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10th out of 34 books
—
15 voters
Hick
by
Andrea Portes (Goodreads Author)
Foreseeing a hopeless future in barrooms and parking lots, cagey 13-year-old Luli McMullen bolts headlong from the heartland, aiming at Las Vegas where she expects to find herself a sugar daddy. Almost immediately, crooked-bodied Eddie Kreezer, a roving obsessive with a violent streak, and a fading but lovely grifter named Glenda begin to do battle for Luli's head and hear...more
Paperback, 264 pages
Published
May 1st 2007
by Unbridled Books
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Best literary release of 2007, hands down. No, hands up, raise your hands to the sky and praise tha lah-ord for scratching my literary itch.
Portes nails the pubescent voice of a girl named Luli who decides to leave her horrid, abusive existence in Nebraska for the road, a road leading to Las Vegas. Luli discovers she has something that men want with her maturing body and feels that is going to give her the life she needs.
Along the way she gets protection from a shady motherly type named Glenda....more
Portes nails the pubescent voice of a girl named Luli who decides to leave her horrid, abusive existence in Nebraska for the road, a road leading to Las Vegas. Luli discovers she has something that men want with her maturing body and feels that is going to give her the life she needs.
Along the way she gets protection from a shady motherly type named Glenda....more
I didn't think I would find anything in this book I could relate to. Strange, because I ended up reading the thing in about four hours. This thing just grabbed me and wouldn't really let me go, so, I must have more in common with a 13-year-old girl than I thought. Perhaps, I must be in touch with my "feminine side", althought the protagonist is more like a Tomboy, really. She's kind of a Tomboy trapped in a hot little teens body. It's an interesting combination. I thought it was really funny, as...more
This book is brilliant and beautiful but made me feel like a bit of a pervert. I couldn't stop getting slightly turned on reading some of the sexual parts and then hating myself for feeling that way. I was impressed with the voice, especially. The entire book is written in first person dialect, similar to TRAINSPOTTING, and so it really just takes you through the world in the mind of the character. I will extremely interested to see what kind of trouble this author might get into with this book,...more
This crystalline yet greasy story will pull you in fast and push you to outer limits (or throw you "straight into the sun" as unforgettable Luli would say). I laughed and I cried and I felt a little more like an American girl inside.
(I wanted to add, that as a crazy, mixed up immigrant, that's a tough thing to do...make me feel American. I'm not sure whether it's a good or a bad thing to be, but this book resonated on many levels...and what it might mean to be American was in there along with b...more
(I wanted to add, that as a crazy, mixed up immigrant, that's a tough thing to do...make me feel American. I'm not sure whether it's a good or a bad thing to be, but this book resonated on many levels...and what it might mean to be American was in there along with b...more
Hmmm?
Bit of a downer, and wholly disturbing. Read it like I was watching a car accident and sometimes struggling to look away and then seeing, oh, its almost over so I have to see how this turns out.
Alerted to this by the very poorly received film version, and read partly out of spite, thinking anything arrogant film critics don't like i'll just have to give a look. I'll see the movie for that reason as well.
Alternately entertained, bored and disturbed. Entertained by the rapid fire monologue...more
Bit of a downer, and wholly disturbing. Read it like I was watching a car accident and sometimes struggling to look away and then seeing, oh, its almost over so I have to see how this turns out.
Alerted to this by the very poorly received film version, and read partly out of spite, thinking anything arrogant film critics don't like i'll just have to give a look. I'll see the movie for that reason as well.
Alternately entertained, bored and disturbed. Entertained by the rapid fire monologue...more
Perhaps it was unfortunate that I read this book on the same day I saw the movie, "Precious." Two sad stories of dysfunctional families and young women forced to grow up too soon combined to make me feel slightly gritty and depressed. This thirteen-year-old girl's story reads like it was written for Hollywood, so we may yet see it as a film. Despite the horrendous situations Luli undergoes, there is some beautiful writing. When she finally meets a decent, trustworthy person (finally!) Luli muses...more
I think this book is an incredible read. I can't believe it's a first novel. The voice is just amazing and the protagonist, Luli, takes the reader on such a wild, scary, sexy, beautiful ride that it's almost impossible to put the book down. I will be watching this author and waiting impatiently for her next novel. One thing though: this is not a book for the faint of heart. There is some sexually explicit stuff that probably shouldn't be read by anyone too prude.
Rating: 3.5
Upon seeing the film first, I decided to take a shot at this because I like to see the changes they make. The script for the movie was not the greatest (the acting on the other hand was superb) and after finding that the author had also written the screen play, I didn't expect much. My assumptions were right.
It was a decent book, a quick read, and overall, I probably could have gone through life without picking it up. It's one of the few cases where I prefer the movie. Maybe it was be...more
Upon seeing the film first, I decided to take a shot at this because I like to see the changes they make. The script for the movie was not the greatest (the acting on the other hand was superb) and after finding that the author had also written the screen play, I didn't expect much. My assumptions were right.
It was a decent book, a quick read, and overall, I probably could have gone through life without picking it up. It's one of the few cases where I prefer the movie. Maybe it was be...more
Although recommended by a friend, I put off reading this book. A young girl runs away and meet quirky, dangerous people on her journey? been there, done that. This is not that book. This is a dark tale, (think Wizard of Oz, with evil, dangerous companions) of a thirteen year old, trying her best in a world she never made. For those of us who come from abusive, dysfunctional childhood situations, her confusion and desperate longing for parental figures are all too familiar, and I read much of thi...more
Micah Torres says, "Hick is about big mouthed 13 year old named Luli, who is abandoned by her parents and sets out to go to Las Vegas. It is filled with action, suspense, violence, and a little bit of drama. On the way to Vegas she hitches a ride with a strange young man named Eddie , who she calls 'Creepy Eddie'. As he is taking her to Vegas, he protects her from bad people, but it isnt long till she finds him to be bad, so she finds another girl named Glenda, who teaches her how to live robbin...more
Wow. This is a book that takes a bit to fully digest. Andrea Portes really knows her shit for this being a debut novel. I found out about this because it is being made into a movie, and the story line sounding like my kinda thing. Young girl coming of age in the south, I dunno why, but I am a sucker for coming of age novels. Even more so when they take place in the south. Not sure why, I've never been to the south, but what can you do? This is a gritty novel in a way. The things that 13 year old...more
This coming of age book is really a very interesting read. I hated what happened to her in the book. Its really different from the ideal Harry Potter style upbringing because everything she did, always goes wrong. Its like bad luck is always following her. I think the only reprieve she got was Glenda, Beau and Clement. I love Clement but poor guy. And poor Glenda. I really wish Eddie died in the beginning... he was such a piece of work! Someday I hope even if it is unlikely Clement will ever mee...more
If I were pushed to try to define what sort of features make up my ideal read my garbled response would no doubt include some or all of the following words and phrases; coming of age, small town America, strong female protagonist, dark humour, gritty realism...I could go on, but I won't. "Hick", quite frankly, ticked all of my literary-love boxes and has one of the sassiest young female narrators I've ever had the pleasure of being introduced to. The language and dialogue is delicious and some o...more
Portes' clever use of language makes you want to pack your macbook in its case, set it gently in a dumpster, and quit writing. From page one to the end she keeps the powerful imagery flowing slow and cataclysmic like a tsunami slurping out your town through the streets; and she saves plenty for last. Without a wasted chapter - though some paragraphs can seem redundant - it is one of the best slices of 80s trailer Americana you'll read. No matter what your upbringing you'll recognize a trustworth...more
This book is currently being challenged by a patron at the library where I work so, of course, I had to read it. I believe the patron is just concerned about the language in the book and, after reading it, I'm pretty sure she never read the entire thing.
Yes, it's a difficult story to read, but the language is not out of place nor, in my humble opinion, excessive. I was SO drawn into the plight of Luli that I didn't really notice excessive "bad" language but was caught up instead with the extreme...more
Yes, it's a difficult story to read, but the language is not out of place nor, in my humble opinion, excessive. I was SO drawn into the plight of Luli that I didn't really notice excessive "bad" language but was caught up instead with the extreme...more
Before I sat down to write my review, I read all the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. I see I’m going to be in the minority here with my lesser opinion of this book. This is described this as a coming of age story. I scratch my head a little at that because Luli never had an opportunity to “come of age”. She went from the crib to adulthood. Every adult in her life has abused her in one way or another.
I read dysfunctional fiction all the time and have no problem dealing with that type of subject...more
I read dysfunctional fiction all the time and have no problem dealing with that type of subject...more
This book has "sequel" written all over it! Admittedly, about halfway thru, I thought really I could go watch some episodes of Dog the Bounty Hunter if I wanted to know about this kind of world. Luli's life seemed so depressing to me, even though clearly she's a survivor. Then, just when it got even more depressing, I started really getting into it! And it's a very fast read so from that point it only took me an hour or so to finish. A strength of Portes' writing is the way she incorporates both...more
Oh my goodness, this book was horrifying. There's no doubt that the writer has a sharp wit, but the main character and the situations she in went from bad to worse throughout the book. Worse to the point that I was horrified (and I read dysfunctional fiction all the time). I almost felt a little nauseous at how cynical this 13 year old was even at the beginning of the book and then even more nauseous as bad things kept happening to her. The poor girl was just a throwaway. I found it so disturbin...more
Gripping, sexual, saddening.. all tangled together to create "Hick." This book was hard to read in the beginning as I tried to grasp the voice of the author. But once I had it down, I couldn't put it down. I read it straight through the night; irritating my fiance' because of my night light. I could relate to Lula and her family history. It's a great story, and you know the author does a beautiful job at weaving it together if you sit there feeling the emotions portrayed in the story.
I saw the trailer to this movie and thought it looked really good and was excited to see it in theaters. When I saw it was based on a novel, it was a no-brainer, of course I had to read the book first. This book was great, and you cant help but feel heartbroken for the poor girl and her incredible journey. I saw the movie on Netflix today, and of course it isn't as good as the book, but its also worth checking out too
I absolutely loved this book. I highly recommend it. It has one of the best first lines and one of the best first chapters I've read in a very long time. Contrary to other reviews, I found the narrator's voice to be authentic - in light of her upbringing. Let's be honest, you spend your formative years in a bar and you'll know how to swear and be cynical. I really can't say enough good things about this book. It's funny, disturbing, uplifting (in a morbid sort of way) and one hell of a ride. It'...more
I have to admit, I only read this after watching the film adaptation, however, I'm glad I did because the book is fantastic and I noticed, much more grittier than the movie. There are some quite explicit and important parts that didn't make the final cut of the film (probably for good reason). The style of writing also caught my attention. Very unique and almost rambly, yet strangely compelling. I could not put this book down. Engaging characters and an engaging story.
If you watched the movie first and then read this book, you will not be disappointed. For the most part, the dialogue and scenes were the same. There were some alterations the movie did to the book, but it was, by far, one of the closet adaptations. I enjoyed this book tremendously, and it made me love Luli even more.
Easy read - just what I needed after Great Expectations.
The plot was pretty weak but easy to follow and a bit out of touch with reality in some parts. I don't doubt all of this stuff could happen to someone in that time span, I just find it very unlikely. The characters are lacking in depth as well - I never developed a strong idea of who they were.
The plot was pretty weak but easy to follow and a bit out of touch with reality in some parts. I don't doubt all of this stuff could happen to someone in that time span, I just find it very unlikely. The characters are lacking in depth as well - I never developed a strong idea of who they were.
For me, watching the movie first made the book more enjoyable because I had a better image of how the characters looked and acted. It's pretty good, but I'm not entirely sure I'd recommend it to a friend because the story is a little hard to follow.
What a find! Quality writing. And in watching bits and pieces of the movie adaptation, it was basically a scene-by-scene rewrite. Excellent book!
Her style is somewhat confusing at times, her phrases are often extreme and it is'nt an easy read but it is entertaining....so yup give it a go.
Initially I wasn't sure how I would feel about it this book considering some of the disturbing subjects in it. However, the voice of this novel truly captivated me and I couldn't put it down.
This dark and sad debut adult novel was difficult to read, and I won't be adding it to my high school collection. Luli has a horrible life with two alcoholic, poor parents. She runs away to find a better life and finds out that being a hick isn't so bad. There's worse things out there--speed addicts, skanky whores, rapists, psychos, thieves, drug dealers, child molesters, and everything else under the sun.[return][return]While I won't be recommending this to anyone, I 'll keep my eye out for the...more
Life is shit. People are shit. Unless you're a Libertarian.
(The writing is good; the story disappoints.)
(The writing is good; the story disappoints.)
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“You know why you keep losing, 'cause, guess what, you're a fucking loser.”
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3 people liked it
“And when I have that feeling, that feeling like I need a handout, desperate, I want to pull my skin off and turn into dust.I want to throw myself back to the angels and tell them to start over,start over without me cause you put the screws in loose, you put the hinges in wrong.”
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2 people liked it
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Mar 20, 2013 08:22am