Johnson, Maureen (2005). Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes. NY: Harper Collins. ISBN: 0060541423. 321 pages.
Three months following the death of her beloved aunt, seventeen-year-old Ginny receives a letter in the mail; bearing a British postmark and Aunt Peg's signature, the letter includes $1000 in cash, instructions to purchase a plane ticket to New York and then London, and instructions to contact an old friend in Manhattan for further direction. When Ginny gets to Manhattan, she recieves a package containing 13 envelopes which, as she is instructed, she is to open one at a time as she follows written directions for travel across Europe. Divided into sections in accordance with the envelope Ginny has opened and is addressing, the novel is a travelogue of a rather shy teen girl's trip to and through The Continent. While the progressive envelope opening is an intresting trope that proves somewhat intriguing, the book as a whole doesn't hold up. I get the feeling that this trip is supposed to serve as metaphor for Ginny's character and that, as it becomes progressively more demanding (and dirty), we readers are supposed to cheer as she triumphs. Instead, I don't really get a sense of Ginny as a character who grows or changes in any way; a sub-plot involving her fated romantic encounters with a British college student doesn't do much for me either. Told in the third person, this novel might be more effective as a first-person narrative. Here, much of the text is involved in the literal description of her travels; a narrative closer to the character might allow us to connect with Ginny a bit more. Still, the sexy cover and heavy marketing campaign (I'd already seen this prominently displayed in my local chain bookstores) will lure teens to the cover while the fantastic premise and soft romance might attract fans of the similarly voiced Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. |
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