mamalemma's review against another edition
5.0
Hauntingly beautiful evocation of what it is like to be a 14 year old girl. I have long wanted to write a book about an character's internal transformation without some major event that changes her, and had nearly come to the conclusion that it would be an impossible book to write. JoAnn Beard has proven me wrong. Nothing of importance happens in this book, but everything important in growing up does. It was a lovely read.
mjsteimle's review
2.0
2.5 stars. I didn't dislike this book, but I don't seem to love it like everyone else does. It was just kind of "meh" for me. That being said, I loved the references to Shakespeare and surrealist and expressionist art. I think that the art serves as a great metaphor for teenage life - when so many different incongruous things are thrown together. One minute the main character is dealing with something as weighty as a fear that her alcoholic father has shot himself in the cellar and the next minute her plans to say hello to a crush seem just as important. Beard does do a great job of writing about what's it feels like to be a teenager, and she does it in an understated, matter-of-fact way.
Favorite quotes:
"I wish my mother wouldn't mention bras in front of my father; I don't know how much he knows or doesn't know about certain matters" (p130).
"There was something else I heard recently, a word or a phrase that I wanted to remember, to think of later. This is later, but I can't think of it. I need something to hold in my mind, like a doll, just for company" (p190).
Favorite quotes:
"I wish my mother wouldn't mention bras in front of my father; I don't know how much he knows or doesn't know about certain matters" (p130).
"There was something else I heard recently, a word or a phrase that I wanted to remember, to think of later. This is later, but I can't think of it. I need something to hold in my mind, like a doll, just for company" (p190).
smrankin5's review
2.0
I guess I felt that this book was going nowhere.
The chapters individually where good, but lacked a cohesive direction.
And not much redemptive about the story, perhaps that was the point.
The chapters individually where good, but lacked a cohesive direction.
And not much redemptive about the story, perhaps that was the point.
sonia_reppe's review
5.0
A really good read about a 14 yr-old girl and her friendships, babysitting adventures, boys, and other rites of passage that a 9th grader in a small midwestern middle-class town would encounter in the late 1970's. Beard captures this age perfectly with good observations and subtle humor. (I find that I repeat myself a lot as I write about these quality coming-of-age stories but that's because they all have some aspects in common, like the ones I just mentioned). The story starts with a house on fire; the house is where the protagonist and her best friend are babysitting. Yeah...maybe these two are not mature enough to babysit a brood of kids. This opening scene is a good introduction to these girls, as we continue to see how these two friends switch between childish moments and entering adult-hood moments. The momentum to the end didn't build, and I was dissatisfied with the ending because it was kind of abrupt, although I like that the falling-out between the two girls was realistic in that it was small, awkward moments that cracked their friendship. I would love if Jo Ann Beard wrote a sequel to this and we can see the protagonist at 16.
I did read Boys of My Youth a long time ago but I liked this better.
I did read Boys of My Youth a long time ago but I liked this better.
andy5185's review against another edition
5.0
Jo Ann Beard is just awesome. This may be one of the greatest books I’ve read in a long time. 1970s coming of age story at its absolute finest. I did not want it to end.
fgaon's review against another edition
4.0
Such a great potrayal of the angst of adolescence, the end of what used to be Junior High School. The main character has such low self-esteem that we never learn her name. She recounts beautifully the strife of her home life. The 70s come back in vivid details. It was totally engaing and enjoyable to listen to.
toomanyfingees's review
4.0
The beginning of this book failed to draw me in, but I hit a point in it when I just couldn't stop reading. I was suddenly drawn in by the character's struggle at the edge of adulthood. Having been a bit of an outcast myself at that age (still am to tell the truth...), I found myself drawn in by her observations of a 14 year old just beginning to notice the changes in the world around her. Periods suck. Boys suck even more. And being a weirdo can be the thing that saves you and your friends from going crazy. Recommend for every adult who just might have forgotten how much it sucks to be 14.
lifesaverscandyofficial's review against another edition
just wonderful! flew through this. honestly loved revisiting the "there's a guy I might talk to" days of youth.
shoemaker's review against another edition
4.0
A truthful childhood memoir. Makes me think of Walls's Glass Castles or some of Sedaris's work.