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340th out of 675 books
—
2,014 voters
The Heroines
Although a true lover of books, Anne-Marie Entwhistle prefers not to read to her spirited daughter, Penny, especially from the likes of "Madame Bovary," "Gone With the Wind," or "The Scarlet Letter." These novels, devoted to the lives of the Heroines that make them so irresistible, have a way of hitting too close to home -- well, to the Homestead actually, where Anne-Marie...more
Hardcover, 233 pages
Published
December 11th 2008
by Scribner Book Company
(first published December 1st 2007)
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Audrey Niffenegger's review on the front of this book is very apropos.
"Quirky: adolescent angst meets metaphysics, screwball-comedy trysts with the underpinnings of reality. It's funny and tender; it's a chance to see Scarlett O'Hara and Emma Bovary off duty."
This was a fun book to read - one of those read-it-in-one-day books.
This book really gives you a little look at what it would be like if heroines from books suddenly appeared in your home.
"Quirky: adolescent angst meets metaphysics, screwball-comedy trysts with the underpinnings of reality. It's funny and tender; it's a chance to see Scarlett O'Hara and Emma Bovary off duty."
This was a fun book to read - one of those read-it-in-one-day books.
This book really gives you a little look at what it would be like if heroines from books suddenly appeared in your home.
Awesome idea. Terrible execution. It is just a mess. The writing is awful. I almost didn't make it through the first paragraph. It is much darker than I thought it would be, which is not bad in itself. The darkness didn't really do anything to me emotionally though. I didn't care about the characters at all. Also, the Heroines the novel is named after are underutilized. I thought it would be a story about what all the heroines got up to at the B&B, why they came, etc., but it was more the na...more
I am giving this book 2 stars mainly because the idea was so wonderful--a bed and breakfast where heroines of classic literature come for a respite from their plotlines--but the execution just left me kind of "meh". I think it tried to be too many things--a book about coming of age, a book about literature, a book about mothers and daughters---and not one of those themes really melded well with another. There was also a lot of odd lusting from the main character, Penny--a 13 year old girl who ha...more
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All'inizio si rimane un poco confusi. Si viene catapultati in canovaccio narrativo complicato dal mix fra cio' che e' reale e la fantasia letteraria che si materializza.
Madre e figlia in un paesino speduto nel Midwest americano (e non la piu' ovvia campagna anglo-irlandese) vivono una vita "movimentata" a causa del dono materno: attirare per un tempo breve ma indefinito nel mondo reale le eroine dei romanzi/saghe inglesi in fuga dal bruto di turno e/o dal dramma dei romanzi.
La noia che questa si...more
Madre e figlia in un paesino speduto nel Midwest americano (e non la piu' ovvia campagna anglo-irlandese) vivono una vita "movimentata" a causa del dono materno: attirare per un tempo breve ma indefinito nel mondo reale le eroine dei romanzi/saghe inglesi in fuga dal bruto di turno e/o dal dramma dei romanzi.
La noia che questa si...more
Stories about fictional characters interacting with the physical world are nothing new -- see Jasper Fforde's bestselling Thursday Next series or, on the silver screen, Enchanted. Still, the premise of this novel -- that literary heroines like Madame Bovary are able to visit our world via an isolated bed and breakfast in rural Illinois -- should delight all bibliophiles.
But premise only gets you so far, and this book turns out to be more Helen Fielding than Gustave Flaubert. Though that's unfai...more
But premise only gets you so far, and this book turns out to be more Helen Fielding than Gustave Flaubert. Though that's unfai...more
Heroines starts off with an intriguing premise. Ann-Marie and her daughter, Penelope, maintain a boarding house in the 1970s (Forrest Gump anyone?) and from time to time Heroines from various novels/plays/stories will come and visit them. There is only one rule: you must never interfere with a Heroine's fate. Little Penelope is 13 and on the cusp of womanhood as a daring Hero (or Villain?) arrives chasing down his lost heroine. She is drawn by this dashing stranger and resents the heroines for m...more
I felt the blurbs on the cover were misleading: "adolescent angst meets metaphysics, screwball-comedy trysts with the underpinnings of reality. It's funny and tender..." and "... a fun take on the impact literature can have on our lives." are examples
I did not find this book fun at all. Yes, as the inside cover synopsis indicates the main character, 13-year-old Penny Entwhistle and her mother Anne-Marie run a bed and breakfast that is often visited by heroines from literature who need a break fr...more
I did not find this book fun at all. Yes, as the inside cover synopsis indicates the main character, 13-year-old Penny Entwhistle and her mother Anne-Marie run a bed and breakfast that is often visited by heroines from literature who need a break fr...more
A Christmas gift from Miss B....It's an odd book, the fantasy clash of literature famous heroines appearing in an everyday bed and breakfast...set in the USA 70s. It has all the marks of the 70s, the pot, the psych and the drugs, Nixon and Watergate. It is literally a clash, which I found disconcerting, but I know that if that background wasn't there, there would be nothing, and the book would fall apart. I called Penny's parentage well before she knew it herself, found it odd how she kept refer...more
This book began with such promise. A lively adolescent girl growing up in her mother's bed and breakfast, which just happens to be a favorite destination of literary heroines escaped from their novels for a little R & R -- what a delightful premise! (Hmmm . . . a premise with promise.) BUT, for me, the story fell flat.
When I try to analyze why it did so, I come to the conclusion that the author tried to write two different types of books at one time, and it just didn't work. When Penny (the...more
When I try to analyze why it did so, I come to the conclusion that the author tried to write two different types of books at one time, and it just didn't work. When Penny (the...more
When I read the inside blurb to this book, I couldn’t wait to tear into and read it. The story is set in 1974 in a small town in Illinois . A single mother runs and lives in a Bed and Breakfast with her daughter, Penny, and a quirky housekeeper, Gretta. The story is told from the point of view of Penny who is thirteen for the main part of the story but the story does jump back in her life for back story.
What makes this B&B unique is the times that heroines from classic fiction books and folk...more
What makes this B&B unique is the times that heroines from classic fiction books and folk...more
It is 1974, and thirteen-year-old Penny is living with her mother in their small bed and breakfast in rural Illinois. Penny longs to read, but her mother has disallowed it and she can't understand why -- until the heroines from all sorts of famous works start magically coming to life and visiting the bed and breakfast. Their lives intersect with Penny's in unexpected ways, and through these intersections Penny must learn about what it means to be a woman, what it means to be a literary heroine,...more
I'm a sucker for coming of age stories. This one had an interesting twist. 13 year-old Penny is rebelling against her mother and being displaced by a heroine, named Deidre from some celtic tale. (My father oftentimes referred to Deidre as the Queen of Trouble.) Heroines from literature show up unexpectedly at the Homestead, a 70's B & B, and garner the attention of Penny's mother Anne-Marie who is reluctant to let Penny know who her father is.
Stories of other heroines at The Homestead are i...more
Stories of other heroines at The Homestead are i...more
I was really excited to read this book, but it contained too much 'angst-ridden teenage rebellion', sexuality, & drug use for me to really enjoy the story. The book couldn't make up its mind whether it was metafiction or mother-daughter drama. The heroines didn't play as big a role as I had hoped. How could someone as fiery as Scarlett O'Hara be relegated to one chapter? If you're looking for wonderful metafiction, try reading Jasper Fforde.
The cover of my edition portrays a woods in which great heroines of fiction are lounging. Hester Prynne and Scarlett O'Hara are the easiest to discern. The concept behind the book is something like Inkheart: the Heroines appear to Anne-Marie Entwhistle, take up residence in her inn and subsequently torment and fascinate her 13-year-old daughter Penny. Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina each make an appearance, as do J.D. Salinger's Franny and Emily Bronte's Catherine Earnshaw.
Catherine was the mos...more
Catherine was the mos...more
I realy should give this 2 1/2 stars but I'll do 3 since the idea was so great.
I saw this book in the library a while back and came here to read reviews-most were unfavorable and I was pretty disappointed because it sounded like such a great idea for a book. Last week I was poking around the audiobook section of the library and saw it again and decided to give it a shot. Sadly, my opinion is not that different from that of other folks here on goodreads.
Like I said before, great concept. Penny's...more
I saw this book in the library a while back and came here to read reviews-most were unfavorable and I was pretty disappointed because it sounded like such a great idea for a book. Last week I was poking around the audiobook section of the library and saw it again and decided to give it a shot. Sadly, my opinion is not that different from that of other folks here on goodreads.
Like I said before, great concept. Penny's...more
You know what made me like this book so much? It made me feel clever! I'd read all the books the author had rounded up and reprised, one at a time to put in a cameo performance in this book. And some of those heroines had given me the pip when I read about them the first time. I remember wanting them to 'grow a pair', toughen up and get on with it. I wouldn't have fed them tea and offered a shoulder to cry on like the mother in this book. I would have lectured them on making lemonade from the le...more
This book was interesting. Not exactly what I expected, but not bad either. I listened to this as an audio book, so my experience may differ from other reviewers'.
This is the story of a girl, Penny, who lives in a bed and breakfast with her mother, Anne-Marie. Heroines from famous and not so famous books frequent their B&B almost as often as paying customers. Penny, as an early adolescent, has grown tired of her mother giving more attention to the whiny heroines than herself, and becomes a b...more
This is the story of a girl, Penny, who lives in a bed and breakfast with her mother, Anne-Marie. Heroines from famous and not so famous books frequent their B&B almost as often as paying customers. Penny, as an early adolescent, has grown tired of her mother giving more attention to the whiny heroines than herself, and becomes a b...more
I first started listening to this as an audio book, and just could not get into it. I really disliked the mom, for her betrayal of her daughter, and even though I felt some sympathy for the 13 year old girl, I didn't really care enough about what happened to her to push through to complete the book. Yet I had really expected to love this book, with the role of literary heroines from books through the ages, and how the fantastical intermingled with the ordinary—so I checked out the hard copy book...more
At first glance I was not interested in this book but I was convinced that this is the type of book I would love because it involves a slew of female literary characters, the main character carrying the same first name as me, and Audrey Niffenegger has recommended this.
Well, 1. though there were a good number of female literary characters here, the author didn't delve into their characters more and I understand those are not 'her' characters but it felt like they were thrown in to be thrown in a...more
Well, 1. though there were a good number of female literary characters here, the author didn't delve into their characters more and I understand those are not 'her' characters but it felt like they were thrown in to be thrown in a...more
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recommended at the end of a Sookie Stackhouse recorded book... sounded interesting...
Penny - age 13 and Anne-Marie - her mother... live in her family home, somewhat secluded from town, near a woodsy area... running a bed & breakfast... and one where the heroines of stories come for various lengths of time for rest - Hester, Scarlet, Madame Bevary, Catherine, Rupunzel, etc...
Her mother lives by a fairly strict rule of non-interference.. .they come to the inn at a crisis point in their story,...more
Penny - age 13 and Anne-Marie - her mother... live in her family home, somewhat secluded from town, near a woodsy area... running a bed & breakfast... and one where the heroines of stories come for various lengths of time for rest - Hester, Scarlet, Madame Bevary, Catherine, Rupunzel, etc...
Her mother lives by a fairly strict rule of non-interference.. .they come to the inn at a crisis point in their story,...more
This is not what you think it is. It is not fantasy book but a book about a girls descent into schizophrenia. If you look at all the clues and the point of view of the main character you can see it's about her madness. The way her mother acts. She makes popcorn because she's watching the television, not talking to a heroine. When she fights with her mom, the mom realizes there is something really wrong. At the end she's rewriting the stories and then becomes a part in the story. When she is in t...more
I enjoyed parts of this read. This book wasn't exactly what I expected it to be, and I was disappointed it wasn't more about the Heroines and their interactions with Anne-Marie and Penny at the B&B. Penny's stay at the Unit just didn't seem to fit well into the storyline nor did her "adventure" with Conor.
I most enjoyed the appearances of the Heroines themselves and think the book should have focused on them. I felt the author did her homework and captured the characters well, made them true...more
I most enjoyed the appearances of the Heroines themselves and think the book should have focused on them. I felt the author did her homework and captured the characters well, made them true...more
I grabbed this book after reading a review in the Bas Bleu catalog. It sounded whimsical and charming, but I'm finding it's irritating and cloying. I'm a little more than half-way through and I'm disappointed in the main character's narrative. I realize she's an adult reminiscing on being 13, but neither her adult personality nor her 13-year-old personality come across.
The realistic events seem contrived and stiff. For instance, Penny's visit to the hospital for a pelvic exam ordered by the poli...more
The realistic events seem contrived and stiff. For instance, Penny's visit to the hospital for a pelvic exam ordered by the poli...more
What if your favorite heroines from literature made an appearance in real life? Would it be fun, hobnobbing with them or an utter nightmare?
Being the inverse of the Thursday Next novels, Ms. Favorite adroitly brings the protagonists from some favorite old classics into the real world and shows how one woman and her curious daughter deals with them. These aren’t just heroines; these are heroines in need of rescue or at least a respite from the perils given to them by their authors. They cannot be...more
Being the inverse of the Thursday Next novels, Ms. Favorite adroitly brings the protagonists from some favorite old classics into the real world and shows how one woman and her curious daughter deals with them. These aren’t just heroines; these are heroines in need of rescue or at least a respite from the perils given to them by their authors. They cannot be...more
Since I am a writer, I know better than to judge books by their covers. But I do, anyway. I also judge them by their price points, and since I picked this one up in the bargain bin, I wasn't expecting much. But I ended up satisfied, since Eileen Favorite is clearly a fellow book lover. Being able to re-meet your favorite book heroines outside of their tragic stories should be enough of an incentive to pick this one up, but if you need a bit more motivation to add it to your library list, the sto...more
Every review I read on this book said, "It's a great premise, but..." Overall, I have to agree.
The idea of a bed and breakfast where the classic heroines from literature occasionally appear sounds great, but I found the first-person POV and 13-year-old storyteller to be offputting. I also was a little saddened by the fact that all the heroines did when they got here was weep and wallow. Throw in a Nurse Ratched loony bin experience and far too much telling in place of showing, and you have this...more
The idea of a bed and breakfast where the classic heroines from literature occasionally appear sounds great, but I found the first-person POV and 13-year-old storyteller to be offputting. I also was a little saddened by the fact that all the heroines did when they got here was weep and wallow. Throw in a Nurse Ratched loony bin experience and far too much telling in place of showing, and you have this...more
This is a really interesting premise, a single mom & her 13 year old daughter own a bed & breakfast where occasionally heroines from fiction come to take a break from their plots.
However the writing is terrible,very repetitive. There's lots of arguing/angst between the 13 year old and her mother (something I get enough of in real life). In the middle the girl is abducted by a fictional villian, and when the cops find her she tells the truth and gets sent to a mental hospital. I should m...more
However the writing is terrible,very repetitive. There's lots of arguing/angst between the 13 year old and her mother (something I get enough of in real life). In the middle the girl is abducted by a fictional villian, and when the cops find her she tells the truth and gets sent to a mental hospital. I should m...more
This book started out with such potential--
"Hell hath no fury like a pissed off thirteen-year-old, especially a late bloomer".
It has an inventive storyline- a bed and breakfast for heroines who need a break from their cares and woes. The likes of Scarlett O'hara, Madame Bovary, et al. find solace and relaxation at the inn. I mean, who wouldn't like to spend time with their favorite female fictional characters!!
But it started going down hill about 1/3 of the way along. The plot became more far...more
"Hell hath no fury like a pissed off thirteen-year-old, especially a late bloomer".
It has an inventive storyline- a bed and breakfast for heroines who need a break from their cares and woes. The likes of Scarlett O'hara, Madame Bovary, et al. find solace and relaxation at the inn. I mean, who wouldn't like to spend time with their favorite female fictional characters!!
But it started going down hill about 1/3 of the way along. The plot became more far...more
Penny is a 13-year-old girl who's grown up with her single mother, helping her run a bed and breakfast in Illinois. But more often than not, their boarders end up being heroines from classic literature. Everyone from Scarlett O'Hara to Daisy Buchanan, Emma Bovary to Hester Prynne.
When I first read the synopsis of this book, I thought it would be comical ... a farce almost. Whimsical.
It's not.
It was a thoroughly entertaining read. But it was very gritty, real, and quite sad through much of it.
And...more
When I first read the synopsis of this book, I thought it would be comical ... a farce almost. Whimsical.
It's not.
It was a thoroughly entertaining read. But it was very gritty, real, and quite sad through much of it.
And...more
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Eileen Favorite teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received her MFA in Writing in 1999. Her poems, essays, and stories have been published in many periodicals. She has received two Illinois Arts Council Fellowships for poetry and prose. Her poetry and essays have aired on WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio. She lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter.
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