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book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
Book on CD read by the author.
Nearly twenty years after the publication of Ellen Foster, Gibbons returns to her subject to catch us up on what’s happened in the life of this extraordinary character. Ellen is now fifteen and thriving. She’s exhausted the resources of her local school district, and is on an independent course of study. While she realizes it’s unusual, she has decided to apply for early admission to college, and may as well set her sights high. The novel opens with her letter to the President of Harvard University requesting special consideration of her accomplishments and suitability for matriculation.
I love Ellen Foster. The original novel packed an emotional wallop that is still with me some 18 years after I first read it. I admit I was concerned about whether Gibbons would be able to replicate that emotional connection in this sequel. Well, I still love Ellen. She’s resilient, vulnerable, both naïve and wise beyond her years, intelligent, loving and brave.
I also dearly love Kaye Gibbons. I’ve read just about everything she has written, some more than once. But I did not love this book; it didn’t quite meet expectations. Perhaps this is the fault of the audio experience. Gibbons reads her own novel and while I think her voice is a good one for Ellen, after a couple of tracks I grew really tired of her lack of inflection. There is no effort to differentiate the various characters and as a result the entire experience is lacking emotional depth. I did also look at the text version, but I’m not sure I would have rated this much higher if I had read it rather than listened. I suspect that Gibbons was purposely holding the reader at arm’s length because she believes that Ellen would do so. And perhaps she’s right. Whatever the cause, I was disappointed.
Nearly twenty years after the publication of Ellen Foster, Gibbons returns to her subject to catch us up on what’s happened in the life of this extraordinary character. Ellen is now fifteen and thriving. She’s exhausted the resources of her local school district, and is on an independent course of study. While she realizes it’s unusual, she has decided to apply for early admission to college, and may as well set her sights high. The novel opens with her letter to the President of Harvard University requesting special consideration of her accomplishments and suitability for matriculation.
I love Ellen Foster. The original novel packed an emotional wallop that is still with me some 18 years after I first read it. I admit I was concerned about whether Gibbons would be able to replicate that emotional connection in this sequel. Well, I still love Ellen. She’s resilient, vulnerable, both naïve and wise beyond her years, intelligent, loving and brave.
I also dearly love Kaye Gibbons. I’ve read just about everything she has written, some more than once. But I did not love this book; it didn’t quite meet expectations. Perhaps this is the fault of the audio experience. Gibbons reads her own novel and while I think her voice is a good one for Ellen, after a couple of tracks I grew really tired of her lack of inflection. There is no effort to differentiate the various characters and as a result the entire experience is lacking emotional depth. I did also look at the text version, but I’m not sure I would have rated this much higher if I had read it rather than listened. I suspect that Gibbons was purposely holding the reader at arm’s length because she believes that Ellen would do so. And perhaps she’s right. Whatever the cause, I was disappointed.
karenleagermain's review against another edition
1.0
I'm not sure that this book should even get one star.
This book came to me through another bookcrosser and I felt compelled to finish it. It was short. If it had not been short, I would have given up on it early.
I guess my main problem was the writing style. I couldn't connect to it on any level. The main character was irritating. The plot meandered...not in a good way. I simply didn't like this book.
This book came to me through another bookcrosser and I felt compelled to finish it. It was short. If it had not been short, I would have given up on it early.
I guess my main problem was the writing style. I couldn't connect to it on any level. The main character was irritating. The plot meandered...not in a good way. I simply didn't like this book.
ajesq's review against another edition
3.0
Ellen Foster made a huge impression on me when I read it in college. I remember it as being tracing and clever and empathetic, things I came to associate with southern literature. Maybe too much time has passed but I didn’t feel that same magic with this sequel. The voice was tangled and too hard to read. The unreliable narrator had grown up too much, and the conceit of her apparent brilliance too contrary to the premise to be credible any more.
In short, this may have been the literary version of the adage “you can’t go home again”.
In short, this may have been the literary version of the adage “you can’t go home again”.
chiquita203's review against another edition
3.0
The charming little ball of spunk is back- slightly older, a little wiser, and things are finally starting to look up for her. In one way, your heart breaks for her as she’s cocooned herself to stave off any future pain. Yet, you can’t help but be tickled by her as well and the way her mind works.
While the sequel was not quite as good as the original, I was still wrapped up in her new adventures, always rooting for her happy ending. Parts of the book I found quite implausible. Ellen is now 15 and applies to Harvard. We are to believe that she has a genius level IQ. Yet her two best friends would have quite below average IQs as evidenced by their behavior and speech. Ellen, too, exhibits speech of someone much younger. Even in her writing, which we are lead to believe is off the charts exceptional, is the writing of someone much younger. “To compare and contrast” is a favored expression, and that is something we were taught to employ in our writing in the 3rd and 4th grades.
Nevertheless, I relished the chance to read the adventures of this plucky little creature again. While it was not equal to the original, she remains equally charming, equally endearing, and I was equally disappointed to see the book end too quickly. I could read Kaye Gibbons’ prose all day.
While the sequel was not quite as good as the original, I was still wrapped up in her new adventures, always rooting for her happy ending. Parts of the book I found quite implausible. Ellen is now 15 and applies to Harvard. We are to believe that she has a genius level IQ. Yet her two best friends would have quite below average IQs as evidenced by their behavior and speech. Ellen, too, exhibits speech of someone much younger. Even in her writing, which we are lead to believe is off the charts exceptional, is the writing of someone much younger. “To compare and contrast” is a favored expression, and that is something we were taught to employ in our writing in the 3rd and 4th grades.
Nevertheless, I relished the chance to read the adventures of this plucky little creature again. While it was not equal to the original, she remains equally charming, equally endearing, and I was equally disappointed to see the book end too quickly. I could read Kaye Gibbons’ prose all day.
ralovesbooks's review against another edition
1.0
Would recommend: No, and I'm really sad about it
I am so disappointed in this book. I loved [b:Ellen Foster|277397|Ellen Foster|Kaye Gibbons|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347848807s/277397.jpg|1347714] SO MUCH, and I recommend that book all over the place, so when I saw this sequel at the used book store, I snatched it up right away. This book was so disorienting. The stream of consciousness that was so honest and interesting before was a jolt all the way through this time around. I couldn't keep anyone straight, and I felt like Ellen's affect was so flat. Other than a few sparkling, poignant lines, it was a long, hard slog. It took me a over 2 weeks to read this, and it's just over 200 pages. That's how unmotivated I was. I don't know. Maybe I need to read the first one again and re-assess.
I am so disappointed in this book. I loved [b:Ellen Foster|277397|Ellen Foster|Kaye Gibbons|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347848807s/277397.jpg|1347714] SO MUCH, and I recommend that book all over the place, so when I saw this sequel at the used book store, I snatched it up right away. This book was so disorienting. The stream of consciousness that was so honest and interesting before was a jolt all the way through this time around. I couldn't keep anyone straight, and I felt like Ellen's affect was so flat. Other than a few sparkling, poignant lines, it was a long, hard slog. It took me a over 2 weeks to read this, and it's just over 200 pages. That's how unmotivated I was. I don't know. Maybe I need to read the first one again and re-assess.
ckporier's review against another edition
2.0
I think I just didn't have the patience and concentration to do this book justice. Great characters, but I found the writing hard to follow. I may try it again someday when I can give it more focused attention.
melissafirman's review
1.0
Let me start out by saying this.
This book is the sequel to Kaye Gibbons’s 1987 novel and 1997 Oprah’s Book Club pick Ellen Foster, which I absolutely loved and reviewed here and named as one of my best reads of 2008. (It took me awhile to get to it, despite it being on my TBR shelf for 11 years.) I adored Ellen Foster. So, naturally, you would think (as I did) that I would fall just as much in love with this one.
Not. Even. Close.
I had a hell of a time trying to follow this book, which picks up with Ellen Foster being 15 years old and applying for admission to Harvard. (Her admission letter – written in September 1974 to President Derek Bok himself – is hilarious and is the best 8 pages of the novel.) It’s also a great plot device on author Kaye Gibbons’ part; the reader easily and succinctly recalls much of what happened in Ellen Foster from Ellen’s letter. The voice and wit is the same as one remembers it to be from the 1987 novel, and the reader anticipates that these 218 pages will be similar.
It’s not. In my opinion (and many others’ on Goodreads), this is a confusing, disjointed, rambling narrative that is very difficult – and at times, completely impossible – to follow. There isn’t anything resembling a plot. Characters reappear from Ellen Foster, but with little or no reintroduction, so the reader is left pondering how they are connected.
I sought out the reviews of The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster on Goodreads because as I listened to this on audio, I honestly thought the CDs had been mislabeled or that this was actually an abridged version of the novel (it is not) or something was wrong with my comprehension abilities. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in my love for Ellen Foster and my bewilderment as to how this novel wound up so dramatically different.
Aside from the characters and the location, it truly bears little resemblance to its predecessor, which is unfortunate – and utterly perplexing.
This book is the sequel to Kaye Gibbons’s 1987 novel and 1997 Oprah’s Book Club pick Ellen Foster, which I absolutely loved and reviewed here and named as one of my best reads of 2008. (It took me awhile to get to it, despite it being on my TBR shelf for 11 years.) I adored Ellen Foster. So, naturally, you would think (as I did) that I would fall just as much in love with this one.
Not. Even. Close.
I had a hell of a time trying to follow this book, which picks up with Ellen Foster being 15 years old and applying for admission to Harvard. (Her admission letter – written in September 1974 to President Derek Bok himself – is hilarious and is the best 8 pages of the novel.) It’s also a great plot device on author Kaye Gibbons’ part; the reader easily and succinctly recalls much of what happened in Ellen Foster from Ellen’s letter. The voice and wit is the same as one remembers it to be from the 1987 novel, and the reader anticipates that these 218 pages will be similar.
It’s not. In my opinion (and many others’ on Goodreads), this is a confusing, disjointed, rambling narrative that is very difficult – and at times, completely impossible – to follow. There isn’t anything resembling a plot. Characters reappear from Ellen Foster, but with little or no reintroduction, so the reader is left pondering how they are connected.
I sought out the reviews of The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster on Goodreads because as I listened to this on audio, I honestly thought the CDs had been mislabeled or that this was actually an abridged version of the novel (it is not) or something was wrong with my comprehension abilities. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in my love for Ellen Foster and my bewilderment as to how this novel wound up so dramatically different.
Aside from the characters and the location, it truly bears little resemblance to its predecessor, which is unfortunate – and utterly perplexing.
ldv's review
4.0
Ellen Foster reminds me of Scout Finch. Smart, no-nonsense girl in a world not worthy of such a mind. I never read the first Ellen Foster book, but that never seemed a problem; in fact, maybe it was better, because this book, for me then, had depth for Ellen's past that was expected (but not assumed) knowledge. It enriched the book, I felt.
It was difficult to listen to the narrative at first. I'm not sure if that's because it was the author reading it, and unlike an actor she didn't alter her voice enough when different people spoke, or the whole thing was meant to sound like a big run-on thought, but it certainly took concentration at the beginning to follow the story. Once I caught on, I admired the pithy conversations between Ellen and Laura.
Some people may criticize what is ultimately a 'happily-ever after' kind of story, but it was an enjoyable, feel-good read without being schmultzy (and I hate schmultz).
It was difficult to listen to the narrative at first. I'm not sure if that's because it was the author reading it, and unlike an actor she didn't alter her voice enough when different people spoke, or the whole thing was meant to sound like a big run-on thought, but it certainly took concentration at the beginning to follow the story. Once I caught on, I admired the pithy conversations between Ellen and Laura.
Some people may criticize what is ultimately a 'happily-ever after' kind of story, but it was an enjoyable, feel-good read without being schmultzy (and I hate schmultz).
beffuh's review
1.0
Difficult to follow writing style. Ellen Foster seemed like she was perhaps an interesting character, but I never really got to know her and had a very hard time following the story. Perhaps if I'd started with a different Ellen Foster story (I think there have been at least one before this) it may change my mind, but overall I was pretty disappointed in this book.
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