This novel has a strong start. Two girls in the bathroom are convincing another that the guy she came with is not worth her tears, and touching up her make-up for her. I really do like scenes showing the positive side of female relationships. In fact, to this book's huge credit, not one of the girls she meets is bitchy towards her. She makes friends with a good group at the camp, and I loved reading every scene of them hanging out. They felt like people I could hang out with, and reminded me a lot of my Texas group of friends.
Lucy has three hobbies, which are treated with equal levels of respect from the text. She loves make-up, and runs a fairly popular YouTube channel. She played piano when she was young and very well, but has fallen slightly out of doing it. She's also on the swim team and will be captain next year, which she likes because her Mom used to do it. Three hobbies, and some books fail to give female characters one single interest. Add to that her religious background and her flaws, and she feels like a real person. She hasn't quite got the charity part of the bible down - she acts like helping at a camp for disadvantaged children will be the worst thing ever - but as time goes on there, she grows as a person. She's not so good at the love thy neighbour part, either - she judges Tara when she first meets her. However, over the course of the book, she develops as both a character and a person. And she has her heart in the right place, at least, when she helps Anna out, even if she's not always sure of what to do.
Lukas isn't awful, except he is. He doesn't exactly tell Lucy she shouldn't wear her dress and make-up, but he does show he's not entirely happy with it, either. In Lukas's mind, Lucy completes him. She's the perfect high-school romance pastor's daughter complement to his aspiring doctor. But he doesn't see her as her own person, with her own thoughts, feelings, problems and dreams. As soon as she starts showing a side he considers less than perfect, he tells her he wants to take a break. Compared to Lukas, Jones seems overly perfect, but it is obvious throughout the book that he is dealing with his own demons.
The Names They Gave Us is a very interesting title. Obviously, most people are given their name by their parents, so Lucy is Lucy Esther Hansson. However, we are all given different names by different people. Many people at the camp have probably been called all sorts of awful names, based on their race or parentage or perceived sexual conduct. However, we also often get nice names, nicknames from friends and names we make for ourselves. Anna doesn't like people using her last name, since it's hard to pronounce, but that was given to her, too. However, as she says, she likes being called Anna. The last name is just an excuse. She has probably been called by the incorrect name she was given at birth many times before. To illustrate my point, I will quote my favourite lines from the book. "I'm not Pastor Dave's daughter right now, and I'm certainly not Lukas's girlfriend. Not Bird or Swim Team Captain or even LucyEsMakeup. But I don't have a name for who I am. Lucy, obviously, but a Lucy that I'm only starting to figure out. Maybe I'm a little in love with her, too."
I love how Lucy had such a strong relationship with her family. It's nice to see, especially in YA fiction, a good model for how families are supposed to be. And her Mom shows that someone without a stable home life can still grow up to be a successful adult. I recognised so much of my own family in hers. Saturday nights were our movie nights. Girly evenings with just us when Dad was away for work were our thing. With recent events in my family, this book was a hard read. I don't know what it's like to have a mother with cancer. I don't even know what it's like for everyone going through the death of a parent. I can only say what it was like for me to go through, when my Mum died. So much of what was in my head, I recognised in Lucy's narration. I also related to the way she was around her friends. That feeling of finding the one place you fit in. Finding the place where you can be yourself, just yourself, and that's enough, and these people would like you no matter what.
Lucy deals many with a group of 8-year-old campers. I felt that their age ranges were never consistent. One point, they felt more like 5-year-olds, the next they're talking like teens. At one point, one of them can't recognise a fox, calling it an "orange dog." Although maybe that would be realistic, for children who've gone through as much as they have? One thing I wish is that we got more backstory on each of them, to find out why they are here at a camp for disadvantaged children. It's obvious something horrible has happened in the past to them, but the book sort-of glosses over this aspect.
I loved the story of Posy and the Wishing Tree, and if I had the ability, I would get it made up as an illustrated book. For children, adults or teenagers who need it. It might seem a dark subject to represent with a picture book, but I think it could work. I'd put a content warning on the cover, of course, but I do believe people underestimate the ability of children to deal with dark things. And you never know what little child may need a story like that as a push to come forward with an issue like that which may be bothering them at home.
An awful lot of this novel deals with faith. Lucy is a pastor's kid, but starts to question her beliefs after her Mom's news. I'm not religious, but I understand that it is a major part of many people's lives. I do enjoy reading about it in books as long as it doesn't turn preachy, which in my opinion it never did here. With so much of it juxtaposed with her Mom's illness, it drove home how little many religious phrases helped me in my similar situation. We got a few of these in condolence cards, and for me they did not help any. I do understand that faith can be a huge help to some people in these type of situations. Just that for me, it didn't help. The one thing I did appreciate was the phrase "you're in my prayers." Even as an atheist, I understand the sentiment behind it.
Side note: who on earth can't recognise daisies? Lucy, apparently. "Anna slowed us down by picking roadside flowers. She calls them daisies, but I think they might be fancy weeds."
As a non-religious person, I feel odd about recommending a novel about faith to people. As someone who hasn't faced many of the issues handled in this book, I feel odd about recommending it for them, either. I'll just say that if anything in this book sounds like something you'd like to read about, give it a try.
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