Donna is the truly odd girl none of us wanted to befriend in school. She was unapologetically quirky with her own spin on the world. She dressed differently (like flowers and plaids together) or talked differently (about things that didn’t interest anyone else) or had very strange interests (like bugs or cartoons). And more than anything, she made even the least of us feel that there was someone who made us feel better about ourselves.
But now we know that if we prick her, she bleeds. She was the underdog that we now want to protect and appreciate, because, looking back, she was us.
This Donna has befriended the transgender butcher from downstairs; who never called her names. And the culmination, the big event in Donna’s life, is a school project which her butcher friend will help her with. All Donna wants, all we wanted, was to be appreciated and accepted.
Writer Lee Mattinson doesn’t give us much room to feel sorry for Donna in this funny and painful look into Donna’s world. And Paula Penman gives us just the right balance of believability and honesty.
After all, there is still a little Donna in all of us.