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41st out of 76 books
—
28 voters
Goats
Fourteen-year-old Ellis is getting ready to leave the Southwest for a boarding school in the East. This means leaving behind his mother, and the only real father figure he has ever known, Goat Man. Goat Man has done more for Ellis than giving him his first bong hit. He has maintained a home on Ellis's mom's property rent-free since Ellis was a child, taking care of small t...more
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published
February 7th 2001
by Miramax Books
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Kind of SW stoner take on 'Catcher In the Rye' except instead of running away from prep school, the protagonist runs away TO it. Also, as many prior readers and reviewers have noted, Ellis is a remarkably un-flawed protagonist who seemingly has few if any inner or outer conflicts to resolve beyond whether to stay on his school's crew team, help his roommate with his algebra or (and perhaps this is the one) engage in a more meaningful relationship with his estranged father. In fact, by the end of...more
As I approached the end of this book, I was perfectly aware that it was almost over, but when I looked down and saw I only had about eight pages left, I stopped reading. I didn't want it to be over.
Beautifully written, Goats is a coming of age story that you will never forget. The characters are believable and unique, eliciting every emotion from their readers: anger, frustration, hurt, worry. These characters, made up of nothing other than paper and ink, become as real as our own friends and fa...more
Beautifully written, Goats is a coming of age story that you will never forget. The characters are believable and unique, eliciting every emotion from their readers: anger, frustration, hurt, worry. These characters, made up of nothing other than paper and ink, become as real as our own friends and fa...more
On the back cover of this coming-of-age story we learn that Mark Jude Poirier is a graduate of the "Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins and the Iowa Writers' Workshop". I read "Goats", his unusually sure-footed debut novel, to a background of faint grinding and whimpering noises, almost as if someone were throwing kittens into the machinery in the basement. Puzzling, as the basement is free of both kittens and machines. Finally I realized that the odd acoustic phenomenon was just the eldritch soun...more
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I liked this book, up until about the last quarter. It's a nice coming-of-age type of story, focusing on Ellis' life before going away to a prep school, and how he and his family change while he's there. But the end bothered me. It felt like it was not as fleshed-out as the rest of the book. And then it just ends, and left me feeling like several issues were left unresolved. Now, I'll admit that I don't like Slice-of-life stories, because I want my stories to GO somewhere. So, maybe this was sup...more
If I could give half stars this one would get 3.5 stars. It is not a typical coming of age novel, however, it may be more typical in todays world than many may realize. The book is well writen and the characters well formed. This book reflects on the extremes of humanity and everything inbetween.
This is actually a really deep book. What kind of a person is Ellis going to become? Which person will really be there for him? The characters were unique and interesting and fundamentally realistic and believable. This is a very good book.
This is a coming of age novel, and not an interesting one either. All of the characters in the book share one quality in common. They're self-involved narcissists, and it's difficult to care about what really happens to any of them.
I saw this book mentioned in Oxford American Magazine, and gave it a try. This was an enjoyable read, though nothing spectacular. It did keep my attention throughout.
Such an attractive book, even despite the borderline stagnant characters and fairly predictable "coming-of-age" arc. Couldn't put it down.
Just okay coming-of age story. A bit long on words and short on insight.
I really liked this book. One of the main characters reminded me of my brother : a long haired pot smoker who grew his own plants just for himself and went on treks in teh mountains with his goats. I felt like the ending was a bit lackluster, but the whole book was pretty entertaining. Besides the goat trekker, there was a young boy trying to figure out who he was and what he wanted to be.
Pot smoking and goat trekking...does it get any better than this? An amazingly engaging coming-of-age novel that has elicited comparisons to the Catcher in the Rye. What starts off as paradise-like environment for Ellis Whitman slowly starts to unravel at the seams as the true natures of the participants are revealed.
This book was given to me by a friend and I feel like it is a true reflection of my life in many ways. Definitely worth reading!
May 05, 2013
Sarah Rose
marked it as to-read
May 04, 2013
Jaqui Vallina
marked it as to-read
May 02, 2013
Emily Ross
is currently reading it
May 01, 2013
Gina
marked it as to-read
Apr 30, 2013
Cindy Davis
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Apr 29, 2013
Emma
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Apr 06, 2013
Victoria
marked it as to-read
Mar 31, 2013
Adam Chellberg
marked it as to-read
Mar 30, 2013
Jane Dukuray
marked it as to-read
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May 28, 2010 11:14pm