Maisie's best friends have always been three boys – Shakes, Chris, and Kevin. But as she begins to develop sexually, she notices that her friends are looking at her differently than they did before. Suddenly she's gone from being Maisie-the-pal to Maisie-the-girl-with-breasts. Things get even more awkward when Maisie and Shakes begin an awkward romance in the back of the school bus.
One day, Chris and Kevin invade the back of the bus with a proposal of their own: since Maisie lets Shakes touch her, shouldn't they be able to touch her, too? What happens next ignites a firestorm of controversy. The boys say Maisie egged them on and even offered to let other boys touch her for money. Maisie says Shakes held her hands while Chris and Kevin touched her against her will.
Now Maisie's stepmother and an aggressive attorney want to sue the school for allowing sexual harassment. Maisie's father is working long hours and trying to pretend nothing happened. And Maisie is in therapy and haunted by questions about what really happened that day that changed her life.
Style of Writing in Touch
Touch is written in first person from Maisie's point of view. In some ways, Maisie is an unreliable narrator. The reader knows within the first few pages that she questions her memories of what happened that fateful day on the bus.
In other ways, Maisie is remarkably clear-headed, even cynical. She doesn't believe for a second that her stepmother, Joan, really cares what happens to her. According to Maisie, Joan is "constantly auditioning for a TV series being filmed inside her own head." She wants Maisie to sue the school so she will be viewed as the mother heroically standing up for the rights of girls everywhere, not because she wants to help Maisie.
Maisie's world-weary view of her family, her school, and her situation are both engaging and--frequently--amusing. Her observations keep the book moving along at a good pace. And while she's too prickly and feisty to inspire pity, she certainly inspires empathy.
The Characters of Touch
Other characters in Touch include Joan; Maisie's lawyer, Cynthia; Maisie's therapist Dr. Atwood and the three boys who may – or may not – have victimized Maisie.
In her own way, Joan is every bit the evil stepmother. Maisie never really sees her as anything more than a caricature, so the character doesn't change or develop. Like Joan, Cynthia is a character with an axe to grind. Her only consideration is what is good for "the case." Therefore, she is thrilled that Maisie continues to face harassment at school, because it shows a pattern of indifference on the part of school officials.
A more interesting character is Dr. Atwood, who understands that Maisie is being used as a pawn and tries to help her get at the truth.
Of the three male characters, the only one fully developed is Shakes, with whom Maisie enjoys a brief romance. Shakes is mildly physically impaired. This makes him feel like an outsider at times and causes him to be super-conscious of what his friends think of him. He wants to do the right thing, but often falls far short of the mark.
Sexual Harassment Issues
As young adult fiction and teen problem stories go, this delightfully ambiguous novel earns a high ranking. Prose deftly explores the issues of school harassment and sexual harassment, and poses many intriguing questions about male-female relationships and where the line between "no" and "yes" becomes blurred. Teens and young adults will appreciate her unsentimental approach and unflinching look at a sometimes uncaring world. This is also a useful book for parents to read and discuss with their teens.
Book Information
Title: Touch
Author: Francine Prose
Publisher: HarperTeen
Copyright: 2009
Length: 262 pages
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