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35th out of 61 books
—
20 voters
Something Rising
by
Haven Kimmel
Cassie Claiborne's world is riddled with problems beyond her control: her hard-living, pool-shooting father has another wife; her mother can't seem to move herself mentally away from the kitchen window; and her sister Belle is a tempest of fragility and brilliance. Frustrated by her inability to care for so many, Cassie finds in the local pool hall an oasis of green felt w...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
March 22nd 2005
by Free Press
(first published December 22nd 2003)
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While I liked some aspects of this story and in some way could be swept along with the plot, it disturbs me that the author sets up so many dichotomies with her characters, basically along gender lines: bad man (father who gambles and abandons family) versus saintly man (family friend who's always there and never seems to get angry or make a mistake); rebellious young woman (daughter who makes a living playing pool) versus "good daughter/girl/female" archetype (at an extreme--the rebellious woma...more
Haven Kimmel's writing really is splendid, but I've followed her characters from "The Solace of Leaving Early" to this one, and I think the discovery of a common theme (perhaps cleverly hidden?) distressed me more than it pleased me. Each of these novels' denouement is quick but hard-won, requiring ages of plot and character development that felt tedious to me at times. This is just probably a stage in her development as a writer that she needs to pass through, but it was surprising to encounter...more
Jun 27, 2011
Karlyne Landrum
added it
I give this three stars, because I did finish it and parts of it were brilliant. But, I found the consistent run-on sentences distracting, they bugged me. (See? Isn't that annoying?) Cassie's life is interesting, but somehow, even in all of the detail and description of her life, she stays elusive and cold and not accessible. The neat and tidy winding up of the plot seems to say that she's on her way to becoming a real, feeling, giving person, but it doesn't ring true with me.
Is that what the p...more
Is that what the p...more
I've begun to notice that for a lot of readers, Haven Kimmel novels are a little bit difficult to digest. I agree that sometimes her books are written in a style similar to Jack Kerouac's free-flowing form. And while it does sometimes seem that Kimmel's writing lacks specific direction, I feel that it's because of this characteristic that her books are so easy to read. Each sentence doesn't seem calculated and tailored like in most pop fiction pieces, but rather, enters the bloodstream naturally...more
This book is Kimmel's attempt at the standard coming-of-age-in-a-dysfunctional-family trope, but even here she twists it almost unrecognizably. It begins fairly typically but strays further & further from the mold as it goes along. Like The Solace of Leaving Early, which I admired, this book is set in rural central Indiana, but whereas that one focused on an intellectual elite, this one is about more stereotypical rural Hoosiers who live apparently meaningless lives in a trailer. (But, of co...more
Oct 20, 2010
Cathy Day
added it
This book is about all the things that conspire to keep us rooted in one place--the needs of our family, our friends, our community--and what it takes to truly live a life on your own terms. Especially if you a woman. Especially if you're from rural or small-town Indiana. The discussion of the "woman chipper" of female life, oh my, this alone is worth the sticker price. If you read Zippy and wondered what that book would have been like if not for the insistently cheerful child's point of view, i...more
Haven Kimmel's characters' minds are always so infinite that I feel like a small, petty person after finishing. I come out of reading her stories as though I've read a religious text. Converted, restarted, motivated to be better and to love greater.
She starts at the beginning and parcels out truths and moments slowly, patiently, carefully such that the reader is strung along, growing along, wishing along, until the book ends and the reader feels a relief for the characters, a celebration, and a...more
She starts at the beginning and parcels out truths and moments slowly, patiently, carefully such that the reader is strung along, growing along, wishing along, until the book ends and the reader feels a relief for the characters, a celebration, and a...more
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Jul 03, 2010
Theryn Fleming
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-in-2000s,
fiction
Something Rising teeters on the brink of being brilliant, but never quite makes it there. The writing is great (I suspect if I read an excerpt, I'd give it a higher rating than I would the whole book), so much so that I find myself wanting to like the story more than I do. But if I'm honest with myself, this ends up in the "liked but did not love" pile. The biggest problem is that I have no idea what Cassie wants. She plays pool and does day labor and has never filed a tax return. Ok. But what d...more
Ah! Haven Kimmel can write so beautifully. Trudging through the distressing and depressing circumstances of the life of our young protagonist was sometimes almost too much, however. The hopeful resolution and realization that propelled her in an ultimately healthy direction were hard won, as one reviewer pointed out, and though they were meaningful and insightful, I'm still not sure they were worth the journey for the reader. Still, I'm glad I read it, and I have thought about it frequently sinc...more
This is on the NC shelf bc Kimmel lives in Durham :).
Ok - something about the way she writes her novels (but NOT her memoirs) make her a bit inaccessible - I feel REALLY dumb sometimes, like I'm WAY not picking up on some undercurrent or innuendo or something...It's frustrating, and I feel as though I'm not enjoying her novels as much as I COULD if I were, say...understanding what she's getting at.
This one was pretty bleak, although Cassie's anger was AWESOME, and she is our generation's TOWAND...more
Ok - something about the way she writes her novels (but NOT her memoirs) make her a bit inaccessible - I feel REALLY dumb sometimes, like I'm WAY not picking up on some undercurrent or innuendo or something...It's frustrating, and I feel as though I'm not enjoying her novels as much as I COULD if I were, say...understanding what she's getting at.
This one was pretty bleak, although Cassie's anger was AWESOME, and she is our generation's TOWAND...more
Haven Kimmel, how I love her. I want to give this book four stars but it kind of lost me in the last third. The beginning is amazing, though. The main character is a pool-playing tomboy who is nearly fearless. The description of how she plays her no-good drunk of a father for his most precious possession, a work-of-art pool cue, is one of the finest revenge fantasies I have ever encountered. Sweet. Also Haven Kimmel is hilarious. If you haven't read The Solace of Leaving Early, you should check...more
Oct 30, 2007
cat
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of tomboys, character development and pool sharks
i really like this, but am due for a re-read, because I can't remember exactly what i liked about it, just that i did like it...
[update]: oh good lord - claire and i saw haven kimmel read last night, which was glorious. I have a total girl-crush on anyone who talk about the eschatology of john ashcroft one minute, and the next minute tell a hilarious anecdote about being on the morning show and trying to make katie couric look smart. which brings me to this book (which is now autographed "To Cat...more
[update]: oh good lord - claire and i saw haven kimmel read last night, which was glorious. I have a total girl-crush on anyone who talk about the eschatology of john ashcroft one minute, and the next minute tell a hilarious anecdote about being on the morning show and trying to make katie couric look smart. which brings me to this book (which is now autographed "To Cat...more
I really liked this book but I think reading Haven Kimmel's
A Girl Named Zippy
, and She Got Up Off the Couch give this book more of a grounded feeling. I'm not sure if these were suppose to be a trilogy as Zippy & She Got Up were autobiographical, while Something Rising is 'fiction', but Something Rising reads better as the third book.
The story takes place primarily in rural Indiana, a place where girls were girls and men were men. The story is told from Cassie's point of a view, a girl who...more
The story takes place primarily in rural Indiana, a place where girls were girls and men were men. The story is told from Cassie's point of a view, a girl who...more
Kimmel developed a diverse fan club after the success of her smart, funny, and best-selling memoir, A Girl Named Zippy, and her poignant novel, The Solace of Leaving Early. In Something Rising, Kimmel both varies and adheres to these forms, chronicling the everyday events and dramas of a determined young woman living in a small town and aching for another life. Critics praise Kimmel's complex, unsentimental style and convincing plot. The rather slow pace in the middle detracts slightly from this
...more
Something Rising is about a woman named Cassie Claibourne. The book starts off with Cassie as a child. Right away readers realize she's from a dysfunctional family. Her dad is married to their mother but he is constantly leaving to play pool in different states or he is with his other woman. Her mother is depressed. And her sister, while a talented writer is a paranoid schizophrenic. Cassie adores her father but as she grows up her disappointments turn her into a tough, angry teenager and woman....more
Somehow, Haven Kimmel's books are more intellectually than emotionally satisfying for me. They're like some bizarre puzzle, and the characters' feelings for each other are often mysterious. They seem to be following some preordained path, with attractions that work like magnetic fields rather than our usual emotional responses. I'm not sure I always believe what I read here, but if my mind isn't convinced, it's at least intrigued.
Haven Kimmel always writes wonderful, real fiction with people and dilemmas that are touchable. I'm glad I finally got around to reading this one. Cassie is the point-of-view character, but she's also something of a mystery. Really everyone in this book is, and I like that. Most people I know, even those close to me, are mysterious in the same way sometimes. I also really love the ending.
This is not my favorite of the three Haven Kimmel books I've read, but I still give it a five, because her writing beats the writing of about any other contemporary writer, her characters pull me into their lives, and she's able to provoke thought in me without resorting to dogma or artificiality. To top it off, she knows a whole heckuva lot about everything from pre-WW II East European photographers to pool.
I liked this book, I just think that she likes to write about genius's and their families and how they cope. This book does have a good story about how to come to terms with your life and be happy with what you are. It also brings in a tiny bit of a character in her other book that I just read, which makes me think that another book will come out about them. Who knows??? She is a very bright person and she weaves a story well. I wish she would leave out the words that no one really needs to say...more
I was very excited to finally read the second in the "trilogy" by Haven Kimmel.(The first book, The Solace of Leaving Early.) Every character feels raw to me. (Is that the right way to put it?) Since the books are loosely related, I was eager to see how she would tie them together. I did not know if there would be a common theme, or if the setting, small town Indiana, would be the common trait, or if the characters would be. All three are interwoven, but I do not want to give anything away.
(Bue...more
(Bue...more
I was pretty disappointed in this book, especially after reading (and loving)
A Girl Named Zippy
and She Got Up Off the Couch. There didn't seem to be much of a story line in Something Rising, and what was there was very disconnected and a little confusing. The characters were unappealing and evoked little or no sympathy in me.
Kimmel sets up a bit of a mystery with the character Thomas, but we meet him only very briefly, and nothing more is said about him (although we assume that Cassie returns...more
Kimmel sets up a bit of a mystery with the character Thomas, but we meet him only very briefly, and nothing more is said about him (although we assume that Cassie returns...more
Kimmel's writing is lovely and she has the people and rhythm of Midwestern life down cold. However, I thought the structure of the book was a little uneven, with many pages devoted to several scenes that seemed pointless, while critical plot and character developments just casually tossed in with one sentence.
3/30/07 - Read the audiobook version of this, since I knew I'd get to it sooner that way. Although I'm sure there was supposed to be some sort of deep meaning in this novel, it really didn't do it for me. Living in Indiana myself (which is the setting of the majority of the book), I was both interested & somewhat disgusted by the references to the way of life characterized in the book. I would hope that readers wouldn't assume that all Hoosiers live the way that Cassie & her friends/fami...more
I find Haven Kimmel hard to follow. Cassie had to overcome much while growing up in a small IN town. I kept thinking it would get better? The story just seemed to move slowly and was a bit disjointed for my taste. Even tho I read it because one of my granddaughter's name is Haven, it was still hard to finish.
"Bud leaned in close, tapped her chest with his finger. "You bring your history into this, he'll beat you. Because you feel it and he doesn't."
"And then there were men who were violently afraid of losing to a woman, the scariest men in the world. They become dictators, heads of state, bureaucrats, men with deadly weapons, they were everywhere. Sometimes she could pick one out with a look, but they were often charming, they had to have the power in order to dominate."
Cassie is cool. I like that....more
"And then there were men who were violently afraid of losing to a woman, the scariest men in the world. They become dictators, heads of state, bureaucrats, men with deadly weapons, they were everywhere. Sometimes she could pick one out with a look, but they were often charming, they had to have the power in order to dominate."
Cassie is cool. I like that....more
I picked this book up because I'm occasionally shallow and the girl on the cover is very appealing. I had limited hopes for it; I mean, after all, I've been burned by many a cover! All I have to say is...
Holy Cow! I read it on a Tuesday. Re-read it on Wednesday. Put it down and walked away. Read it AGAIN on Saturday. I'm a frequent re-reader, a well-known book is like coffee with an old friend but this was like a bolt of passion out of the blue, a torrid affair, chance meeting and instant desire...more
Holy Cow! I read it on a Tuesday. Re-read it on Wednesday. Put it down and walked away. Read it AGAIN on Saturday. I'm a frequent re-reader, a well-known book is like coffee with an old friend but this was like a bolt of passion out of the blue, a torrid affair, chance meeting and instant desire...more
This book was just ok. It was sort of bizarre and I skimmed/skipped a lot towards the end. Belle & Edwin getting married was weird with no explanation. I also didn't like how they didn't explain more about Jimmy and his other wife and what happened to him.
Chick lit for tough girls. A rebellious girl from a broken home in rural Indiana grows into a pool shark who supports both her mother, who is paralyzed by the failure of her marriage and disappointment of her own life; and her emotionally fragile sister.
Great book. I rate books well many times if I have the urge to read parts of a book to anyone that will listen. This was one of those books. And for me the one of those parts was the page about Miss Mittens. Such a simple thing but so damn true of our feline companions. It was just the perfect spot to put in some humor.
I don't have a good description. Stark and visceral, but hypnotic at the same time. A difficult but sympathetic protagonist; I cringed at each self-defeating action, but never stopped rooting for her. This book stayed with me in a way that few do.
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Haven Kimmel was born in New Castle, Indiana, and was raised in Mooreland, Indiana, the focus of her bestselling memoir, A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana .
Kimmel earned her undergraduate degree in English and creative writing from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and a graduate degree from North Carolina State University, where she studied with novelist Lee Smith....more
More about Haven Kimmel...
Kimmel earned her undergraduate degree in English and creative writing from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and a graduate degree from North Carolina State University, where she studied with novelist Lee Smith....more
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“women live the lie from birth on, and then one day they realize that it's too late for them, they're too old to write a book or solve a difficult problem in math, they'll never learn to sing or play the piano, they showed such promise early on. so they run to the priest, their voices take on a hysterical edge, like the one mine has right now, and the priest tells them they have lived righteously and their reward will be in heaven, and he could certainly use someone in the kitchen for the potluck on Sunday night. ”
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