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True Confessions of a Heartless Girl
It would have been the easiest and the best thing, Noreen thought, to just get back in the truck and take off. But she couldn't think of where to go. In fact, she couldn't think at all.
Paperback, 216 pages
Published
September 1st 2004
by HarperTempest
(first published October 1st 2002)
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A little over two years ago I came across this book. At the time I thought it had been published just recently, but I realized later it was originally published in Canada in 2002 and then a little over a year later in the U.S. I can't even remember now how I first heard about TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HEARTLESS GIRL. But I remember that the fact that it was set in Canada and written by a Canadian was part of the draw. That and the intriguing storyline. I'm mystified as to why we seem to rarely get w...more
The quality of writing and storyline aren't that bad, there's just one aspect of the book that really ruined it for me...
This is a story about a seventeen-year old girl named Noreen who runs away from home, lives with a boyfriend, then runs away from him too when she realizes she's pregnant. To be honest, I felt bad for the main character, but she also kind of annoyed me. I realize she had trust issues, but there was something about her that lacked conviction. And her boyfriend Wesley was alrigh...more
This is a story about a seventeen-year old girl named Noreen who runs away from home, lives with a boyfriend, then runs away from him too when she realizes she's pregnant. To be honest, I felt bad for the main character, but she also kind of annoyed me. I realize she had trust issues, but there was something about her that lacked conviction. And her boyfriend Wesley was alrigh...more
Story Description:
She turned onto the main street -- the sound of the lake a whisper behind her, the leaves of the tall trees now talking overhead -- she saw his truck parked in front of the café and Wesley sitting inside it....
He didn't seem to notice as she got closer, his eyes closed as if he was concentrating on something. With her hand on her stomach, she steadied herself. The window on the passenger's side was open and she could see the distinct curve of his dark lashes as they rested agai...more
She turned onto the main street -- the sound of the lake a whisper behind her, the leaves of the tall trees now talking overhead -- she saw his truck parked in front of the café and Wesley sitting inside it....
He didn't seem to notice as she got closer, his eyes closed as if he was concentrating on something. With her hand on her stomach, she steadied herself. The window on the passenger's side was open and she could see the distinct curve of his dark lashes as they rested agai...more
True Confessions of a Heartless Girl
By Martha Brooks
Perfection Learning, September 2004
Pgs 216
ISBN: 0756932459
Seventeen year old Norene Stall runs away from home as the story takes place on a bad day of the summer. On the run to another destination, she meets a couple of new people and together, they try to stay alive. As she meets with new people, she has a great impact on all of them. And before she left while being pregnant, she stole her boyfriend's truck and grabbed some cash. As the story...more
By Martha Brooks
Perfection Learning, September 2004
Pgs 216
ISBN: 0756932459
Seventeen year old Norene Stall runs away from home as the story takes place on a bad day of the summer. On the run to another destination, she meets a couple of new people and together, they try to stay alive. As she meets with new people, she has a great impact on all of them. And before she left while being pregnant, she stole her boyfriend's truck and grabbed some cash. As the story...more
Dec 01, 2010
Holly
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
contemporary,
young-adult
In the little motel-less town of Pembina Lake, Canada a truck pulled into the Molly Thorvaldson Café one night. The proprietor Lynda has just seen the last customer out. Her five-year-old son Seth is upstairs with a chicken leg in his hand and the previously homeless dog Tessie at his feet. As much as Lynda tries to ignore the lone truck out in the rain, its young driver, a girl with badly-cut blond hair walks in, asking for a cup of coffee. Before she knows it, Lynda’s offering the girl, whose...more
Top 10 BBYA / Governor Generals Award winner/ CLA Young Adult Book of the Year winner
A pregnant 17-year-old becomes the catalyst for change in the small town of Pembina Lake. Noreen stole her boyfriend's money and truck, is stranded in the town by a storm, and is taken in by Lynda, the café owner. During 10 days in July, Noreen changes and is changed by her interactions with the town’s denizens.
A pregnant 17-year-old becomes the catalyst for change in the small town of Pembina Lake. Noreen stole her boyfriend's money and truck, is stranded in the town by a storm, and is taken in by Lynda, the café owner. During 10 days in July, Noreen changes and is changed by her interactions with the town’s denizens.
This book is about a teenager named Norene and how she finds her place in this world. Growing up with nonsupportive and neglectful parents, she does what she wants and does not trust anyone. When she finds out she is pregnant, she steals her boyfriend's truck and runs away. She comes to a diner and meets a single mother and her young son. The small neighborhood pulls together and teaches this girl some important lessons. She learns to love and not be only concerned for herself.
This was a quick a...more
This was a quick a...more
I like the terse prose and I confess that I came to like the people in this tale of small town Manitoba. Other reviewers have outlined the plot, and so I will not do so here. Suffice to say that the book does not contain a heartless girl, although it does contain an ill-starred girl. The story allows us to know at least seven characters closely. We know these characters, but we do not know precisely when they live. The small town of Pembina Lake seems to live out of time, and perhaps this is the...more
This book is about an young girl that finds love when she is hiking back for a town that her and her old boyfriend went to. Her old boyfriend left at a restaurant so she just left the town to go back to her own town. As she was hiking she came a cross some real crepes and at some point she stops hiking. When she thinks its safe again she starts walking and then a truck pulls up.. She climes in and he gives her a stick of gum and said u look funny. She called him a wired-ow and opens the door and...more
I enjoyed reading True Confessions of a Heartless Girl. Lynda's restaurant reminded me of the Whistlestop Cafe, and I loved the setting in rural Manitoba. I had to look on a map because I'm not that familiar with Canada geography. I don't remember that much talk about what provinces border what in Anne of Green Gables... Dorothy was my favorite character; she is just so maternal and loving. I also couldn't help but have a little crush on the 50-something farmer, Del. Am I turning into Kate?!
Oct 25, 2009
Anabel
is currently reading it
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Not one of my favorites and would not recommend it. Personally, it was a slow read for me and troubling to get through. The story line was very simple but just much too thick with troubling and complex situations that just fogged up the entire meaning of the story. Then again, that was just my opinion of what I thought of the novel. I could bear with it, but would definitely not read it again. I gave it 2 STARS, especially for the ending.
so here i am walking down the ya shelves looking for another kevin brooks book after 'being'- and come across this one. short. awarded. woman author. i read it and easily recognize the characters in it like the girls who would visit 'ninja' at the coffeehouse- young girls, young girls emotional lives, young girls just ordinary problems, boyfriends, babies, etc. so i read this with a smile. got to care about those girls...
Jul 25, 2010
Angela
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
booksillalwaysremember
I first read this book when I was 14 I think and just reread it a few weeks ago. Whenever you think that all is going to be good in this story there comes another twist of fate or stupidity which keeps it really interesting.
I mostly like it for some perfect sentences, like the one about the memories and photographs on p.131 of the German edition.
I mostly like it for some perfect sentences, like the one about the memories and photographs on p.131 of the German edition.
Loved it!!!
This is one of those books that, once read, just screams "don't judge a book by its cover!!" -or by the summaries on the back and inner fold of the cover for that matter. By the end of this story you're wondering why you havent heard more about this book. It really and truly touches your heart and every emotion felt by the characters is felt by you. It's terribly sad to finally close it once you're done.
This is one of those books that, once read, just screams "don't judge a book by its cover!!" -or by the summaries on the back and inner fold of the cover for that matter. By the end of this story you're wondering why you havent heard more about this book. It really and truly touches your heart and every emotion felt by the characters is felt by you. It's terribly sad to finally close it once you're done.
Finding herself in a strange town, w/ her boyfriend's stolen truck and money, Noreen just isn't sure what she is going to do. But a motley crew of Pembina Lake's citizens take her in and together they set upon a path that may just heal, even if just a little bit, part of the cracks in all their broken hearts, including Noreen's.
Noreen turns up just before a storm in the small town of Pembina Lake. She has stolen her boyfriend's truck, is pregnant, and broke. Lynn, owner of the local diner, offers her shelter for the night, but it turns out to be longer. The residents of Pembina are as lonely and hurting as Noreen, and healing may need all of them to happen.
There are lots of ways to mess up your life. Make "bad choices," adults call it. In True Confessions of a Heartless Girl, by Martha Brooks, virtually everyone in Pembina Lake has screwed up at one point or another. Seventeen year-old Noreen is no exception. Luckily, she ends up in a place where there are a lot of people who have been there, done that, and who are willing to give her chance after chance to grow herself up, and start taking responsibility.
Lynda takes her in, against her better ju...more
Lynda takes her in, against her better ju...more
Seventeen-year-old Noreen has had a rough life, and she has a habit of pushing people away. When she pulls into small-town Canada after stealing her boyfriend's truck, she ends up being taken in by the townsfolk whose lives center around the small cafe. I had trouble identifying with Noreen, just because our backgrounds are so different, and while I felt for her situation, she made it hard to want to help her, and I struggled with that. But I absolutely loved the people in the town and how they...more
Noreen, seventeen-years-old, shows up one night during a raging storm in the small town of Pembina Lake. Against her better judgment, cafe owner Lynda lets her in and for some reason lets her spend the night. There's something going on with this girl, but Lynda doesn't have the energy to try and find out what it is. Soon enough a small cast of characters from the town come in the picture and try to figure out what to do with this teenager who makes a disaster out of everything.
Eh. That's all I c...more
Eh. That's all I c...more
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Critically acclaimed playwright, novelist and short fiction writer Martha Brooks was born and raised in a medical family on the grounds of the now defunct Manitoba Sanatorium at Ninette, Manitoba and resides with her husband, Brian, in Winnipeg.
She has penned award-winning short stories and several powerful novels for young readers, as well as several plays, all of which deal with the universal th...more
More about Martha Brooks...
She has penned award-winning short stories and several powerful novels for young readers, as well as several plays, all of which deal with the universal th...more
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