Jumpedby Rita Williams-Garcia
YA
If you are looking for a book with alternating POV, look no further (says the person ensconced in graduate school). Seriously, POV is a big thing. Another tool to manipulate in the dark labs of mad writers everywhere.
Cut to mad scientist laugh. Bauhahahahaha!
All joking aside, this is a gut-wrenching book, much like "Precious." You've gotta read it, even though it's like watching a train wreck unfold in slow motion that rips your heart out and puts it back, still beating, but its rhythm changed forever.
In short, artistically, slightly full of herself but living in her own world of happiness Trina cuts in front of thuggish Dominique just before school starts. Leticia sees it happen. She also sees that Dominique is going to jump Trina for cutting her. The events unfold from there. Dominique explaining why she has to jump Trina, to set things straight. Trina, blissfully unaware Dominique is going to pummel her into the concrete, revealing how happy she is at the new school because it's got art classes. And Leticia trying to convince herself why she doesn't need to step in to stop the fight.
Each girl is so real, so pulsing with life, I expected any one of them to appear around the corner at any minute. The book is that well written. It's also gritty. Abdicating responsibility. Territorial defense. Artistic cluelessness. They all come together and leave the reader wondering, Can we all get along? Is it even possible? What kind of world are we really living in today?
Heavy stuff. Food for thought. For ponder.
Williams-Garcia doesn't let her reader off the hook. She holds you fast until the last word is spent. The last mistake made. The last ambivalence uttered. That question still thudding: What would I have done? What?
What?
What?
For more fascinating, fun, and full court reads, hop over to
Barrie Summy's website!
One more time...please welcome Rita William Garcia to the Tollbooth.
Hi Rita! This week has been a lot of fun and educational. I loved hearing about your thoughts on the "first person." And I may jump back to yesterday's post with some questions...but today, let's focus on one of the most essential elements of any book: novel, picture book, or non fiction. THE ENDING.
And WOW--The ending of JUMPED does it all....
It's controversial.
It's inevitable.
It's surprising.
PROVACATIVE.
(I loved it!)
(that's the beating heart that must begin on page one...and keep going all the way to the last page.)
So let's talk....
In general, where in the process do you know how your story will end? Now specifically, when did you craft the ending of JUMPED?
I knew my ending before I began writing.
Wow. That is sort of daunting.
It wasn’t so much about crafting but beginning with a clear point of view, which was my basis for writing the story. Namely, girl violence is on the rise, and a good deal of it is random and baseless. Now, JUMPED was my toughest novel and I scrapped it and restarted many, many times. With each trek into the desert, I had to keep the oasis in view. I always asked during the writing if the ending still held now that my characters were becoming more filled in. I was prepared to make adjustments if needed.
I think I will make a sign that says, “Be prepared to make adjustments.” That is so true on every level of revision.
Did you consider any alternate endings for JUMPED? (In other words: did you ever consider protecting your characters?)
No. I did make a narrative POV change that allowed me to push ahead. But no. I was pretty much goal focused. I promised myself I’d change course if the characters and story dictated a different outcome, but seriously…what else could have happened? Leticia could have warned Lottie, who told Dottie, and then got word to Ivan, who would have told Trina, and then Trina could have cut out of school. But what would that have served? Coach could have said, “Duncan. I’ll let you play, if you get a note from your teachers saying you’re currently in good standing.” Or, I could have Dominique question herself and take a deep reflective look at her anger and the true source of it. Nah. Goes against character. Trina, with body guards, could have gone up to Dominique and asked her why she wanted to jump her and then Dominique would have realized how trite her reasons were. Makes for great conflict resolution but would you believe that? I wouldn’t.
Nope. Me neither. But it was brave of you not to try!
When I was a student at VCFA, most of my advisors asked me to consider offering the reader “hope” at the end of my stories. Do you see hope or promise at the end of this book? What emotions do you hope your readers will experience?
This is definitely not a book of hope, and I think an older reader can handle that. That’s not to say, in this bit of comic realism that I don’t see change. Change happens within Trina. It’s not the type of change we’d like to see happen to a character, but Trina can never be as blind as when we first meet her. She’s forever changed. That’s good and bad.
Change. That's right. It is good. And bad. And authentic.
Just a side note: When I was working with people post traumatic brain injury, the family always needed time to mourn the person “that was.” But as rehab progressed, we all got to know the person that remained, and that person often had new strengths and new goals. One mom said it best: “I thought I knew what my child was going to become. Now I see new possibilities. They are different, but still so meaningful.”
(Not to put any pressure, but I’d love to read about Trina four years from now. How she is experiencing her world through these new eyes.)
So...how is Jumped different from your other work?
In No Laughter Here, 
I could offer the reader optimism as small as a girl’s tiny giggle, because there must be hope for Victoria and for the millions of girls affected by FGM. JUMPED is different. Everyone has a hand in this outcome. Leticia could warn Trina. Trina could have a more realistic view of herself and the world around her. Dominique could turn it around. But no one looks at self in a meaningful way. Optimism or hope must be earned into realism and no one has earned it, so I can’t give it. I do want my readers to experience something, but it isn’t emotion. I want the reader to consider their own role in this story.
School attacks rarely happen without witnesses. Having witnesses or spectators is part of the appeal of the attack. The attacker is making a statement about self. How many of us stand around and watch like it’s pay-per-view and then add to the attacker’s lore by spreading a play-by-play account? Excuse me, videotape it. We now videotape these attacks. It’s easy to shift responsibility to the attacker, but we, as witnesses of and listeners to accounts of these attacks must also take responsibility.
Observers have always been an essential part of violence. Check out Facing History for an organization dedicated to studying moral choices.
And I’m glad you mentioned video. The media’s fueling of violence does make its way to everyone. Don’t get me started.
There will always be the classic bullying story where the protagonist overcomes the bully. David Almond’s bullying and grief story
The Savage absolutely dazzles and uplifts. But my kids are older. Fights and attacks break out with little provocation. The problem is more societal than localized to a bully. I have to turn it back at society. Or us.
(I am clapping my hands and standing...yes, I agree!!!)
Leticia gets the first and last words of the story. Did you ever consider giving Trina or Dominique the last word?
No. This was always Leticia’s story. Dominique and Trina are set in motion. As inevitable as Trina cutting through Dominique’s space at the wrong time. It’s only Leticia who can have an effect, but of course, she chooses not to. We know she hasn’t learned anything because she, in typical Leticia fashion, can only think about the celebrity aspect of this attack. I do bring all girls together in the final chapter, as well as Leticia’s conscience, Bea. Trina is forever altered and traumatized, Dominique is in prison getting harder, and Leticia doesn’t change. So, we have an anti-novel. No change for the main character, and no ray of hope. At what point do we stop watching the train wreck?
We are a nation of rubberneckers. (no picture necessary.)
Friendship and making choices—or choiceless choice—are important themes or threads in JUMPED. Can you speak a little bit about these ideas? How did you feel writing from Letitia’s POV?
It boils down to honesty. Your friends support you, but they should also be honest with you. A good, true friend is always a life line—but you have to be willing to take it. Dominique has friends, a boyfriend, the respect of the stars on her team, but no one challenges her. I’m sure they’re afraid of her. Trina thinks she has friends but in reality has bonded with no one. If she slowed down to be real with herself, we’d see that she wants a “polypeptide” bond with people around her, an unknown father, a missing piece. But Trina has built this wall of “ain’t I great,” pushing everyone away. She just can’t see it. Well, she, unbeknownst to her, she has one true friend. Ivan is honest with her. Leticia is just one friend away from being in the same boat as Trina. She could even have a healthy relationship with a guy. But her priorities are out of whack and she loses everything. She just doesn’t know it. .
I have to say, Leticia made me laugh. Of course, I wanted to shake her, but I liked her even when I didn’t like her.
What advice do you have for your readers, especially those dealing with bullying and violence?
Peace be with you. 
It’s hard out there.
I’m not going to pretend I have the magic wand, which is why JUMPED can’t end in that optimistic, empowering way. It does help to have a constant group of friends, as it’s easier to target loners. If you are being bullied, you must tell someone in authority, and even that has its consequences. I am not joking. It’s hard out there. Girl violence and random attacks are as equally on the rise as bullying. I should make something clear: Dominique isn’t a classic bully, but she is a time bomb. Dominique doesn’t go trolling for targets, as a bully would. She’s a person with rage and respect issues who is frustrated by being denied her sense of control, respect and identity. Taken away, the rage comes out and Trina happens to be in the wrong spot, making herself a pink target with her “hot-chick” bulls eye. Even though I have Dominique in a counseling class to learn to make better choices, she’s a step above the simple solutions and knows how to “do time” in the system. Hold that thought, ‘Nique. That’s going to come in handy. In spite of that failure, I still believe the intervention must come to the attacker. That’s where change must happen. Unfortunately, the target has less options, and the school systems generally fail to protect them.
Rita, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to answer these questions, but more important, for talking honestly about JUMPED and its social implications.
If you have questions for Rita, please post them today, or contact her on her website!
http://www.ritawg.com/
-Sarah Aronson
Rita’s Week Continues!
...With a review of her soon to be released novel for a Brand New Book Club and an exclusive interview on how she bent time and managed multiple narrators.
JUMPED
by Rita Williams-Garcia
A review
Dominique: the bully
Leticia: the witness
Trina: the victim
Three high school girls. One typical day. One telling moment. In Rita Williams-Garcia’s new novel Jumped (HarperTeen/Amistad, March, 2009) she takes a hard look at human nature.
Zero period and the ever-observant gossip, Leticia, fakes her escape from class “to be outside where the dirt is fresh and the gossip is good.” Leticia’s got her ear to the ground, catching it all “while it’s clicking and flashing; what they’re wearing, who they’re with, and what they’re saying.” And she hits pay dirt.
Down the hall comes self-absorbed, pink-pretty Trina, who waltzes through life certain that when “people see me, they see walking art.” But Trina’s dance places her in Dominique’s path, and just then Dominique, a fierce basketball player, is angry at the world. Coach has benched her for poor grades and Dominique is fuming for a fight.
“She cuts a knife through my space then turns,” says Dominique about Trina, who has, unaware, insulted Dominique by walking too near. “And I slam my fist into my other hand because she’s good as jumped…”
Giddy with this gossip—that Dominique will lay in wait for the unsuspecting Trina after school—Leticia dials her friend, Bea. But Bea disappoints her by asking her to get involved. “You gotta give Trina a clue,” she says… “You’re the only one who witnessed it all go down. This is your mess.”
Will Leticia decide Bea is right? That being a witness makes it her mess?
Jumped plays out the tensions inherent in this moral question. In a dovetailing drama that unfolds through multiple narrators in the space of several hours, the novel, like growing up itself, flows like a river, pulls you down the rapids and sends you inexorably over the falls.
Williams-Garcia is a master of voice and spare, rhythmic prose, which she uses to dig to the heart of each character and deliver them up in all their self-importance. And the beauty of this book is how skillfully the author hits her mark. A feat accomplished not through introspection but the weave of inspired action which draws the reader relentlessly to its tough conclusion.
---zu vincent
Hold on, there's more....
Rita’s Secrets for Bending Time and Managing Multiple Narrators
Q: The novel takes place over one day. Have you used this technique before?
When I was in college, I sold a short story to Essence Magazine that was never published. The story takes place within the time frame of a girl and her boyfriend standing at a red light before crossing at the green light. Within those thirty seconds the girl decides whether she’ll continue on with her boyfriend. Other than that, this is it.
Q: Why did you choose this compressed time frame?
Many reasons. I didn’t want to delve into the girls’ home lives any more than I had. I didn’t want to point to social issues to explain why Dominique is the way she is or give easy answers.
Instead, I thought it would be fitting to handle a seemingly random act in a tight space. And since it’s predicated on so little, the merciful thing to do for the reader would be to not belabor the storytelling. These brutal attacks usually just happen. (I actually saw one today on the F Train. Three girls and a woman who supposedly kicked one of the girls. ) To stretch it, I’d have to make Dominique question her actions when I didn’t believe she would.
And honestly, there is nothing Trina could do to make amends to Dominique. It’s so not about Trina although she is the casualty. Realistically, in a story that takes place over time, I wouldn’t have been able to keep Dominique’s intentions away from Trina. In that case, it would be out of Leticia’s hands and I wanted to keep Leticia on the hook.
Q: What were the challenges of writing in such a short time span?
Back story. Digression. Characters yakking about their outlook on life. How much can I get away with and yet move the story forward? I have a folder filled with unused chapters, all under the, “Covered that already,” banner. One of my favorites involves Leticia and her mother shopping on Seventh Avenue and Leticia getting into it with some shopper. Funny Leticia and Bridgette story but I covered it.
Q: What were the advantages and disadvantages of this technique?
Well, it should work for the story you’re telling. Not everyone can wear the hot new fashion that’s got everyone buzzing, nor can a storytelling technique be grabbed off the rack. When the fit is good, everything falls like dominoes. You achieve a nice symmetry. When it’s an ill fit, we all point. “Look at Rita Williams-Garcia in that thang. What was she thinking?”
I liked this form for this story because the field of battle is contained. The structure—nine periods times three students, was pretty much laid out for me. We know we’re headed for 2:45pm. The disadvantages are, you are wedded to that tight space. It leaves little room to play around in. You build a huge “Unused” folder.
Q: How did you face narrative arc, pace, and character change in such a compressed time frame?
I gave each character her own arc in a moment of truth that all happens just before the attack. Trina’s moment of truth comes in art class when Ivan won’t let her live in her bubble. Be prepared, Trina. That ain’t all.
Leticia’s happens in her chemistry class, and Dominique’s occurs in Coach’s office—one last chance to turn it around.
So you have these three characters in rising states anger, anxiety and rage mounted relatively close together in the chapters before the attack. There’s nowhere else to take this but to its inevitable collision.
Thank you Rita! We'll see you again tomorrow with Stephanie Greene on The Tollbooth. ~z.v.
