The thing that really hit me about Ellen Foster was how the narration switched between her present life with her new parents and her old life when her mother died. It confused me slightly when I first started reading it, so I did a double take and reread it. After understanding that the plot was changing with each paragraph, I really began to like how it was set up. This switching between plots made the book way more interesting for me. I felt like as soon as it change to present day form the past, or vice versa, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for it to return. The choice of changing timelines is very interesting to me. I have never seen that in a book before, but I feel as if other books shouldn’t copy it. The changing in narration is very special to Ellen Foster and that makes the book even better than just the content of the story. Another thing I really noticed was the girls general lack of emotion during the whole “your mother is dying” situation. She doesn’t particularly act how someone would expect. She doesn’t cry, or become angry. She just carries on with her life. I think this displays a certain amount of mental strength that many people don’t have, and I believe her lack of showing emotions will show later in the story.
I very much agree with your observations. I found it very unusual how the author chose to write the book. I didn't find very much importance of the lack of emotions, whereas you did. After reading your post, I realized how it really does shape Ellen's character. Well done!
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