Girl Upside Down - A Novella

Reviews of Girl Upside Down

I object to the phrase “very unique” because something is either unique or it’s not. But… this little book by Susan Isla Tepper is so completely different from anything I’ve ever read that I can’t stop the “very” from pushing its way in front of the “unique.” Fans of Tepper know she is a writer who grabs and holds readers hostage until the last page, and this story is so compelling that I promise you will read it in one sitting; like me, you will NOT be able to put it down. I loved every single moment.

— Robin Stratton, author of Some Have Gone And Some Remain

Susan Isla Tepper is a writer of extravagant and diverse gifts. Her prose can turn on a dime and give you nine cents change, make you laugh or break your heart. And she’s not afraid to explore the darker corners. In Girl Upside Down all her skills are on display: wit, empathy, intelligence, graceful sentences. The connected prose for these hybrids is the perfect vehicle for her questing acumen. Her eye here falls equally on cakes and boobs, guns and fireworks. One character muses, "It’s a big mistake to get used to something that isn’t yours…” Impermanence is the jungle we live in. Tepper is a trusty guide.

— Corey Mesler, author of The World is Neither Stacked For Nor Against You: Selected Short Stories  

Tepper takes us on an enigmatic journey about a girl and an older friend. She captures the Yin and Yang of age and youth, and the quiet desperation that hides in us all.

— Doug Holder, author of I ain’t gonna wait for Godot, no more

Hot off the presses, another literary gem has landed from the wild thickets of Susan Isla Tepper’s prolific and profound ingenuity. At first glance the landscape of Girl Upside Down seems the epitome of normalcy: a pretty street with flowers in Anytown, USA;a house inhabited by a friendly woman who likes to bake cakes and dotes on her cat; and a curious young girl who visits quite often. But with Tepper as vigilant observer at the helm, and with a first line that declares “My knuckles took me for a walk …”, you can pretty much surmise that this will be no ordinary stroll. And, in fact, it isn’t, because—what in the blazes—the girl is upside down! In these brief but busy interlaced prose pieces, Tepper eschews traditional dialogue to create a fluidly anomalous yet oddly homey back-and-forth between adult and teenager while mysterious and palpably disquieting disclosures unfold from page to page. Ultimately, this bewitching one-of-a-kind novella goes right to the heart of human (and four-legged) connection and interaction propelled by an upside-down girl who perfectly reflects each and every one of us stumbling through an uncertain and, indeed, upside-down sociopolitical terrain.

—Cindy Hochman, founder of 100 Proof Copyediting Services and author of Telling You Everything and I Am the Girl

There must be some kind of trauma even greater than an attack of wasps to make a girl want to walk on her hands, upside down. You don't see that every day. The neighborhood widow sees her, while thinking about her own trauma: a brother lost to war in the rice paddies. Perhaps the girl likes cats or cake? The widow makes bouquets of her own roses, and the girl accepts them, upside down. There are untreated, un-nameable wounds. Could a house cat offer protection? Or  maybe a soprano? Maple leaves and snowfalls make walking difficult when you're upside down. Gloves aren't the best solution. Then, one day, just like that, the girl breaks her cover, and disappears, leaving the widow knitting. Are we the mistresses of our own fates? What could happen to change us, to walk in more traditional paths, even right-side up? Handsome drummers are not the answer, they vanish so often. This story, this cautionary tale, is about grief and loss and the unreadable signs we so often miss. About pineapple cake in the garden for birds. About doubtful blue Indian roses. Or perhaps simply the cold comfort of lemonade, when nothing else could possibly fill the void.

— W.F. Lantry, author of The Terraced Mountain and Publisher of The Peacock Journal