Big Mouth & Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates Matt Donaghy(Big Mouth) is accused of planning to blow up his school. He never planned anything like that, but the police and the school accuse him anyways. His friends desert him. But Ugly Girl(Ursula Riggs) heard the conversation that she is sure started the whole scare. And Ugly Girl does not have anything to lose by telling the truth. So she tells it. Matt is cleared of any wrongdoing, but his former friends remain hostile. He resents the school, and becomes depressed. He feels that only his golden retriever is still there for him. He decides to commit suicide. As he is about to let himself fall down the cliff at the local nature preserve, Ugly Girl comes by and saves him. They become friends, and Matt is able to gain from the experience.
This story is told mostly with alternating chapters by Ugly Girl and Matt. Ugly Girl generally refers to herself as Ugly Girl and in the third person, but Matt talks about himself in the first person. Some chapters are told in the third person, generally following our two protagonists.
Although I am somewhat skeptical of the premise that the school would really turn against a kid on so little evidence, and that all of his friends would abandon him, once the premise has been assumed, this is a good story told by unusual and interesting characters.
Your opinion is hereby solicited: in a group of teenage friends, if one is unfairly accused of plotting to blow up the school, and the friends
know that this is untrue, will the friends come to the defendant's support? Would you come to the defense of an unjustly accused friend? Would you come to the defense of an unjustly accused stranger? Do the consequences of the action affect your decision?
Happy reading.
