Ophelia by Charlotte Gingras - OPTIONAL

Ophelia by Charlotte Gingras, 261 pgs. Groundwood Books, 2018. $16.95 

Language – PG13 (11 swears, 1 “f”), Mature Content – R (explicit sex); Violence – PG

HS – OPTIONAL. 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Ophelia isn’t her real name, but she adopts the name to express herself and where she is in life. In a series of letters and doodles, Ophelia starts to figure out who she is—and who she can be. Though she promises not to send the letters that she is writing, they make a difference in her life, thus also impacting those around her.

At first, I didn’t understand Ophelia and her story, so the story felt slow to me. However, as Ophelia continued to write about her life, her thoughts, and her feelings, I started to see myself in her. We all experience loneliness and the feeling that we don’t fit in. While I think that the sexual content in the last 50 pages of the book were too explicit, those scenes help to illustrate how much Ophelia grows in the space of her story. Ophelia’s story is one of acceptance and respect for others, and the beauty comes in how her love for others comes naturally once she learns to accept and respect herself. 

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen