This is a reflection on the book "Whores On the Hill"


First of all- I love this book! I love the bluntness of language, how the author uses such authentic and plain characters to get her message across. There is so much to talk about with this book, but as I read "Whores on the Hill" I started to notice that throughout the story the role of family members is basically non existent. The main characters act solely on their own motivation, with little influence from adults and their parents. Perhaps the author does this to make a statement about the disintegration of values in America, especially the increasing divorce rate. I feel that Curran is maybe tackling some bigger issues here by purposely excluding any maternal influence on the main characters. Furthermore, excluding the mothers, or making them insignificant roles, seems to represent the infrequent involvement of parents in the lives of teenage girls.
On the other hand, Curran could be excluding the mother simply to revolve the stories around the girls, and just the girls. The scenes in which the mothers appear portray the mothers as uncaring, applying little or no discipline. In the chapter titled "Let's Be Careful Out There", Astrid and her mother bond, but only after Astrid’s negative experience at the motel and her mothers break up with her "pot smoking boyfriend". This clearly exemplifies the situation driven mentality of the relationship between mother and daughter, in other words the author is telling the audience that girls only go to their mothers when they're in emotional need, rather that using their mothers as actual friends and mentors. In the same sense, the situation driven mentality of this relationship further enhances Curran’s theme of people using each other only when they are in great need. Even in the relationship between Astrid and Thisbe, both girls use each other to fulfill some need or to boost each others self esteem. Curran successfully shows the reader how girls use each other, emotionally feeding off each other to feel more popular, more acceptable, or more loved.
Curran does include a specific chapter called “Our Fathers” about the different girls fathers, exemplifying the role, or lack thereof, of fathers in these girls lives: “Dads were nowhere, mostly. This was the suburbs. They were busy with the nine-to-five. They wore white shirts, heavy on the starch, and boxy suits. Most of them had a variety of ties. Juli’s dad had super money. Like, he inherited it…they each had their own extramarital affairs- my parents- but nobody had ever talked about it. When they lived together, our house was silent, like a crypt, like a tomb and just as cold” (56, 58). This description of the girls’ fathers at least makes it apparent that the fathers existed, but also reinforces the idea that the fathers were not a significant part of the girls lives, but played a major role in their interpretation of sex and love. Thisbe’s parents cheated on each other, which gives Thisbe the signal that sex is something that can be taken lightly, and furthermore something that can be separated from love and marriage. Therefore, it is understandable why Thisbe does not respect her body and her sexuality, and gives herself freely to boys.