For the May Queen

by Kate Evans (Goodreads author)

book data

43 ratings, 4.26 average rating, 31 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		46%
4		41%
3		4%
2		4%
1		2%

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published

September 20th 2008 by Vanilla Heart Publishing

binding

Paperback, 309 pages

isbn

0982115075 (isbn13: 9780982115077)

description

It s 1981 and 17-year-old Norma Rogers' parents drop her off at the college dorms. Soon, Norma finds herself drunk and nearly naked with three strange...more

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09/29/08

Nancy rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, made-me-cry, queer, women

Read in January, 2009

recommended to Nancy by: Kate Evans

It is 1981. Norma Rogers is 18 years old, a college student, and on her own for the first time in her life. As someone who was only a year older than Norma in 1981, I can relate to having too much freedom, too many choices, and not enough guidance. “If it feels good, do it” was definitely the motto of life in the 80’s. Or at least it was for many young people at that time.

Right from the beginning, I was drawn into Norma’s life – the parties, the friendships, the joy...more

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

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09/12/08

Kate rated it:

bookshelves: books-by-kate

Okay, I know my rating's not fair since I wrote this book. But I wrote it out of love for these characters, so I can't give them anything less. If you like edgy, fun-to-read, coming of age type stories, you'll probably dig this. Norma's kind of like Holden Caufield with a sex change.

You can read the first chapter here:
http://forthemayqueen.blogspot.com/

For book club questions go here:
http://forthemayqueen.blogspot.com/2008/...

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

2 comments

09/18/08

Collin Kelley rated it:

I had the pleasure of reading "For The May Queen" while Kate was still sending it around to publishers. I loved it...so much so that I agreed to write a blurb for it:

"The 80s were all about drugs, alcohol and casual sex, and Kate Evans deftly conveys the uncertainty of the era as her feisty Norma Rogers leaves a sheltered home life and dives headfirst into a series of hedonistic adventures at college, including falling in love with Chuck, who just doesn't seem to be th...more

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

1 comment

09/15/08

Robin rated it:

Read in October, 2008

recommends it for: everyone

I just got this book 2 days ago in the mail and I stayed up almost all night last night finishing it off!!! It's addictive and I don't really know why, maybe it is because the characters are so great and funny, maybe because there's one turn after the other and just have to keep turning the pages to find out whats next. You keep wondering whats going to happen to Norma and you keep feeling like there are some secrets lurking somewhere but you're not sure exactly whats going to pop up.
...more

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

4 comments

10/24/08

AJ Paris rated it:

Read in October, 2008

recommends it for: people who like pop culture who grew up in the seventies and eighties

For the May Queen
A Novel by Kate Evans

If you liked Paul Fieg and Judd Apatow’s short-lived but critically acclaimed series Freaks and Geeks, then chances are you will enjoy Kate Evans’s new novel, For the May Queen. Peppered with nostalgic homages to the late seventies and early eighties, this debut novel follows lost but liberated Norma Rogers through her freshman year at Sacramento State. Norma comes from a loving home, not unlike the Brady Bunch’s quirky suburban encl...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

1 comment

09/22/08

Bev added it

Move over Holden Caulfield --- there is finally a female character who is not afraid to tell us what it really is like the moment you leave the safety net of your home and your parents’ inquiring eyes. For the May Queen by Kate Evans is a powerful new debut fiction novel that is destined to secure a place in bibliophile mania, equal to that of Catcher in the Rye. I did something I rarely do and that is fell in love with Norma Jean Rogers, the central character after reading the opening lines....more Move over Holden Caulfield --- there is finally a female character who is not afraid to tell us what it really is like the moment you leave the safety net of your home and your parents’ inquiring eyes. For the May Queen by Kate Evans is a powerful new debut fiction novel that is destined to secure a place in bibliophile mania, equal to that of Catcher in the Rye. I did something I rarely do and that is fell in love with Norma Jean Rogers, the central character after reading the opening lines. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked, so hooked, I didn’t put the book down until I was finished.

Norma is a young woman who is off to college and on her own for the first time in her life. She is fearless in her pursuit of discovery of self. Her sense of bravado makes human and believable as she teeters along that fine line between girlhood and womanhood, and between throwing away the last inhibitions when one suddenly decides that ‘I am an adult.’

Within a few hours after her parents leave her with bag and baggage at the dorm, Norma wakes up on the floor with three strangers in her underwear. From there it goes on a wild and fun ride through the growing pains of womanhood, life and friendship.

The first chapter is full of getting to know Norma and her menagerie of friends who are all memorable in their own right. But it doesn’t stop there and we are continually introduced to new characters who breeze in and out of Norma’s and her other friends’ lives.

The novel reads like a fine memoir, is often poignant, often funny, and never dull. Yes, there are sex scenes, drinking, wild parties, and an occasional high, but they are done so tastefully, and so honestly, that even as a parent of teenage girls, I have no qualms about them reading the story because I want them to read what young people face in the real world, and perhaps see that growing up is also about making decisions, right or wrong, good or bad, but they are your decisions and choices to make.

Although the novel is set in the early 1980s, ever decade is a tumultuous era, and even more so, this first decade of this new millennium. I venture to say that throughout history, leaving home has never been more honestly and thought provokingly written about. Taking the steps to achieve adulthood is like riding a roller coaster and. Kate Evans is a writer extraordinaire with an equally amazing storytelling voice. For the May Queen is a must read and a book that you won’t be able to put down.
(less)

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

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10/23/08

Tara rated it:

Read in November, 2008

recommended to Tara by: Kate Evans
recommends it for: Friends and Family

Kate Evans has done a good job writing this story. Her prose is clear, never jarring, and she has captured the essence of dorm life so well I feel as though I am there throwing up along side her characters. I enjoyed the references of an age that was breaking out of the mold of the 50's, noting at times songs, or newspaper articles that had been a part of my my own history.
Even though I found the set up of the story to be a bit slow paced, I appreciated the subtle thread of a mystery that ...more

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09/30/08

Cyndi rated it:

bookshelves: books-i-have, chick-trading-post, read-in-2008

Read in October, 2008

recommended to Cyndi by: Kate Evans - Chicks on Lit Group
recommends it for: Everyone

I really, really enjoyed this book. Having not made it past the local community college, which was more a continuation of high school, I have always wondered what it would've been like to have gone off to school and lived in a dorm. Kate's book really gave me what I had been looking for.

Through reading some of this book, it felt like I was in the room with the characters. Kate has a way of making them all seem so real, I'm sure each of us has had a Stacy or Liz in our lives.
...more

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01/26/09

Joy rated it:

Read in October, 2008

I started reading For The May Queen disliking the title and cover. That’s an early and easy prejudice to get through. The title made sense after I read the line of the song it had been taken from, referring to lyrics from Stairway to Heaven. I especially didn't like the cover photo. The model didn't look young at all, with dowdy looking clothes she looked about thirty years old, staring at a wilted flower. I would have preferred a photo of a punked up looking rock girl with a stoogie and attit...more I started reading For The May Queen disliking the title and cover. That’s an early and easy prejudice to get through. The title made sense after I read the line of the song it had been taken from, referring to lyrics from Stairway to Heaven. I especially didn't like the cover photo. The model didn't look young at all, with dowdy looking clothes she looked about thirty years old, staring at a wilted flower. I would have preferred a photo of a punked up looking rock girl with a stoogie and attitude. Once I got past these minor flaws and prejudices, the book flowed from beginning to end. I finished the book in less than twenty hours.
Very simply written, in first person, the dialogue flows along with the story. I’ve always been curious about what it would have been like to go to college as a teen since I never experienced it. It’s difficult to read Evan’s book For The May Queen and not compare one’s own experiences since that’s what this book is all about; Norma’s early experiences and learning to be on her own while attending college. I never had a childhood or teen years & was forced to be adult beyond my years because of my family situation. I didn’t get to go to college until I was twenty-eight years old. Me going to college was all about “fixing” my life and having a career so I could support my son as a single mom. Naturally the stepping-stones and rituals that Norma focused on made me curious.
Norma defines the ritualistic separation that takes place when we leave home for the first time and how this evolves along with her search of self. Parallel to this young Norma simultaneously seeks her voice as a writer as she searches for her identify. Part of Norma’s learning experience is the richness of people she’s exposed to and drawn to. Naturally drawn to nonconformists Norma recognizes her own hidden depths and how she too is somehow different.
Norma at first only knows herself through how she imagines her friends see her. When she discovers her roommate is gay and realizes the special closeness he had with another mutual male friend is based on this, Norma begins to question her sexuality. She realizes that she loves Chuck because he inspires her to see the world differently. Chuck’s “movie vision view” of the world & his capacity to quote Casablanca and make it fit everyday events make him special. Norma disappoints Chuck after a night of sex & love, by protesting to her unfaithful boyfriend who shows up unannounced that “it meant nothing.” This ends the romance between her & Chuck but after this occurrence Norma begins to explore her inner motivations more.
Kate Evan’s book engrossed me with its sharp wit & humor. I couldn’t help but get involved with her characters. They are similar to the highly artistic creative people we know, each with his own brand of quirky eccentrics. Her characters are real; I could hear their voices.
A very fast reader and entirely engrossing, I highly recommend Ms. Evan’s first novel, For The May Queen. As a former educator I would recommend this book for high school students as well as adults.(less)

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10/04/08

Patricia rated it:

Read in October, 2008

The setting of For the May Queen by Kate Evans is dorm-life culture in the early 1980s, focusing on drinking, drugs, and sex prevalent in such a context. As a 60-year-old woman who came of age in the late 1960s, I admit to feeling a sense of disturbing recognition as well as powerless disappointment as I read, particularly during the first 2/3rds of the story. And yet Evans presents this as a valid context for a rite of passage without minimizing it as a societal problem.

And she emp...more

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09/28/08

Sydney rated it:

bookshelves: advance-reviews, first-reads

Read in October, 2008

recommended to Sydney by: the author, Kate Evans

Norma is about to embark on the the most intense year of her life... her freshman year of college. She will experience love and hate on levels she has never known existed. Intense friendships unfold as she lives apart from the safety of her parents home for the first time.

Though this book is set in the early 80s, it resonates clearly today. Norma discovers freedom in her freshman year and learns with that freedom, you need a healthy dose of responsibility. There's no one to make ...more

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09/25/08

Chelle Cordero rated it:

Read in November, 2008

recommended to Chelle by: Kimberlee Williams
recommends it for: Everyone

Having commuted to college while living in my parents' Bronx apartment, I never got to experience dorm life although I didn't miss out on many parties. But I did send both of my kids off to dorms some 30 years later.

Reading Kate Evan's vivid descriptions, i have to admit I cringed several times wondering - and then deciding maybe I'm better off not knowing (for sure).

Kate's writing is so real, you can get totally absorbed in the story. You can experience the carefree free...more

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10/02/08

KrIsTiE fAyE rated it:

bookshelves: 2008

Read in October, 2008

recommended to KrIsTiE fAyE by: Kate Evans, author via Chicks on Lit

WOW!!! It's been a very long time since I gobbled up a book like this one. I read it in about 8 hours (maybe less). This book is the type that you sit and read and the next thing you know, you're 50 pages in.

The characters in this book are VERY easy to relate to. If you don't know a Chuck, a Norma, a Liz, or a Stacy, you know someone that knows one. From the first word of the first sentence, I was captivated by Norma. Although my dorm experience was very different, I could total...more

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09/14/08

Annie rated it:

bookshelves: my-favorites-of-all-time

This book was hilarious and touching at the same time. I loved the characters. I meant to read just a few chapters, but I couldn't put it down and read the whole thing in two sittings.

It takes place in 1981 in college dorms. That makes for a very fun yet tension-filled setting, especially when all these young people don't have any boundaries about what do with their bodies. It's like Hedonism 101 is their most important class. Yet, it's not an easy class to pass. They have to ...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

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11/12/08

fbuser500021700 rated it:

Read in November, 2008

I loved the dialog and Kate's precision from beginning to end. Kate Evans' For The May Queen was for me a deep dive back into my college days - a little scary and enlightening 25 years later and fun too. I remembered I had no idea who I was back then. Kate reminded me those feelings are normal and part of the discovery of life. Thank God I'm here to hope my daughter, who is four now, reads the book the summer before starting college. Chapter 21-"Who Are You", brings it all home for me!...more

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09/28/08

Holli rated it:

Read in October, 2008

Honestly.....this was a REALLY good book. Thank you so much Kate for sending it to me and letting me have this awesome experience. And it truly was an experience. I felt as if I was going back in time to when I was 18 and 19 and god even 20 and all the crazy things my friends and I did. Kate sincerely captures "the college experience" and by doing so also captures how everyone felt at that age. Its a book about life and love and learning. I loved this book....I highly recommend i...more

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11/07/08

Jana rated it:

College-age Norma takes you on a wild romp through the 80s as she searches for her place in a world that is bigger than she ever imagined. Raw. Real. Poignant.

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10/08/08

Jan rated it:

Read in October, 2008

recommends it for: anyone but parents of college freshmen

Witty and engaging, this debut novel from Kate Evans is a page-turning good read about sex, love and sexuality in a freshman dorm. An awful lot of the action takes place under the influence of drugs and alcohol, to a late-seventies, early-eighties soundtrack. I remember the songs, but where were all the good substances and promiscuity in MY dorm?

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

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