In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything
  • Loretta Gaffney
Lockhart, E. Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything. Delacorte, 2006 [192p] Library ed. ISBN 0-385-90299-9$17.99 Trade ed. ISBN 0-385-73281-3$15.95 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12

Gretchen Yee can't stop obsessing about Titus, one of a gang of "Art Rats" that dominates her artsy magnet school; in fact, Gretchen is obsessed with boys in general, wishing aloud that she could be a fly on the wall of their locker room to gain greater insight. Suddenly, her wish is granted quite literally, and while she's not crazy about her new look as a fly—a body covered in tiny hairs and a lower lip that is "nothing but a tube"—she revels in buzzing around because it makes her feel like one of the comic-book superheroes she loves to draw. Moreover, she soon discovers that the boys' locker room is surprisingly educational—bodies (good or mediocre) can be hidden by deceiving clothing; those who brag about the size of their "gherkins" may be exaggerating; homophobia is everywhere, running the gamut from teasing to outright violence; and Titus has a secret that he is afraid to reveal even to his closest friends. Though Gretchen's transformation into a fly requires a significant suspension of disbelief, the comic-book motif (combined with Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" as an assigned reading for English class) lays some of the groundwork. Once readers embrace the conceit, the stylish text (rendered nearly multivocal by the periodic font changes) combined with Gretchen's frank fascination with the oddity and then the humanity of the male body and psyche are [End Page 364] a rare treat. This demystification of bodies and sex, combined with some powerful knowledge—both about certain boys in her class, and about herself as an artist and a person—arm Gretchen well for her return to human form, where she learns to embrace her unique comic-book-hero style in a conclusion that will please budding artists and the boy-curious alike.

...

pdf

Share