Williams (When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune
) once again returns to a Houston, Tex., neighborhood (this time Fifth Ward) for this disturbing novel. Her story centers on 14-year-old China Cup Cameron (named by a physician's assistant since, at the time, her teen mother "could care less"), who herself became a mother at 12. But in the first chapter, China's two-year-old daughter dies, and she takes on an enormous debt to pay for an elaborate funeral service. The debt forces her to take a job as a coat check girl at a strip club, dressed in a skimpy bathing suit, and she quickly sinks into a dangerous and destructive world. Readers may be overwhelmed by all the tragedy. (In addition to her daughter's death, China's mother died three years ago, and she lives with her uncle, who became wheelchair-bound after he was attacked in high school.)With vivid details (when China's daughter dies, the old women send her broken china since "in the olden days it was tradition for poor folks to decorate a grave with crushed pieces of their best servingware"), the author paints a tragic world of girls having to grow up too soon. But the dialogue is at times stilted and even China admits she can't "quite get my head around" the painful—and confusing—set-up to which she falls prey. Unfortunately, readers may have a hard time relating to China's story. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)
