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Product Description
Product Description
With the same winning combination of humor and honesty that marked her recent nonfiction bestsellers, Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott's new novel gives us an exuberant, richly absorbing portrait of a family for whom the joys and sorrows of everyday life are magnified under the glare of the unexpected.
Rosie Ferguson, in the first bloom of young womanhood, is obsessed with tournament tennis. Her mother is a recovering alcoholic still grieving the death of her first husband; her stepfather, a struggling writer, is wrestling with his own demons. And now Rosie finds that her athletic gifts, once a source of triumph and escape, place her in peril, as a shadowy man who stalks her from the bleachers seems to be developing an obsession of his own...
Rosie Ferguson, in the first bloom of young womanhood, is obsessed with tournament tennis. Her mother is a recovering alcoholic still grieving the death of her first husband; her stepfather, a struggling writer, is wrestling with his own demons. And now Rosie finds that her athletic gifts, once a source of triumph and escape, place her in peril, as a shadowy man who stalks her from the bleachers seems to be developing an obsession of his own...
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ROSIE and her friends were blooming like spring, budding, lithe, agile as cats. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
ROSIE and her friends were blooming like spring, budding, lithe, agile as cats. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I realize that due to certain anatomical features I do not belong to the 51% of the population that is this book's target audience, however, my equal love of wemon's tennis and coming-of-age narratives drew me in. And I must say that for the most part I truly loved the parts that dealt with Rosie. It reminded me at times of the short-lived ABC series, "My So-Called Life," which also sometimes captured the sensibilty of teen-age life with impressive immediacy. Unfortunately the book is cluttered with several less interesing characters. The worst of these being Elizabeth and Rae, the first of which I found unbelievable and the second alternately pretentious and trite. Ms. Lamott would have been better served to pare this novel down to a tenth of its current length where it might have made a luminous short story with Rosie as its sole focus and all these other peripheral characters either eliminated altogether or marginalized to where they no longer bore or irritate. As it stands the menace of Luther is so diluted that by the time we reach the climactic scene between him and Rosie we feel cheated. A problem that would not occur in short story where the reader doesn't have so much time to predict what will happen next. But, then again, maybe I am just not a member of the target audience.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'll admit that when I picked this book up, I didn't have very high hopes for it. It take long, however, until I was completely engrossed. I was moved to tears many times during the book and I have recommeded it to all of my friends.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found the myself wanting to shake each one of the characters at different points while reading this book. I think it was well written and the characters were developed enough for me to alternately sympathize with and want to yell at each one of them. I was a little disappointed in the ending. I wanted to know a few more things, such as: Where was Luther? He turned out to be a helpful with Rosie's insecurities about winning, then he was gone. Did Elizabeth ever get a grip?
Not a lot of resolution but a good book nonetheless.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
totally kewl!
This book was just totally kewl! I couldn't believe. It just seemed to draw me into the book. Rosie is a very interesting character. Read more
Published on 7 July 1999
Goid Bless Rae, Rosie, and the whole wonderful menagerie.
I re-read this book recently and was pleased to find that I wasn't wrong about it the first time: it's wonderful, just as satisfying as any of the others, although I am partial... Read more
Published on 30 April 1999
I grew to love this book
I had just finished Traveling Mercies when I started this book. At first it was difficult to move from her non-fiction work to fiction. Read more
Published on 1 Mar 1999
life isn't perfect and neither are these people...
Nor should they be! These characters will make you angry at them and cheer for them. They won't always be your favorite people, but they will be like actual people. Read more
Published on 3 Feb 1999
Lamot is inspiring, full of life, insightful, and funny!
What a wonderful portrait of life and relationship between mother and daughter, and especially the stuggles each deal with. Read more
Published on 28 Jan 1999
poetic, poignant & provocative
Well, I loved it! Maybe it was the rainy weekend that I found myself alone with it but mostly I think it was my inquisitive-ness about un-perfect-ness that kept me rivited. Read more
Published on 19 Jan 1999
Ann Lamott should stick to non-fiction.
I loved "Bird by Bird" so much that I still quote it to my writing friends. I loved "Operating Instructions" so much I bought it for several new mothers and... Read more
Published on 2 Jan 1999
Good writing, characters obsessed with own navels
Some find this overly descriptive, but I enjoyed the writing. There is some fine prose here, but is this really what Marin County is all about? Read more
Published on 26 Dec 1998
Great book if you like tennis and good fiction
As a jounior tennis player, i found the book Crooked Little Heart very enjoyable. The discriptions of tennis tournaments and life of a teenager was exact. Read more
Published on 11 Nov 1998
Insightful look at adolescence and loss
I loved this book and am recommending it to my friends. I found her descriptions of adolescence right on, and enjoyed a look at marriage and motherhood that didn't feature a... Read more
Published on 29 Sep 1998
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