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38th out of 149 books
—
103 voters
Crooked Little Heart (Rosie Ferguson #2)
by
Anne Lamott (Goodreads Author)
With the same winning combination of humor and honesty that marked her recent nonfiction bestsellers, Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott presents an exuberant novel about a family for whom the joys and sorrows of everyday life are magnified under the glare of the unexpected.
Rosie Ferguson, in the first bloom of young womanhood, is obsessed with tournament...more
Rosie Ferguson, in the first bloom of young womanhood, is obsessed with tournament...more
Paperback, 326 pages
Published
December 18th 2007
by Random House
(first published 1997)
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This book is the sequel to Rosie, and they are two of my mom's favorite novels of all time, so when I read them I couldn't help looking for her in them. I found her, but I also found that I really loved Crooked Little Heart far more than Rosie. Rosie, especially the ending, didn't really push my thinking. Crooked Little Heart did. I'm glad I read it now, since starting roller derby - so much of the book focuses on a competitive sport (Tennis, my mom's favorite) as a metaphor, and it really helpe...more
Another coming-of-age story -- this time of a 13 year old tennis player named Rosie. Not much to say about this book. As always, Anne Lamott's writing is beautiful, with many many passages that beg to be reread and copied out. She writes, too, with the humor and sensitivity that are hallmarks of her writing.
BUT, the characters are stereotypes, not anyone you'd care about, except for the two girls, Rosie and Symone. Rosie's mother, Elizabeth, is absurdly immature and angst-ridden; I just wanted t...more
BUT, the characters are stereotypes, not anyone you'd care about, except for the two girls, Rosie and Symone. Rosie's mother, Elizabeth, is absurdly immature and angst-ridden; I just wanted t...more
I liked discovering that the title originated from a line in a poem by W.H. Auden, which the author quoted on p. 181
O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'
It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.
"Expectations are resentments waiting to happen" (185).
I just found this quote in a journal from Jan 25, 1998 - My ex-husband's 48th Birthday....more
O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
With your crooked heart.'
It was late, late in the evening,
The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
And the deep river ran on.
"Expectations are resentments waiting to happen" (185).
I just found this quote in a journal from Jan 25, 1998 - My ex-husband's 48th Birthday....more
Aug 06, 2010
Evanston Public Library
added it
In the summer of her 13th year, Rosie Ferguson is occupied and preoccupied with tennis. She's a junior ranked player and is shuttled around along with her best friend and doubles partner, Simone, to all the tournaments in the San Francisco area. Both girls are caught in that moment at the end of childhood where hints of the women they are to become begin to show--physically, mentally, and emotionally. When Rosie was four, her dad was killed in a car accident. Elizabeth, Rosie's mom, spent a few...more
I have great affection for Anne Lamott because of 'Bird by Bird' and 'Operating Instructions', and because of that affection, I will read anything she writes. Period.
However, a writing pal/mentor of mine once said that if something doesn't directly propel the plot or significance forward, take it out. No setting for setting's sake, it needs to have meaning. While I'm not sure if I wholeheartedly agree with this- I do love a descriptive moment- I do think it's good advice, especially for me. And...more
However, a writing pal/mentor of mine once said that if something doesn't directly propel the plot or significance forward, take it out. No setting for setting's sake, it needs to have meaning. While I'm not sure if I wholeheartedly agree with this- I do love a descriptive moment- I do think it's good advice, especially for me. And...more
"But easy's like, who cares? Easy's like, how much is easy going to get you?" writes the wise Anne Lamott. It's quite fitting since she never lets her characters or her readers off easy. She drags us through the emotional muck. But you know what? That's life. I'm glad she doesn't gloss over the facts. The key word is compassion. She loves Elizabeth and Rosie and James even as they completely screw up. I believe Lamott even says in Bird By Bird that a writer must love her characters but still all...more
Anne takes us through the summer of Rosie Ferguson (age 13) and Elizabeth, her mom. You met them in a previous book when Rosie was 4 but that doesn't really matter. Rosie and her friends are "blooming like spring, budding, lithe, agile as cats.They wore tiny dresses and skirts so short that their frilly satin tennins bloomers showed....They were brown as berries, with feet as white as the moon." Rosie and her partner, Simone were good, ranked number one in the girls fourteen and under doubles in...more
Spoilers below warning:
I knew about Anne Lamott long before I picked up this book, but never felt compelled to read her work. Now I do. I really enjoyed this study of a "garage sale family" as the thirteen year old put it. She really gets kids, and I'm looking forward to reading her book about her first year with her son. Awful things happen to the characters in this book, but they're already over and done with by the time the book starts (except for one death of an older friend), which makes it...more
I knew about Anne Lamott long before I picked up this book, but never felt compelled to read her work. Now I do. I really enjoyed this study of a "garage sale family" as the thirteen year old put it. She really gets kids, and I'm looking forward to reading her book about her first year with her son. Awful things happen to the characters in this book, but they're already over and done with by the time the book starts (except for one death of an older friend), which makes it...more
I picked this up at a Half Price Books sale, figuring since I had heard good things about and purchased Lamott's book on writing, 'Bird by Bird,' I should read some of the author's own fiction before taking her advice! I warmed up to the book towards the end. At first Lamott's writing seemed overly self-conscious to me. Not enough subtlety. Too many emotions written out word for word. Yet, there were also moments of delicate tenderness and drama - I found my eyes skipping ahead a page to find ou...more
Anne Lamott should have taken the advice offered her in her previously published 'Bird by Bird' and given up on writing novels before she started.
Although the story held my attention, I felt the writing at times was self conscious as though she was searching for the perfect simile or metaphor instead of focusing on just telling the story. She does do a good job of developing character. I really felt like I knew these people, although at times they seemed less than real. It was hard to imagine a 13 year old girl sitting on her mother’s lap and calling her mommy. I liked Elizabeth’s tolerance and willingness to let Rosie be her own person...more
Despite my cynicism, I found myself falling for Lamott's portrayal of all the gooey supportive love and understanding in the unconventional relationships between teenage daughter Rosie, her recovering alcoholic, widowed mother Elizabeth, and the myriad satellite stand-in parental figures for Rosie. I was so beguiled by the atmosphere Lamott creates through her beautiful language, that I kept yearning to pick up the book again simply to be back in the haunting world she had created. I was certain...more
There were things I liked about this one, but also a lot I didn't care for. I didn't like it anywhere near as much as "Rosie," though it didn't end up being a saccharine al-anon tract at the end like "Imperfect Birds." I'm sure some people dig some of the stuff that bothered me, but I just didn't dig it. It felt overly sentimental, maudlin even at times. Besides the fact that it sometimes became muddled whether Rosie or Elizabeth was thinking, I think my biggest problem was that Rosie sometimes...more
I'm not hugely attached to plot and don't need my books to be fast-moving, but even I felt a lack of plot on this book. It speeded up toward the end, but about halfway through, I found myself thinking, "if something doesn't start happening soon, I am going to start hating this book." Shortly thereafter, something did start happening; but she almost lost me. What kept me going was the same writing that makes Lamott's memoirs so much fun. She has a fine ear for phrases that are just right, and hil...more
Couldn't finish this book. Read some of Lamott's previous books (the non fiction) which I really liked.
It's a good thing I didn't buy this book,and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
While I don't identify myself as a Republican, (i am a conservative, libertarian -small l ) I found offense with the offhand remarks made against such. They were not excessively cruel like most things you read on twitter and media, but I couldn't continue reading because of them.
They were not necessary...more
It's a good thing I didn't buy this book,and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
While I don't identify myself as a Republican, (i am a conservative, libertarian -small l ) I found offense with the offhand remarks made against such. They were not excessively cruel like most things you read on twitter and media, but I couldn't continue reading because of them.
They were not necessary...more
Okay, I should have listened to the reviews. I trusted after reading Bird by Bird that Anne Lamott would write wonderful fiction. Little did I know that her fiction would drag and drag. I couldn't wait to finish this book. If you like tennis (which I do), you'll enjoy the description of play. Otherwise, there is NO plot. What happened in the hundreds of pages? Nothing. And there were absolutely no surprises. My only surprise was that all the sad characters did not kill themselves. Each went over...more
Novel by a talented writer of both fiction and nonfiction. Rosie Ferguson, in the first bloom of young womanhood, is obsessed with tournament tennis. Her mother is a recovering alcoholic still grieving the death of her first husband; her stepfather, a struggling writer, is wrestling with his own demons. And now Rosie finds that her athletic gifts, once a source of triumph and escape, place her in peril, as a shadowy man who stalks her from the bleachers seems to be developing an obsession of his...more
Anne Lamott is a talented writer. I love the way she writes about mothers and daughters in this book. She must have taken notes on her thoughts and feelings as a teenager -- her descriptions of Rosie's fears, hopes, joys, and incredible sadness are dead on. Rosie's mother, Elizabeth, suffers from depression and is a recovering alcoholic. You want to tell her to get out of bed and start paying more attention to her daughter, yet you sympathize with her fear and grief. Luckily Elizabeth and Rosie...more
I actually can't say I have read this book. I have read 36 pages and I cannot stand to read one more word. I feel horrible about it but I can't do it. I adore Anne Lamott and her non-fiction but I can't stand her fiction. Truthfully I don't think I should even be giving the book 1 star since I only got 36 pages in and couldn't stand it.
What did I hate? The overuse of descriptive words - I felt like I was reading the Thesarus that had some words written in between the descriptives. The lack of p...more
What did I hate? The overuse of descriptive words - I felt like I was reading the Thesarus that had some words written in between the descriptives. The lack of p...more
Rosie, in her thirteenth year, with a dead father and a living stepfather and an alcoholic-in-mourning mother, is a tennis champ during this last summer of her innocent days. Lamott tells her story with such truth and warmth that I could hardly stop reading for any distraction, no matter how important--going to work, coming home, feeding my cat, feeding my fish, hauling buckets of water around, anything! There are many stories here, rich and complex, following the life of these people, this fami...more
I have read most of LaMott's non-fiction writings and have enjoyed all of them. This novel is no exception. I truly enjoy her writing style and her sentences are works of art. The plot develops slowly so their is ample time to get to know the characters before you are thrown into the throes of conflict. There is time to become involved their lives and share the same problems and issues that are part of yours. By the end of the book all the plots are completed, and closure is created. There are...more
This was my first fiction book to read by Lamott. I recently read her memoir-esque book Traveling Mercies, and really did like it. So I thought I would try out one of her novels.
As far as story goes, I thought Crooked Little Heart was pretty boring. Lots of details to an un-interesting plot.
However, as far as character development goes, Lamott did an excellent job. I really got into the characters and their little nuances.
I think the one thing that I really grabbed hold of in this book is the...more
As far as story goes, I thought Crooked Little Heart was pretty boring. Lots of details to an un-interesting plot.
However, as far as character development goes, Lamott did an excellent job. I really got into the characters and their little nuances.
I think the one thing that I really grabbed hold of in this book is the...more
Last night, as I was sleeping
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
Here inside my heart.
and the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
From my old failures. -Antonio Machada (from Times Alone)
The excerpt above is in the preface of Crooked Little Heart. I enjoyed the first Anne Lamott I picked up, but the second, for whatever reason, I didn't finish. I haven't picked one up since. Then, as I was finishing my last exam and requesting piles of books from my stored lists in my libr...more
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
Here inside my heart.
and the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
From my old failures. -Antonio Machada (from Times Alone)
The excerpt above is in the preface of Crooked Little Heart. I enjoyed the first Anne Lamott I picked up, but the second, for whatever reason, I didn't finish. I haven't picked one up since. Then, as I was finishing my last exam and requesting piles of books from my stored lists in my libr...more
"Crying withheld feels sometimes like dying..."
I really loved this book, mostly because I could empathize with Rosie's middle school angst and insecurites. But I also admire (and envy) Lamott's writing in general - she creates beautiful phrases such as "it was so hot that the only things moving outside were the crickets and the anorexics" and "the sun smelled warm, like laundry in the dryer, like melting yellow crayons." Her writing startles me sometimes, so I have to stop and reread. I would...more
I really loved this book, mostly because I could empathize with Rosie's middle school angst and insecurites. But I also admire (and envy) Lamott's writing in general - she creates beautiful phrases such as "it was so hot that the only things moving outside were the crickets and the anorexics" and "the sun smelled warm, like laundry in the dryer, like melting yellow crayons." Her writing startles me sometimes, so I have to stop and reread. I would...more
A slow build for me, but in the end I liked it as well as Rosie. Like in the previous novel, there was some great insights into parenthood and relationships. I also liked the idea (Luther's) that there is a difference between a cheater and someone who cheated: don't get boxed in by identity labels. What was up with Luther, though? I usually don't mind some mystery and ambiguity, but with this book I felt like I missed something. Was there any concrete connection between Luther and Elizabeth?
A sequel to Rosie. It chronicles Rosie's life as a 13 year-old who is experiencing that yucky teenage identity crisis. Her best friend, Simone, is her tennis partner and is Rosie's physical opposite: beautiful and curvy. This ends up getting Simone into some trouble. Rosie's relationship with her mom continues to be a bit difficult especially when Rosie has two secrets she keeps for far too long. And then there's the creepy Luther who seems obsessed with Rosie and attends all her tennis matches....more
The victimization of women is a lucrative market, but I'm not apt to enjoy another work that characterizes a world full of masturbating, homeless perverts as audience for sexually maturing girls. This book was romanticized neurosis, but what general audience fiction or non-fiction isn't? If the descriptions had been more explicitly portrayed as subjective, versus used to thrill the reader sense of lurid danger,even if fears were later reinforced by events, I would have had a better response
I liked this very much. The author's insights into a young girl's psyche were remarkable. Can we recall the pain, the joy, the fear, that we felt at 13 or 14 years of age? Ms. Lamont gives a very realistic picture of it. The story wraps up a bit too neatly, but other than that, it was a convincing look into the lives of a family who suffers tragedy and addiction and then tries to move on. The picture of the moving on seems more real than many others I've read. I give credit to Ms. Lamont for tha...more
This is a rare book in that it didn't have much of a plot, yet I loved it. I enjoyed it much more than its sequel--I seem to be reading the trilogy in reverse order. Another oddity is that my single favorite part of this book were the fights. "From Bosnia to Paris in 24 hours" muses Elizabeth after reconciling with her husband. I've always preferred Lamott's nonfiction to her fiction, and it's her honesty that makes it great. She says out loud things I barely let myself think. That's how it felt...more
Anne Lamott needs to stick to personal essays. They are comfortable, hilarious, and touch your heart. This book tried to do all those things, but fell short, especially to someone who has read Lamott's essays. It reads predictably, teenage tantrums described with adult nostalgia that makes them fall flat. Everything is covered in a sticky, oozy coating of "love" that made the plot saccharine and unbelievable.
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Anne Lamott is an author of several novels and works of non-fiction. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, her non-fiction works are largely autobiographical, with strong doses of self-deprecating humor and covering such subjects as alcoholism, single motherhood, and Christianity. She appeals to her fans because of her sense of humor, her deeply felt insights, and her outspoken views on topics such...more
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“I've given guys blow jobs just because I've run out of things to talk about.'
Oh, Rae. Who hasn't”
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Oh, Rae. Who hasn't”
“[S]he believed that the Buddhists were right–that if you want, you will suffer; if you love, you will grieve. (68)”
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Jul 08, 2008 06:29am