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2nd out of 13 books
—
28 voters
One Good Hustle
From award-winning writer Billie Livingston, an unsparing novel of loyalty and survival that is fierce, sharp and funny even when it's breaking your heart.
The child of 2 con artists, 16-year-old Sammie Bell always prided herself on knowing the score. But now she finds herself backed into a corner. After a hustle gone dangerously wrong, her mother, Marlene, is sliding into...more
The child of 2 con artists, 16-year-old Sammie Bell always prided herself on knowing the score. But now she finds herself backed into a corner. After a hustle gone dangerously wrong, her mother, Marlene, is sliding into...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
July 24th 2012
by Random House Canada
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As the child of 2 hustlers, Sammie did not have it easy. Now that her dad has left, and her mother spends her days (and nights) drinking, she has no choice but to go live at her friend's house where she longs for… something. Her father? Normalcy? Love? One Good Hustle is the story of a young girl's struggle over her identity, over how her life is likely to turn out.
As this is a chronicle, it's a bit different from my typical contemporary reads. Instead of a front to back story, it's essentially...more
As this is a chronicle, it's a bit different from my typical contemporary reads. Instead of a front to back story, it's essentially...more
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Just finished this book yesterday. Enjoyed it a lot. It's written in the voice of a sixteen year old girl named Sammie. Sammie is the daughter of 2 con artists. Her Dad has basically taken off. There is mentioned somewhere in the book a divorce from her mother. He does show up a couple of times in the book. Sammie's mother is living on welfare in a apartment with Sammie. She threatens to kill herself and drinks excessivly. She goes to AA later on. Sammie still tries to pull hustles -like the rec...more
Billie Livingston returns! One Good Hustle is classic Livingston. Teen Sammie has given up trying to help her mom, Marlene, whether by helping her live, or helping her die. She escapes to the home of well-meaning, semi-Christian, slightly judge-y parents of new friend Jill. From there, Sammie tries to figure out who she's going to be, and where she'll be it from. On one side there's the well-meaning "straight" world, and on the other side, hustlers.
You can take the girl out of the con, but you...more
You can take the girl out of the con, but you...more
One of the most valuable things about fiction is that it encourages empathy. People who have grown up in "good homes" or people whose experience with the seedier side of life is, thankfully, limited, will find a character to empathize with. As readers, we ache with Sammie's vulnerability to her to father, to her mother, and to her foster family. We want to shout affirmations to her from outside the pages of the book but we know she can't hear us.
Having grown up in Greater Vancouver, I can ident...more
Having grown up in Greater Vancouver, I can ident...more
I loved One Good Hustle.
Clean writing, simple, yet sophisticated, with characters so familiar as to feel neighbourly, with all that neighbours bring.
Sammie, Livingston's young protagonist, is written with such a confident stroke, I don't think I caught one misstep. She's heartbreaking in the toughest, truest sense, in part because she's one of those pained youths cursed with self-awareness that isn't yet paired with autonomy.
And while the circumstances of Sammie's upbringing are entertaining—h...more
Clean writing, simple, yet sophisticated, with characters so familiar as to feel neighbourly, with all that neighbours bring.
Sammie, Livingston's young protagonist, is written with such a confident stroke, I don't think I caught one misstep. She's heartbreaking in the toughest, truest sense, in part because she's one of those pained youths cursed with self-awareness that isn't yet paired with autonomy.
And while the circumstances of Sammie's upbringing are entertaining—h...more
5 likes · like · see review
I was surprised on how much I enjoyed this book. I thought the young adult narration and tone would be a big turn off for me, and although at times it was, I did find myself immersed in the book, and at times having a slight emotional connection to Sammie.
Sammie was a well written character. She was a character who at first glance was your typical teenager in a book, but eventually the reader sees that she's a fairly complex character. It did take me some time to warm up to her, but eventually...more
Sammie was a well written character. She was a character who at first glance was your typical teenager in a book, but eventually the reader sees that she's a fairly complex character. It did take me some time to warm up to her, but eventually...more
NOTE: Goodreads is now owned by Amazon and as such I will no longer be posting any text from my reviews here. A link to the full review is provided below:
http://www.opinionless.com/book-revie...
http://www.opinionless.com/book-revie...
1 like · like · see review
A friend was kind enough to lend me her advanced reading copy of this novel. She said it was a must-read for me. I'm already a fan of Livingston's writing but I wasn't sure what to expect with this one. I loved it. It's about a young woman, the daughter of two con-artists who takes off on her own and tries to sort out whether she's somehow biologically destined to be just like her family. It's blunt and funny and ruthless in its observations. While at the same it has a kind of beautiful poetry t...more
I read this book as the book of the month for discussion on CBC Books Group here on Goodreads.
As I was reading this book, I realized a few things...
1 - I think I was expecting something different while reading the book...(view spoiler) Once I got past my initial thoughts about what I would have liked to see (oh... half way through), the book became...more
As I was reading this book, I realized a few things...
1 - I think I was expecting something different while reading the book...(view spoiler) Once I got past my initial thoughts about what I would have liked to see (oh... half way through), the book became...more
The protagonist for One Good Hustle is Sammie, the daughter of two con artists. Her dad has been out of the picture for some time now and she is barely surviving with her alcoholic mother. Sammie ends up moving in with a friend's family for the summer, experiencing a slice of normalcy. This book is about loyalities and love. Despite her parents' shortfallings, Sammie longs to be with them again even while she understands that may not be the best solution for her.
Billie Livingston's writing is re...more
Billie Livingston's writing is re...more
I was a little worried when I picked this up that it would be a downer, but it is not.I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I found the authour really captured the essence of an adolescent girl - her sarcastic defensiveness mixed with vulnerability. Sammie came to life instantly on the page with her distinctive voice. Sammie is torn between loyalty to her parents and her desire to be a 'normal' kid. She also feels that she is damned to be a grifter like her parents. The story is not overly heavy and th...more
I found the authour really captured the essence of an adolescent girl - her sarcastic defensiveness mixed with vulnerability. Sammie came to life instantly on the page with her distinctive voice. Sammie is torn between loyalty to her parents and her desire to be a 'normal' kid. She also feels that she is damned to be a grifter like her parents. The story is not overly heavy and th...more
Sam is crashing at a friend Jill's house to escape her Mom's alcoholism and suicide attempts. Lou and Ruby offer to become her temporary guardians when it becomes clear she is running away from something at home.
This is a coming of age story in which Sam realizes her parents aren't perfect and acknowledges that she is deserving of being loved. She tries to come to terms with her relationship with her transient Dad who still hustles and she dreams of him rescuing her from her life.
She realizes...more
This is a coming of age story in which Sam realizes her parents aren't perfect and acknowledges that she is deserving of being loved. She tries to come to terms with her relationship with her transient Dad who still hustles and she dreams of him rescuing her from her life.
She realizes...more
16-year-old Sammie is the child of two con artists. Her mom is falling apart due to mental illness and substance abuse and Sammie takes off and moves in with family friends. Yet she struggles, trying to determine who she is and if her upbringing as a con artist means that she will be one too.
I really liked the setting and the narrative voice in this book. I am a big fan of Billie Livingston, and she's great at capturing complex relationships and creating characters who are wonderfully nuanced.
T...more
I really liked the setting and the narrative voice in this book. I am a big fan of Billie Livingston, and she's great at capturing complex relationships and creating characters who are wonderfully nuanced.
T...more
1 like · like · see review
I read an ARC given away through Goodreads First Reads.
When I began One Good Hustle, I thought I would be reading about the protagonist, Sammie, pulling off one good hustle. I thought I'd be getting a little bit of an Ocean's Eleven-type deal. Unfortunately, that part is a bit of letdown; the only hustles you read about are hustles that Sammie's parents (two con artists) pulled off in the past that she remembers. She pulls off a couple little tricks of her own, but nothing on a grand scale, whic...more
When I began One Good Hustle, I thought I would be reading about the protagonist, Sammie, pulling off one good hustle. I thought I'd be getting a little bit of an Ocean's Eleven-type deal. Unfortunately, that part is a bit of letdown; the only hustles you read about are hustles that Sammie's parents (two con artists) pulled off in the past that she remembers. She pulls off a couple little tricks of her own, but nothing on a grand scale, whic...more
This review and others can be found on Cozy Up With A Good Read
I have been eagerly expecting this book since I heard about it from Random House, the idea of a child of two con-artists trying to live a normal life was a really interesting and inspiring idea, I had to get my hands on it.
I really loved that everything was from Sammie's point of view, Livingston does a beautiful job showing the issues that Sammie has had to deal with throughout her life. I fell in love with Sammie, watching her stru...more
I have been eagerly expecting this book since I heard about it from Random House, the idea of a child of two con-artists trying to live a normal life was a really interesting and inspiring idea, I had to get my hands on it.
I really loved that everything was from Sammie's point of view, Livingston does a beautiful job showing the issues that Sammie has had to deal with throughout her life. I fell in love with Sammie, watching her stru...more
I just finished this book and I'm stunned. I've read everything this author has written and this may be the best one yet. Billie Livingston is a writer who often looks at those living on the edge but this story really takes it to a whole new level. Though the narrator is a teenager this one is definitely no kids book. Raw, tough, and very funny, it's the story of Sammie, a young would-be con artist as she tries to make her way in the world, struggling to determine who and what she is. Is it natu...more
LOVED this one. I've read the author's other books and I thought they were very good too but none affected me quite like this. At the end of the book, I put the book down on my chest and lay there crying for 20 minutes. I found the ending so beautiful. It's interesting to me that some people here are bothered by it. I thought it was beautiful. All about facing that point of self-determination. Really facing that point is a complete butt-kicking moment whether your 16 or 60.
I like this book. It takes me back to my childhood in Burnaby, BC, which makes sense given that I knew and went to high school with the author. I like Sammie and guess that her real life reticence might be reflected in the novelized Sammie but they don't make books like this all that often and that id why it deserves an audience. There is the pull of a strong feminine mind that creates a strong emotional underpinning for this ongoing coming of age story.
Sammie has got it rough, her mom wants to kill herself and she has little interaction with her father - both are con artists, which has left an imprint on Sammie and her outlook on life and its expectations (or the lack there of). Loved the character development, as well as, the landscape of Burnaby/Vancouver with Sammie's trapsings. Take in how Sammie deals with her relationships with her mom/dad and how she wants to fit in and be normal with her foster family. Enjoyed!
This was one of those novels that felt so honest and straight-ahead that I was completely unprepared for it. I couldn't help but think the author must have experienced a great deal of corruption in her life to have pulled off such a story. I loved the ending -- those who didn't must be used to reading airport books -- Sammie the child of two con-artists comes to a point where she is literally ready to face her past and who she comes from. The novel is about nature vs nurture and the ending sugge...more
Thank you Billie Livingston for writing such an incredibly enjoyable story. I really loved One Good Hustle and Sammie is an amazing character! She's got 'spunk'. As a member of the 80s teenage brigade, I really enjoyed taking a few strolls down memory lane. Big, hair, overdone makeup, I had a friend that was Jill to a 'T'.
I also related to the softer side of Sammie's relationship with her mother, Marlene. *****
I also related to the softer side of Sammie's relationship with her mother, Marlene. *****
You can't help but be drawn into the world Billie Livingston has created for 16-year-old Sammie Bell. The daughter of two hustlers - an addict mother and an absent father who's a con - Sammie's got their smarts and is afraid she'll turn out to be just like them. Her struggles to carve our her own existence and win out over her demons is raw and vividly drawn. Unputdownable.
Enjoyable book. The main character was likeable and sympathetic. The author did a good job of showing how one generally loves their parents no matter how rotten and narcissistic they are. The father was quite the antisocial cad but she loved him nonetheless and always hoped for a loving relationship with him. It was sad and touching at the same time. Although some readers complained about the ending, it was realistic and unpredictable,just like life in general.
I read Going Down Swinging several years ago, and I am surprised and at how similar the two books are. It was essentially the same story told a decade later from the perspective of the daughter alone. It's a great character study, but the lack of both resolution and originality was disappointing, to me.
A very good read. Reminiscent of Catcher in the Rye--the story of an intelligent adolescent who's working hard to be her own authentic self, and making her own sense of a tough world. I highly recommend it, and look forward to more from this terrific young Canadian author.
Fantastic book! Would appeal to teens and adults alike. Livingston has an uncanny ability to speak in the voice of a 16 year old girl. Really interesting subject matter that I haven't read before-I learned a lot about con artists.
I don't think I've read Billie Livingston before. I wonder why. I really enjoyed this book. Her protagonist is authentic and likable. While we often bemoan the fact that there is no instruction book for raising kids and no license needed, this book made me realize that neither do kids get to trade in their parents for new models. You get what you get and you're going to have to make that do.
Set in Vancouver in the early 80's, Sammie is trying to figure who she is as she is entering grade 12. She is realizing her parents are not who she thought they were when she was a child but very flawed adults.
Well-written book about young girl struggling with a mentally unbalanced mother and a grifter family. Highly evocative, late 80s feel. Great sense of dialogue and Sammie, the main character is a winner. Wanted to write to the author, when I finished, and ask her how Sammie turned out. A winner.
An easy read with a complex, likeable narrator and a recognizable Canadian setting. Livingston's writing is engaging with a good rhythm, but the ending feels abrupt and some key questions are left unanswered.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBC Books: One Good Hustle by Billie Livingston | 12 | 47 | Apr 18, 2013 09:39am | |
| Unfinished Proof | 2 | 9 | Mar 30, 2012 04:11pm | |
| Unfinished Proof | 1 | 6 | Mar 24, 2012 04:35pm |
Billie Livingston is a fiction writer, poet, and sometime essayist. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, she grew up in Toronto and Vancouver, and has since lived in Tokyo, Hamburg, Munich, Los Angeles and London, England. Her first employment was filling the dairy coolers in a Macs MIlk. She went on to work varying lengths of time as a file clerk, receptionist, cocktail waitress, model, actor, chocolate sa...more
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