snowbenton's review against another edition
2.0
The Beginners feels like getting drunk and swimming in the ocean at night: you think shore is that way, but it could also be this way, and the waves themselves might be whispering or it might be your friends, but you're too bubbly-headed to care. It was an interesting journey and Wolff's first-person narrative, while not one iota realistic or true to Ginger's age, is compelling at the least. I hated the main character for being shallow and weak and desperate but I loved hating her so much that I enjoyed watching her slowly be ruined by the Motherwells. I guess I recommend this to cruel people who don't mind ambiguous beginnings, middles, and ends.
kasiabrenna's review against another edition
1.0
The best word to describe this book is overwrought. I feel like the intent of the author was to make the reader feel caught up in this kind of hazy, heady atmosphere of adolescent infatuation that the main character was feeling. However, I spent most of the book alternately bored or irritated. I really wanted to main character to take show some initiative, instead of just floating along. I also felt like the mysteries surrounding the town were interesting, but although they were discussed at length it never went anywhere.
maryparapluie's review against another edition
1.0
I want to go back and find the person who recommended this book to me before I bought it a year ago and shake them. SHAAAAAAAAKE.
Reasons I bought the book (on deep discount, in a going bye-bye Borders): promise of ghosts, promise of New England coming of age for a bookish ginger girl, promise of history re: Salem Witch trials (my fav!).
Now... the ghosts and the Witch Trials are in peripheral bits that are not followed through on at all throughout the book, and the "coming of age" part is steeped in tremendously weird and, I felt, gratuitous sex, that also happens to be somewhat amoral, confusing, and (possibly) criminal. So... the book basically doesn't make any sense at all.
It's also one of those books that clearly is trying to seem literary- it sounds poetic. And sometimes this works for it. Sometimes the prose is beautiful. Other times, it's clunky and awkward because it's *so* obvious and deliberate.
I could go on and on about the inconsistencies in the plot- if I had written this before I went to bed last night, I might have given it two stars, but now I've had time to sort it out and realize that nothing connects.
Reasons I bought the book (on deep discount, in a going bye-bye Borders): promise of ghosts, promise of New England coming of age for a bookish ginger girl, promise of history re: Salem Witch trials (my fav!).
Now... the ghosts and the Witch Trials are in peripheral bits that are not followed through on at all throughout the book, and the "coming of age" part is steeped in tremendously weird and, I felt, gratuitous sex, that also happens to be somewhat amoral, confusing, and (possibly) criminal. So... the book basically doesn't make any sense at all.
It's also one of those books that clearly is trying to seem literary- it sounds poetic. And sometimes this works for it. Sometimes the prose is beautiful. Other times, it's clunky and awkward because it's *so* obvious and deliberate.
I could go on and on about the inconsistencies in the plot- if I had written this before I went to bed last night, I might have given it two stars, but now I've had time to sort it out and realize that nothing connects.
shelfimprovement's review against another edition
1.0
Ugh, I gave this one up about a hundred pages in. I read some good things about this book, about a young woman uncovering secrets about the new neighbors in her small New England town, but man it just did not deliver. I hated the main character, Ginger. I thought that she took things way, way too seriously for a fifteen year old. I get that she was supposed to be bookish, socially awkward, an outside, but man - she reminded me of a character from my own life that a friend and I used to snarkily refer to as "The Angstrom." Her biggest problem was that she wouldn't get out of her own head long enough to actually look at the world. It made it very difficult to relate to Ginger. Wolff's narration was clumsy and I often found myself confused as to what was going on. Also - did anyone else notice that she'd occasional slip into a Yoda cadence - "Falling in love we were." Who the hell talks like that? It drove me nuts.
danadanger's review against another edition
2.0
A vaguely creepy story that really could have used any kind of fleshing out, paired with hilariously overwritten prose makes this a real disappointment. I love stories about girls becoming women, and ghosts/witches/etc, so I stayed with it until the end, only to not feel satisfied at all.
dlarca's review
2.0
I just finished The Beginners and am having a hard time figuring out how I feel about it. Fifteen-year-old Ginger Pritt becomes entranced with a mysterious new couple, the Motherwell's, that move into her small New England town of Wick.
The book is touted as some sort of supernatural mystery, and while there were definitely some parts that spooked me and some parts that flat-out disturbed me, I'm still not quite sure what the mystery was. Much of the story was bogged down with abstract musings, that though beautiful, left me confused. I didn't like it, but was strangely fascinated, thinking there had to be more, but there wasn't.
The book is touted as some sort of supernatural mystery, and while there were definitely some parts that spooked me and some parts that flat-out disturbed me, I'm still not quite sure what the mystery was. Much of the story was bogged down with abstract musings, that though beautiful, left me confused. I didn't like it, but was strangely fascinated, thinking there had to be more, but there wasn't.
rickijill's review against another edition
1.0
While on our road trip, I read The Beginners by Rebecca Wolff. I hated this book. I think this is only the second book I have blogged about that I hate because I truly try to maintain a positive blog, but I feel the necessity to warn you about this one.
Several months ago when this book was first released there was TONS of hype!!! I suppose that should have been my first red flag. But the fact that Wolff earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop (a program my daughter so badly wants to join as a graduate student) made me buy it.
The book is basically about a fifteen year old girl named Ginger who lives in a small New England town. She thinks and speaks *pretentious* which I refuse to learn. No fifteen year old thinks like this, even geniuses. And if she were that smart, she would not have found herself in a really stupid predicament. The cause of her trouble is a young couple: Theo and Raquel Motherwell. They are new to Wick, Massachusetts, and they are pathological liars. Ginger, if you speak pretentious so well, then you should recognize how disturbing your new friends are, lass. They are definitely psychopathic enigmas wrapped in a mystery, and Ginger spends all of her free time with these adults. Weird. Also there is supposed to be a supernatural element to the story. It isn't there, trust me. I truly thought that Wick's creepy history might provide the structure for a story, but the story was never fully developed.
This is a coming of age novel that you can skip because it is confusing, offensive, and a complete waste of time. I really want those hours of reading this book back because life is too short to read books like this one! Consider yourself forewarned.
Several months ago when this book was first released there was TONS of hype!!! I suppose that should have been my first red flag. But the fact that Wolff earned her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop (a program my daughter so badly wants to join as a graduate student) made me buy it.
The book is basically about a fifteen year old girl named Ginger who lives in a small New England town. She thinks and speaks *pretentious* which I refuse to learn. No fifteen year old thinks like this, even geniuses. And if she were that smart, she would not have found herself in a really stupid predicament. The cause of her trouble is a young couple: Theo and Raquel Motherwell. They are new to Wick, Massachusetts, and they are pathological liars. Ginger, if you speak pretentious so well, then you should recognize how disturbing your new friends are, lass. They are definitely psychopathic enigmas wrapped in a mystery, and Ginger spends all of her free time with these adults. Weird. Also there is supposed to be a supernatural element to the story. It isn't there, trust me. I truly thought that Wick's creepy history might provide the structure for a story, but the story was never fully developed.
This is a coming of age novel that you can skip because it is confusing, offensive, and a complete waste of time. I really want those hours of reading this book back because life is too short to read books like this one! Consider yourself forewarned.
meli65's review
1.0
Bleh. I should have put this down halfway through but kept thinking it would get better. It doesn't.
csprfamily's review
2.0
The cover drew me in...and then the synopsis in the front made me think this was going to have a little paranormal edge to it. This was not a great book. She uses some great descriptive language, but the story just hung there. I had to keep going back, and I was still as confused. I read some of the other reviews and realized I wasn't the only one. A lesson in "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
kerrimcbooknerd's review against another edition
3.0
...
...
[b:The Beginners|9789895|The Beginners|Rebecca Wolff|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311706016s/9789895.jpg|14679934] has got to be the most confusing thing I've read in a very long time. Seriously.
The story follows a young girl, Ginger Pritt, and her interactions with a new couple that moves to her small town called Wick. As I took it, it was a story about exploring herself and relationships. Along the way, she explores the history of her small town, as well. The synopsis made the 'dark' history of the town seem like it played a lot more a role in the book than it actually did. Unless I was missing something... which is entirely possible since, as I said, I was very confused.
Let me say right now, though, that the writing was superb. It was rich and thought provoking, something I haven't been exposed to in awhile. I especially enjoyed the way feeling was conveyed. It brought me back to when I was fifteen and learning about sex and similarly alien things that had been 'icky' up until then. It was expressed almost exactly as I remember it! There were times that I felt Ginger's voice was a little more adult than it should have been, but she is portrayed as a very intelligent girl, so maybe that was supposed to be attributated to that. Otherwise, though, I really enjoyed the writing.
The plot? I'm still not entirely sure I understood it, lol. And, yet, I was sucked in. It was definitely a page-turner. I wanted to know what new, weird twist would show up on the next page! But the plot is definitely why this book only gets 3 stars. I would like to at least somewhat understand the point of a story. Just sayin'. Of course, I may be trying to look too deeply into it. Perhaps the point was just what was on the surface... a girl's coming-of-age. For some reason, though, I get the feeling there's so much more to it. Who knows...
...
[b:The Beginners|9789895|The Beginners|Rebecca Wolff|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311706016s/9789895.jpg|14679934] has got to be the most confusing thing I've read in a very long time. Seriously.
The story follows a young girl, Ginger Pritt, and her interactions with a new couple that moves to her small town called Wick. As I took it, it was a story about exploring herself and relationships. Along the way, she explores the history of her small town, as well. The synopsis made the 'dark' history of the town seem like it played a lot more a role in the book than it actually did. Unless I was missing something... which is entirely possible since, as I said, I was very confused.
Let me say right now, though, that the writing was superb. It was rich and thought provoking, something I haven't been exposed to in awhile. I especially enjoyed the way feeling was conveyed. It brought me back to when I was fifteen and learning about sex and similarly alien things that had been 'icky' up until then. It was expressed almost exactly as I remember it! There were times that I felt Ginger's voice was a little more adult than it should have been, but she is portrayed as a very intelligent girl, so maybe that was supposed to be attributated to that. Otherwise, though, I really enjoyed the writing.
The plot? I'm still not entirely sure I understood it, lol. And, yet, I was sucked in. It was definitely a page-turner. I wanted to know what new, weird twist would show up on the next page! But the plot is definitely why this book only gets 3 stars. I would like to at least somewhat understand the point of a story. Just sayin'. Of course, I may be trying to look too deeply into it. Perhaps the point was just what was on the surface... a girl's coming-of-age. For some reason, though, I get the feeling there's so much more to it. Who knows...