false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175551403m/527922.jpg 527922 18 More than a collection of short stories, yet not quite a novel, <I>Local Girls</I> occupies an undefined territory between these two forms. The local girls in question are Gretel Samuelson, her best friend, Jill, her mother, Franny, and Franny's cousin Margot--four characters who weave in and out of each of the 15 related stories that chronicle the rocky years of Gretel's adolescence. That hers will be a tough row to hoe is immediately apparent in the first story, "Dear Diary," in which Alice Hoffman introduces the Samuelson family just as they are being swallowed up by the fissures that have cracked them apart. "Long before the plane touched down in Miami we could hear our parents arguing," Gretel tells us of a family vacation to Florida; "and at the hotel room they locked themselves in their room. If you ask me, working so hard at being married can backfire." It is the end of the marriage that has lasting ramifications, however, as we discover in later stories: Gretel's brilliant older brother, Jason, becomes a drug addict; their mother must battle cancer alone; and Gretel becomes involved in a destructive relationship with a drug dealer. All pretty depressing plot points, to be sure, yet Hoffman's luminous prose combined with Gretel's tart and funny perspective keeps the reader eagerly turning the pages until the very end. <p> In fact, Gretel and her family and friends are so compelling, so endearing, that the reader wishes Hoffman had chosen to give the Samuelsons a novel instead of this series of stories. In reading about Jason's descent from A student with an acceptance letter from Harvard to working in the produce section at the local supermarket and shooting heroin, for example, one can't help but feel that a lot of his motivations happen between stories; and Gretel's difficult relationship (or lack thereof) with her father and new stepmother functions mainly as a plot device, leaving the reader wanting so much more. And yet, if one is to judge the success of a book by the reader's reluctance to be done with it, then <I>Local Girls</I> is successful, for Hoffman has created a world so enticing that one is willing to overlook the minor flaws. At the end of the title story, as the now-grown Gretel and Jill discuss two teenage girls in the neighborhood who recently committed suicide, Jill remarks: "They should have just waited. That's all they had to do. They would have grown up and everything would have been all right." The same might be said of reading <I>Local Girls</I>. <i>--Alix Wilber</i> 4030677 1998 Local Girls total:1076|5:156|4:337|3:448|2:114|1:21| 1076 3721 1331 82 3 2 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 26 13:27:31 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 28 08:30:11 -0800 2007 The Catcher in the Rye...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 09 07:27:45 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 13 17:30:51 -0700 2009 5
I have read this book so many times, and most recently, a few weeks ago. A novel in s...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 05 07:55:06 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 09:05:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Sep 28 07:03:36 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 28 07:11:11 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Mar 05 08:01:15 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 05 08:12:16 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false true Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sun Nov 02 00:30:52 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 02 00:47:30 -0700 2008
There are moments in which magic enlivens the story and provides a context....more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 26 07:01:39 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 09:08:16 -0800 2008
These beautifully realized char...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Feb 19 06:37:47 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 08:02:16 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jan 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 21:38:36 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 21:42:44 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Nov 30 12:24:15 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 30 12:28:43 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Tue Jan 06 15:44:24 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 15:46:48 -0800 2009 3
It's not hard to remember that, this book, was written about people. People who hurt an...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 07:58:31 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 08:02:31 -0700 2009
"Say what you want about the Mustang, it may be gorgeous, but it has very little trunk space. I had to sit in the back seat with the hair dryer and the makeup case on my lap all the way to Franconia, but t...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 09 20:48:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jan 09 16:35:12 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Thu Jun 28 07:43:29 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 28 07:49:29 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 02 06:40:55 -0700 2007 Sat Nov 03 21:22:17 -0700 2007
The author's narrative reall...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Apr 13 07:07:26 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 18:21:05 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 07:07:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 16 19:39:38 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 16 20:04:17 -0800 2007
The novel is a combination of short stories that make up a whole novel. The main character, Gretel, is smart but believes less and less in the world, and in love. This is because she lose...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed Dec 31 07:43:05 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 07:48:01 -0800 2008 love Alice Hoffman. Her books are best savored slowly, not gobbled down all at once, so I only read one or two a year. This one has not stayed with me like Here on Earth or Blackbird House, but I still enjoyed it very much.]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jun 30 14:19:22 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 14:20:55 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 07 18:59:13 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 07 18:59:25 -0700 2007 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=527922