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112th out of 323 books
—
518 voters
The Last Girls
by
Lee Smith
Revered for her powerful female characters, Smith tells a brilliant story of how college pals who grew up in an era when they were still called "girls" have negotiated life as "women." A "New York Times" bestseller in hardcover.
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
September 30th 2003
by Ballantine Books
(first published 2002)
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I was extremely disappointed with this book. The characters were poorly drawn. The point of view switched from one to another within a chapter. There were characters on the original boat trip who weren't included on the reunion trip - with no reason explained, and a bizarre mini-chapter at the end giving the reader information on them when the reader had never really heard of them to begin with. There was no reason to even have them as a part of the story at all. It should have been the five wom...more
This book had an interesting premise and started out well. Characters were drawn well. However, the book never really gained momentum. Hints were dropped in flashbacks which never quite came together. I kept expecting the book to build into something. You spend time with characters who appear to change yet you leave without really knowing what change has occurred or whether this trip down memory lane will have lasting consequences for this group. Overall, the book left a hollow feeling.
The most...more
The most...more
Aug 08, 2012
Delores
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Cati
Shelves:
fiction
I picked this book up quite some time ago at a local book sale. It then sat on my shelf, which tends to happen. So on my journey to finally start tackling the books I own, I decided to read this one.
The story is about four college friends who reunite after many years to scatter the ashes of their fifth friend into the Mississippi River. Previously they had journeyed down the river while in college on a raft. There were actually more girls on the raft expedition but the story focuses on five of t...more
The story is about four college friends who reunite after many years to scatter the ashes of their fifth friend into the Mississippi River. Previously they had journeyed down the river while in college on a raft. There were actually more girls on the raft expedition but the story focuses on five of t...more
I love the cover art, the title and the concept of the book. I just wish I had actually enjoyed reading The Last Girls. I kept waiting for the story to get started but it seemed bogged down incoherent flashbacks. The only progression the book managed was the river boat's slow trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans.
There's nothing wrong with a book made up of flashbacks. Many writers have done it successfully: Nabokov's Lolita and Knowles's A Separate Peace are both good examples. Or for a more...more
There's nothing wrong with a book made up of flashbacks. Many writers have done it successfully: Nabokov's Lolita and Knowles's A Separate Peace are both good examples. Or for a more...more
***letto nella edizione italiana Le ultime ragazze***
Nel 1965 alcune compagne di college, ispirate dalla lettura di Huckleberry Finn, decidono di discendere il fiume Mississippi in barca. Trentaquattro anni dopo quattro di loro si ritrovano a fare lo stesso viaggio, ma con una missione molto diversa: spargere nel fiume le ceneri di una di loro, Baby Ballou.
Mentre curiosavo in biblioteca ho notato questo romanzo (spesso punto a colpo sicuro i romanzi Neri Pozza) e la trama mi ha molto incuriosit...more
Nel 1965 alcune compagne di college, ispirate dalla lettura di Huckleberry Finn, decidono di discendere il fiume Mississippi in barca. Trentaquattro anni dopo quattro di loro si ritrovano a fare lo stesso viaggio, ma con una missione molto diversa: spargere nel fiume le ceneri di una di loro, Baby Ballou.
Mentre curiosavo in biblioteca ho notato questo romanzo (spesso punto a colpo sicuro i romanzi Neri Pozza) e la trama mi ha molto incuriosit...more
I approached this book with expectations that may have been too high. After all, I loved Smith's book Fair and Tender Ladies, and was intrigued that she was finally writing fiction based on her Mississippi raft experience in college. Unfortunately, this book was a let-down. Her comedic characters were great and some of the dialogue was spot-on funny, but overall it lacked luster. I never felt like we did anything but skim the surface of most of the characters' lives for the entire book, and the...more
While there were parts of this book that I really enjoyed, overall I would have to say that it was disappointing.
With its long chapters full of dense, dialogue-free paragraphs, I had a hard time getting into the book to start. I felt that most of the main characters were poorly developed, to the point that I often thought to myself, "Now, why would they react like that?" Additionally, some of the main characters were only marginally likable, even after you learned of the personal tragedies that...more
With its long chapters full of dense, dialogue-free paragraphs, I had a hard time getting into the book to start. I felt that most of the main characters were poorly developed, to the point that I often thought to myself, "Now, why would they react like that?" Additionally, some of the main characters were only marginally likable, even after you learned of the personal tragedies that...more
Better than a three, not quite a four, but I'm giving it four anyway. A leisurely trip down the mighty Mississip on the BELLE OF NATCHEZ -- a thinly disguised DELTA QUEEN which is now permanently moored in Chattanooga and we have stayed aboard.) The characters (like the author) actually rafted down the river as college girls and the book takes place about 35 years later.
I first heard Lee Smith at the Virginia Festival of the Book last month when she and Jill McCorkle appeared to read from their...more
I first heard Lee Smith at the Virginia Festival of the Book last month when she and Jill McCorkle appeared to read from their...more
I was hoping for a Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood book, but, this didn't quite measure up. In 1965, several friends built a raft out of 2X4s, commissioned a river captain and floated down the Mississippi a la Huck Finn after being inspired to do so by their favorite English professor at their all-girls' college. It's now 1999 and one of the women has died. Her husband requests that the "girls" re-enact the trip down this Mississippi and scatter her ashes. The book centers on the four wom...more
With any other author this could have been classified as chick-lit. Four college girlfriends meet up 30 years later to cruise down the Mississippi river, and spread the ashes of their college suite mate. Along the way they'll learn a little about themselves and life and come to terms with their lost friend Baby Ballou.
Sounds a bit ridiculous really and ripe for cliche. And while it isn't a great book, there is something about Lee Smith's voice that imbues her novels with an authenticity not fou...more
Sounds a bit ridiculous really and ripe for cliche. And while it isn't a great book, there is something about Lee Smith's voice that imbues her novels with an authenticity not fou...more
I cannot begin to express my disappointment in this book. I was so excited to find a book written about my life long dream of floating down the mississippi on a homeade raft (yeah-I'm serious). It had so much potential and it bombed, there was like one scene about the rafting and the whole book was so woe is me I almost threw it into the ocean (I read it on a spring break trip). Do not read this book
This is based on a group of girls from an all-girls college. It plays into the stereotypical 1950's view of women having a wasted life if they do not get married or have children. Its probably supposed to have a metaphor about life, but I missed it. So much potential and yet the book fell short. I did enjoy the writing style, which is the only reason I read the whole book. SKIP IT.
“Every true story ends terribly, if you follow it far enough….”
Four women head off to recreate a trip down the Mississippi they first took many years ago when they were girls in college. The four gather at the behest of the husband of Baby, one of the original group of girls, a girl who had a strong influence on the lives of all the women, and who has just died unexpectedly in a tragic accident.
The four quirky women, the Last Girls of the title, Southerners one and all, use the trip to reminisc...more
Four women head off to recreate a trip down the Mississippi they first took many years ago when they were girls in college. The four gather at the behest of the husband of Baby, one of the original group of girls, a girl who had a strong influence on the lives of all the women, and who has just died unexpectedly in a tragic accident.
The four quirky women, the Last Girls of the title, Southerners one and all, use the trip to reminisc...more
Nov 14, 2010
Glenda Bailey-Mershon
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Lee SMith fans and writers looking for masterly craft.
What a wonderful idea for a book--the young women who went to college in the late fifties-early 60s were the "last girls" who did not have a readily-available feminist model of womanhood. The ensemble cast is mostly interesting, but I felt some of the characterizations were lacking, especially of the "upper-class women", one with a happy marriage, one without; though their personal histories were somewhat there needed to be more differentiation in their personalities. Also, most common narrator...more
This story concerns a group of female college friends who took a raft trip down the Mississippi River and then took a cruise down the same river about 35 years later. Smith captures the intensity of late adolescent female friendships, and a journey down a river is a nice metaphor for a life journey.
But, I felt she spend too much time on extra stuff - she spends a lot of time describing the outlook of the one husband who accompanied "the girls." He wasn't part of the college group though. Then,...more
But, I felt she spend too much time on extra stuff - she spends a lot of time describing the outlook of the one husband who accompanied "the girls." He wasn't part of the college group though. Then,...more
"The Last Girls" is a fictional account of a cruise on a luxury steamboat down the Mississippi River in May 1999 by a group of women who went to college together in Virginia and who had taken a trip on a large homemade raft in 1965 down the same river. The book is based on the real-life raft trip down the Mississippi that the author and 15 of her classmates at Virginia's Hollins College (whose alumnae also include Annie Dillard) took in 1966.
Lee Smith provides a fascinating character study of...more
Lee Smith provides a fascinating character study of...more
Cute story, but nothing too special. I liked the idea of a group of college friends reuniting much later in life, and I think there are enough different characters that you can find someone to relate to. That said, the characters weren't that likable and the development was a little lacking. The book flips back and forth between the college years and now, and follows several of the girls, so its hard to keep track of who is who and what is happening when...
I really didn't like the epilogue chap...more
I really didn't like the epilogue chap...more
I loved On Agate Hill and should have heeded the advice to go onto Oral History or Fair and Tender Ladies after that. However, the easily accessible cd book form of The Last Girls tempted me with its potential for entertaining literature during my drive to and from work. Lee Smith, I am so sorry, but I was pretty disappointed with this one.
So much of it came across as trite, despite the subject matter. There was infidelity, insecurity, illness, jealousy, and much more, but it all was presented...more
So much of it came across as trite, despite the subject matter. There was infidelity, insecurity, illness, jealousy, and much more, but it all was presented...more
After reading some of the not-so-favorable reviews, I realized listening to the audio version of this story might have enhanced my experience! The narrator is so perfect. She has a rich Southern drawl, and had just the right amount of bittersweet and nostalgia in her voice - perfect for the mood of this book. I thought it was The Big Chill meets The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (after I said this to my mom, I saw that one reviewer called it The Big Chill meets Huckleberry Finn - ha). T...more
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I couldn't relate to this book at all and I felt that I should because it was Chick Lit. It tells that story of four women who were friends in college who go on a cruise down the Mississippi to eventually dispose of their died friend's ashes. There are flashbacks of their own personal history that involve loss and disappointments. I didn't get the impression that these challenges prompted any depth growth or reflection. These women were white and privileged so they didn't need to. The one woman...more
I would have thought that 432 pages would have provided sufficient time to develop a character or two, but this book definitely proved this aspiration wrong. After reading the summary, it appeared that this book had promise - college roommates reuniting 30+ years after embarking down the Mississippi River on a raft, but too much fell short. Even after all that time, these five women appeared just as immature, shallow and self-conscious as ever, none with whom I would ever imagine being friends....more
The lives and loves of four women in their 50's are portrayed and contrasted in the context of a riverboat trip down the Mississippi as a reunion of their previous trip on a raft as college students at a small girls' school in Virginia 35 years before. The novel has a fairly good balance between reflection on the past life choices and current actions to try to connect with old friends and new possibilities. Yet it does not make you cry, it does not make you laugh, and the wisdom imparted is fair...more
Uh, I don't even know what to say about this book. I had to force myself to finish it. I listened to it as an audio book and it was read by the author, so one would think that would make the experience that much more enjoyable! That was not the case for this book.
Actually, I think the author's reading made me like the book less. Sure, she had some great southern drawl and charm incorporated, but her reading was rather dull and not exciting to me. There were no less than 4 female main characters...more
Actually, I think the author's reading made me like the book less. Sure, she had some great southern drawl and charm incorporated, but her reading was rather dull and not exciting to me. There were no less than 4 female main characters...more
This book opens with a character who is indecisive. This drives me crazy in real life and I thought it was a weird way to start a book. Overall this book is depressing. These former college roommates relive their Mississippi River voyage because one of their own has died. Not much of the original trip is mentioned in the book; the focus is on their college years and what happened to the four characters after college. None of the women seem happy with their current situation and some of them have...more
A rather typical "Southern novel" - with Southern belles, problem families, "dark" pasts, etc. Years before, classmates at a women's college in the South took a raft trip down the Mississippi, inspired by Huck Finn's adventure. In the present, four of the women have a reunion on the occasion of the death of one of their number. They "recreate" that voyage by again traveling down the Mississippi but this time on a steamboat and with the intention of scattering Baby's ashes. We get to see the ways...more
The college girls inspired by Huck Finn part of this story sounded promising. Who doesn't want to read about adventure on the Mississippi? So in 1965, these girls hired out the construction of their raft to a Paducah construction company, supervised by Captain Cartwright, who piloted the raft for the girls. At this point, I nearly threw the book across the room.
The raft story is not a big part of this book. Mostly, it concerns the reunion of four of the students, 34 years later. Their characters...more
The raft story is not a big part of this book. Mostly, it concerns the reunion of four of the students, 34 years later. Their characters...more
On paper this seemed like my perfect book. A group of southern women that were college room mates in the 50s get back together for a reunion. The book was fine but the story was strange. The women had (obviously) changed a lot since college and each chapter explained more about their circumstances but they NEVER shared anything with each other. They had lost touch until this reunion and did't learn anything about each other on this trip. I'm not sure why the trip was necessary except to talk abo...more
I picked this up on a whim from a friend's book collection when I didn't have anything to read in the hopper. It was a nice tale about some old college friends who decide to re-enact an adventure down the Missippi river that they took when they were in colleg. It tells about their lives now and looks back at where they came from. It says it is part funny part sad, but I guess I wasn't sure what was supposed to be the funny part. I thought the lives of the women that were feature were mostly sad....more
This is a story of college girl-friends that while in their crazy youth rafted down the Mississippi like Huck Finn. Thirty five years later together again on a cruise down the Mississippi, not only to remember those times, but to spread the ashes of their friend (Baby) at the request of the deceased woman's husband.
I adored this book...but the best part of the audio book was the author's voice. Loved the Southern charm! (and it was charming!) I laughed, I cried, and I loved being a part of the...more
I adored this book...but the best part of the audio book was the author's voice. Loved the Southern charm! (and it was charming!) I laughed, I cried, and I loved being a part of the...more
Selected this title because I like the reunion of a group of friends many decades later. Group of college friends meet years later and take a river boat down the Mississippi. Felt at times the story line put in the same feeling as trying to untangle necklace chains. Overall felt a bit frustrated with the pace, the jumping from one person's story to another and as if I was still holding a tangled mess at the end of the book. I will try another Lee Smith book just to see if another story line play...more
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Growing up in the Appalachian mountains of southwestern Virginia, nine-year-old Lee Smith was already writing--and selling, for a nickel apiece--stories about her neighbors in the coal boomtown of Grundy and the nearby isolated "hollers." Since 1968, she has published eleven novels, as well as three collections of short stories, and has received many writing awards.
The sense of place infusing her...more
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“It's true that when anyone dies, the other dead rise up abd die all over again.”
—
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Sep 26, 2012 09:44pm