Outside reading blog #2

After Astrid's disasterous ending in her first foster home with Starr, she is taken to another unwelcoming foster family in Van Nuys run by Marvel and Ed Turlock. Each member of the family, Marvel, Ed, Justin, Caitlan and now, Astrid, all live together in one house yet they're all enveloped in their own private bubbles. Ed escapes to the Good Knight bar nearby as soon as he can, Marvel could care less about either her husband or her children (let alone Astrid) and only cares about herself and criticizing others. Justin and Caitlan are dumped into the hands of Astrid as soon as her hip mends and are poorly nurtured. As soon as Astrid's hip mends, Marvel establishes Astid's role around the house: "babysitter, pot scrubber, laundry maid, [and] beautician" (124). Marvel always speaks of Astrid's future as if she can't decide for herself. When Astrid dyes Marvel's hair, she says, "This is good practice for you. You could go to beauty school. That's a good living for a woman,"(126) and later advices, "The army would be a good place, [with] job security, [and] benefits"(159). Overall, Marvel was one of the most controlling woman Astrid had ever encountered.

To cope with lonliness, Astrid concedes to overdoses on her prescribed Percodan to keep herself high and numb to all feelings. Another more positive escape was to bury herself in books. she read everything--"Colette, Francoise Sagan[...] short stoires"(129) and even a book called The Art of Survival. This book became Astrid's bible, a stratagy to overcome conflicts.

Even above books and overdoses, the number one hope that Astrid holds dear to escape her hardhearted foster home is her neighbor, Olivia Johnstone. To Astrid, Olivia is the perfect model for all women to follow: "her eyes were almond-shaped, the color of root beer"(135), she had delicate features, and an impeccable style. "Olivia was linen and champagne and terra-cotta, totanical prints and 'Seven Steps to Heaven'"(141). Unlike Astrid, who worships Olivia, Marvel thinks she is nothing but a "damn whore" who thinks "she's the Duchess of Windsor"(133). Marvel forbits Astrid from speaking to her, but Astrid is fascinated with everything involving Olivia. She ends up having secret visits to Olivia's house (when she was supposed to be training for the army) and ends up finding an irreplaceable friend. Olivia plays an important role in Astrid's development from a young girl to a woman. She teaches things about men, fashion and life that no other woman in Astrid's life would have bothered with.

However, in Astrid's life, sweet fairy tales don't have happy endings. She ends up getting attacked by vicious stray dogs as she is taking a walk which leaves horrible red gashes everywhere on her face, arms and face. This ruins Astrid's beautiful face and she realizes that beaty never lasts. Even Olivia begins to drift out of her life, and to top it off, randomly one day at school, Ms. Cardoza, her caseworker, arrives telling Astrid to get her belongings for another trip to a new foster home in glamorous Hollywood.