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316 ratings, 3.47 average rating, 130 reviews
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published
June 19th 2008
by Hachette Audio
binding
Audio CD
setting
The United States
isbn
1600242073
(isbn13: 9781600242076)
description
Luttie McFee's history has taught her to avoid attachments...to people, to places, and to almost everything. With her mother long dead and her father ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 573)
Read in September, 2008
When I really like a book, I tend to read everything by that author, with mixed results. (John Irving, usually great. Augusten Burroughs, not so much so.) I loved The Honk and Holler Opening Soon, and liked Where the Heart Is. But Made in the USA was a disappointment, with an extremely unlikeable main character and an implausible (given the characters' previous behaviors) and rushed ending.
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
YA genre fans
I'd describe this book as two stories, clumsily grafted together to form a (sort of) whole. Without re-hashing much plot, or giving outright spoilers, here goes with an explanation of my impressions ...
Part One concerns the kids' experiences with their (common law) step-mother's death, and their subsequent road trip to Vegas. Part Two is the story of their far-from-idyllic time in that city, until a crisis hits. Part Three introduces a new character, becoming his story, with the Lutie a...more
Part One concerns the kids' experiences with their (common law) step-mother's death, and their subsequent road trip to Vegas. Part Two is the story of their far-from-idyllic time in that city, until a crisis hits. Part Three introduces a new character, becoming his story, with the Lutie a...more
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From the Associated Press:
¶ "Made in the U.S.A." (Grand Central Publishing. 355 pages. $24.99), by Billie Letts: Billie Letts returns to Wal-Mart in the opening scenes of her fourth novel, which feature a shoplifting gymnastics star and her younger brother.
¶ Letts' first novel, "Where the Heart Is," became an American classic with its tale of an unwed, pregnant teen who finds refuge and eventually gives birth in a Wal-Mart store.
¶ In her latest novel, 15-year-o...more
¶ "Made in the U.S.A." (Grand Central Publishing. 355 pages. $24.99), by Billie Letts: Billie Letts returns to Wal-Mart in the opening scenes of her fourth novel, which feature a shoplifting gymnastics star and her younger brother.
¶ Letts' first novel, "Where the Heart Is," became an American classic with its tale of an unwed, pregnant teen who finds refuge and eventually gives birth in a Wal-Mart store.
¶ In her latest novel, 15-year-o...more
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Read in October, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in October, 2008
Billie Letts began Where the Heart Is with a baby being born in Wal-Mart. This book begins with a lady dying in Wal-Mart; Wal-Mart's a busy place! When Floy dies, she leaves behind fifteen year old Lutie and eleven year old Fate. Lutie and Fate take off on their own, searching for their father in Las Vegas. There are not many ways for a fifteen year old to make money in Las Vegas, and Lutie ends up involved in some pretty unsavory business. Meanwhile, some sort of guardian angel is l...more
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Read in July, 2008
This book was just "okay". I am still waiting for her to write another book as good as "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon" which I think was her best ever.
The first half of this book took place in Las Vegas and was pretty sleazy. Many of the things that happened there required a suspension of belief, something I do not readily do.
The book moved a little more easily once Letts returned to her familiar turf (Oklahoma). There was some interesting trivia about how a circu...more
The first half of this book took place in Las Vegas and was pretty sleazy. Many of the things that happened there required a suspension of belief, something I do not readily do.
The book moved a little more easily once Letts returned to her familiar turf (Oklahoma). There was some interesting trivia about how a circu...more
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The story of Lutie and Fate, a brother and sister caught in a series of unfortunate incidents and on the road to Las Vegas to find their father. Things do not quite turn out as they planned when they discover they have been orphaned. Despite the often heartwrenching things they go through, this was a feel good book. I actually closed the cover with a sigh and a smile.
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Read in November, 2008
Lutie and Fate McFee have been dealt a less than great hand: their father abandoned them, and the woman taking care of them has just dropped dead in the Walmart. What's a teenaged girl and her younger brother to do?
Afraid of being separated and put into foster care, the two hit the road. They're heading for Las Vegas, which is where their father lives. They don't have much money, and you can already imagine what happens to the hapless youths.
The Las Vegas experience is as awful as yo...more
Afraid of being separated and put into foster care, the two hit the road. They're heading for Las Vegas, which is where their father lives. They don't have much money, and you can already imagine what happens to the hapless youths.
The Las Vegas experience is as awful as yo...more
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Read in August, 2008
Billie Letts describes Lutie McFee as a teen with little guidance in her live. Resorting to shoplifting and lying to get the things she wants. At age fifteen some teens think they know everything and make bad decisions, as Lutie does.
I feel for Fate becaue he knows his sister loves him, but he doesn't know how deep that love runs. He is wiser from his books, and weird TV shows because he is mostly overlooked, except when he starts quoting facts from his books and then he is called a jerk. ...more
I feel for Fate becaue he knows his sister loves him, but he doesn't know how deep that love runs. He is wiser from his books, and weird TV shows because he is mostly overlooked, except when he starts quoting facts from his books and then he is called a jerk. ...more
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Read in October, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone
Billie Letts' books concern children overcoming difficulties and making lives for themselves. Luti and Fate are orphaned after the death (at WalMart of course) of their common law stepmother Floy. Underage Luti takes her car and drives off to Las Vegas to find their father. Naturally, she can't drive but learns while actually driving. Upon arrival they discover that their father is dead. The book is full of difficulties that Luti and Fate meet head on and and eventually overcome. She becomes...more
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recommended to Relyn by:
Melinda Rice
10/24/08
I'm a little nervous about this one. I read Where The Heart Is before the acclaim and the movie deal, and I loved it. I had high hopes for her next novel Honk and Holler Opening Soon and bought it unread. That's rare for me to do, and disappointments like that one are exactly why. I didn't even bother to finish Shoot the Moon. I'm wondering if she can do it again with Made in the U.S.A..
11/28/08
I'm just getting started on this one, but I have a fe...more
I'm a little nervous about this one. I read Where The Heart Is before the acclaim and the movie deal, and I loved it. I had high hopes for her next novel Honk and Holler Opening Soon and bought it unread. That's rare for me to do, and disappointments like that one are exactly why. I didn't even bother to finish Shoot the Moon. I'm wondering if she can do it again with Made in the U.S.A..
11/28/08
I'm just getting started on this one, but I have a fe...more
Read in June, 2008
This book was very well written. However, I did not like the main character, Luti, a 15 year old girl. In contrast, I identified and empathized more with her brother, Fate. Yes, "real life" was portrayed in this book, but I felt it was bit too gritty and depressing to the point it wasn't realistic to me. How many bad things could happen to these children? I was really not liking this book until the last few chapters, when Letts brought it full circle. I almost missed the connecti...more
Read in July, 2008
recommended to Lynne by:
NPR...heard the author speakrecommends it for: women
Oh what a fun book...and a quick quick read. I love anything Ms. Letts writes. A good old "Oklahoma" woman.
It's on of those two good to be true books...but endearing. IF you know nothing about Circus people (just their lives and life style) this will be enlightening. The end of the book takes place in Hugo, OK. In one scene they visit the cemetery there and there is one section for circus people. My uncle is buried in this section. He and my dad joined the circus when they w...more
It's on of those two good to be true books...but endearing. IF you know nothing about Circus people (just their lives and life style) this will be enlightening. The end of the book takes place in Hugo, OK. In one scene they visit the cemetery there and there is one section for circus people. My uncle is buried in this section. He and my dad joined the circus when they w...more
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Read in November, 2008
Quick easy read. Kind of sad, but with a happy ending. Shows you just how resilient yet vulnerable kids can be.
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Read in November, 2008
another good Billie Letts book, yes it is sad to read about the life of homeless kids but this is true life. I only hope there are more Jauns out there to help each and every one of the misplaced kids.
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Loved this book-as I have loved all of Billie Letts books! I read it in one sitting-couldn't put it down!
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Read in November, 2008
I did not want to like this book.
It looked too much like those books where you never worry about the hero cos you know they will all be happier at the end than they are at the beginning. Those too good to be true books. And while the ending was a little bit picture perfect, I was impressed with how real the darkness was that the author let our heroine's find.
A good lazy Saturday morning breezy read.
It looked too much like those books where you never worry about the hero cos you know they will all be happier at the end than they are at the beginning. Those too good to be true books. And while the ending was a little bit picture perfect, I was impressed with how real the darkness was that the author let our heroine's find.
A good lazy Saturday morning breezy read.
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Read in September, 2008
This was an adorable book filled with off-beat characters and situations that are fimiliar to all of Billie Letts' books. If you read Where the Heart Is or The Honk and Holler Opening Soon and enjoyed them, you'll love this book. It also vaguely reminded me of Water for Elephants. This was a fairly quick, but very interesting and adraoble read that made me cry in the end.
When their suito-stepmother drops dead in Wal-mart, a teenager and her younger brother take off in t...more
When their suito-stepmother drops dead in Wal-mart, a teenager and her younger brother take off in t...more
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Read in November, 2008
I've read all of Letts, they all have a WalMart & a library. Good stories about believeable characters.
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Read in August, 2008
Not as good as her earlier books. Normally, her characters have hard lives and face tough situations, but something positive shines through. This book was hard lives, bad stuff over and over until about 3/4 through, and then it changed to a different book. Instead of Novalee Nation's journey of gradually finding family ("Where the Heart Is") it felt like, "Ok, these kids have it really bad, and now I need to finish the book, so boom!, let's change their circumstances and we'll ...more
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