as life lessons learned the tragic way by someone still coming of age, but she pulls through with a realistic yet admirable amount of strength.
Maisie has always been best friends with Shakes, Chris, and Kevin. It never seemed to matter before that she was the only girl. They did everything together, up until Maisie left for a year to spend 8th grade with her mother out-of-state. She returns for 9th grade to find that her old friends can't seem to see past her newly-developed chest, and she now feels painfully alone and alienated by her own body. What initially begins as consensual cuddling with one of her old friends on the morning bus ride transforms into an ugly incident of unwanted chest-groping from all three of her so-called best friends, with subsequent spreading of dirty rumors about her around school. Maisie feels confused and hurt and unable to distinguish between truth and lie as she recounts her story. After a witness tells the principal, Maisie's overzealous stepmother quickly jumps in, ever so eager to sue the school and anyone else she can blame. Between Maisie's stepmother, her therapist, the taunting kids at school, and Maisie's underlying feelings of betrayal yet lingering loyalty to her old friends, Maisie tries to piece together the events that led to what really happened on the bus. I was impressed with how Prose was able to take a really complicated and multi-layered issue and present it as an authentic-sounding yet simple narrative of a young freshman. Maisie's realizations about herself as a victim and the people around her ring true as life lessons learned the tragic way by someone still coming of age, but she pulls through with a realistic yet admirable amount of strength.
March 24, 2011
Something happened to Maisie when she and 3 other boys, her best friends, were at the back of the bus during a school trip. But none of them are telling the truth. Soon, the story explodes and parents, the school and lawyers are called in. It becomes news and everyone’s lives are changed.
Touch is a good book for young teenagers who want to be introduced to more “dramatic” genres of YA fiction, sub-genres involving molestation, rape, and so on and so forth. The subject matter here is on molestation, and in this book, it’s rather tame so there isn’t any need for worry there.
Maisie’s voice is a strong one here and one really feels her struggles in transiting from a young girl to a teenager. From someone whose best friends are 3 boys, after going away for a year, she comes back to 3 boys who seem to only see the breasts she had grown over the year. She may not be the most objective narrator as seen from her extreme bias towards her stepmother and stepfather, but it may be true that her stepmother is a vapid shell of a woman and her stepfather is a overgrown brat.
While the main story is about the truth of what happened that day on the bus, the book doesn’t really focus on it but rather on Maisie’s life, before and after the incident. The plot doesn’t contain intricate details neither does it make you keep guessing as to what actually happened at the back of the bus but it is a good story to introduce young teens on such fiction.
The ending is, for lack of a better word, lame and I really wished it could have been better. Things seem to wrap up all nicely and things like that in real life rarely do. Still, it was a good read and I’d recommend it to all young readers.
Touch is a good book for young teenagers who want to be introduced to more “dramatic” genres of YA fiction, sub-genres involving molestation, rape, and so on and so forth. The subject matter here is on molestation, and in this book, it’s rather tame so there isn’t any need for worry there.
Maisie’s voice is a strong one here and one really feels her struggles in transiting from a young girl to a teenager. From someone whose best friends are 3 boys, after going away for a year, she comes back to 3 boys who seem to only see the breasts she had grown over the year. She may not be the most objective narrator as seen from her extreme bias towards her stepmother and stepfather, but it may be true that her stepmother is a vapid shell of a woman and her stepfather is a overgrown brat.
While the main story is about the truth of what happened that day on the bus, the book doesn’t really focus on it but rather on Maisie’s life, before and after the incident. The plot doesn’t contain intricate details neither does it make you keep guessing as to what actually happened at the back of the bus but it is a good story to introduce young teens on such fiction.
The ending is, for lack of a better word, lame and I really wished it could have been better. Things seem to wrap up all nicely and things like that in real life rarely do. Still, it was a good read and I’d recommend it to all young readers.
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