The Small Crimes of Tiffany Templeton is the story of a relatively bad girl and her coming to terms with a world around her that she is not able to control.  It’s a story of forgiveness, self-exploration, and acceptance wrapped up in a soap opera style novel.

Tiffany is a relatable character.  I felt like she was maybe a little stereotypical in terms of a girl living in an impoverished town.  I’m sure in this town there were your normal, run of the mill girls, but the characters in this book were really the ones you tend to see on the fringes of every group.  The loner, the homosexual male, and the mean cheerleaders.  But I did love that a group of octogenarian actresses with dementia were woven into the story.

The story is largely set in a trailer park and again here, I felt like there was a bit of stereotyping going on.  However, the overall story was good and it moved along at a relatively quick clip.  The chapters were interspersed with the writings of Tiffany as she confesses to her probation officer, and I felt that was a creative way to unmask some of the mysteries of Tiffany’s past.

This novel definitely deals with some difficult and mature topics, but I was impressed with nature in which they were handled in that they weren’t overly sensationalized.  Overall, this is a good book that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Razorbill

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  20 religious exclamations; 23 mild obscenities; 9 religious profanities; 7 derogatory names; 16 scatological words; 11 anatomical terms; 11 f-word derivatives.

Violence/Gore:  Recall of bullying; characters finds father dead of natural conditions; 4 verbal threats; references to pipe bombs; character superficially stabs another; recall of attempted suicide via overdose; recall of traumatic brain injury due to domestic violence; threats of bodily harm left in mailboxes; recall of a crashed truck; character sprayed with bear spray; recall of drowning; slammed into locker; girl commits suicide.

Sex and Nudity:  Male character is gay; reference to an erection; multiple references to prostitutes (written play is about brothel); reference to oral sex; 5 kisses; reference to promiscuity and venereal disease; two girls take off their tops and kiss each other; sitting closely with legs touching.

Mature Subject Matter:

Racial conflict, death, suicide, homosexuality, divorce, separation, unemployment, abandonment, drug addictions, marriage infidelity, ethics, stealing, domestic violence, peeping-tom spying, sale of illegal drugs.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Smoking by all ages; abuse of NyQuil; use and selling of illegal drugs; all ages drinking alcohol.