false 54881 4 Thirteen-year-old Jasira wants what every girl wants: love and acceptance and the undivided attention of whoever she's with. And if she can¹t get that from her parents, then why not from her mother's boyfriend, or her father's muscle-bound neighbor, Mr. Vuoso? Alicia Erian¹s incandescent debut novel, <I>Towelhead</I>, will ring true for readers who remember the rarely poetic transition from childhood to young adulthood. Jasira is a creature of contradiction: both innocent (reading romantic intentions into the grossest displays of lust) and oddly clear-sighted, especially when it comes to the imbalance of power, and the things we do for love. When her mother exiles her to Houston to live with Jasira's strict, quick-to-anger Lebanese father, she quickly learns what aspects of herself to suppress in front of him. In private, however, she conducts her sexual awakening with all the false confidence that pop culture and her neighbor's <I>Playboy</I> magazines have provided.<p> Jasira tells her story with candor and glimmers of dark, unexpected humor--as when she describes her mother's boyfriend Barry's assistance in her personal grooming: "A week later, Barry broke down and told her the truth. That he had shaved me himself. That he had been shaving me for weeks. That he couldn't seem to stop shaving me." The freshness of her narrative voice sets <I>Towelhead</I> apart from the sentimental or purely harsh treatment of similar subject matter elsewhere, and makes the novel a promising follow-up to Erian¹s well-regarded short story collection, <I>The Brutal Language of Love</I>. <I>--Regina Marler</I> 53481 2005 Towelhead: A Novel total:1053|5:186|4:377|3:313|2:134|1:43| 1053 3688 1550 267 0 8 false false Fri Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 14 14:26:01 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 20:36:48 -0700 2008 *sigh*

I picked up the book Towelhead: A novel because I was intrigued by the New York Times' review of the movie directed by Alan Ball (of Six Feet Under and American Beauty). I also picked it up, because I'm always interested in how authors' portray the burgeoning sexuality of preteen a...more...]]> 3 5 false false Thu Apr 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 18 06:57:58 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 10 08:14:13 -0700 2008
Wow! I'm not sure if I'm supposed to like the book because of the style of writing and the bold approach of a topic or if I'm supposed to hate it because of a sensitive topic. I can say one thing...that Erian didn't hold back her creative juices. It's...more...]]> 5 6 true false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Apr 17 09:32:48 -0700 2007 Tue Apr 17 09:36:54 -0700 2007 Warning: it will break your heart.
The main character is a 13 year old girl who experiences moving to a new state, having no one to turn to when her body starts to grow and change, parents of different races in an ugly divorce, being the target of r...more...]]> 5 3 false false Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Sep 17 23:47:50 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 17 23:52:03 -0700 2007
her agent just rejected my book, he complimented me on my strong character and distinct voice, but then gave me the let down that it wasn't strong enough in the over saturated marketplace.

i seriously just laugh b/...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 21:15:40 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 14:24:06 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 13:38:34 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 13:57:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Nov 11 00:06:54 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 15 22:27:35 -0800 2007 control freak and whose mother is immature and irresponsible. She sends Jasira to live with her father because she perceives that her boyfriend is paying too much attention to her daughter. It is diffi...more...]]> 2 2 false false Mon Sep 01 17:43:41 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 29 17:31:54 -0800 2008
I am not exactly sure whether or not I reall...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Nov 19 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 11 12:43:32 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 19 15:18:21 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Sep 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 05:28:48 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 06:25:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jun 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 03 10:08:50 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 17 13:59:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Aug 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 05:38:12 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 10:30:24 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Feb 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 16:08:21 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 16:54:51 -0800 2009
A couple weeks ago,...more...]]> 1 1 false false Fri Aug 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 11 20:55:35 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 20:56:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 15:17:27 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 15:24:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 10:10:33 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 10:11:28 -0700 2009
Jasira struggles with wantin...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jul 10 12:37:34 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 12:56:23 -0700 2009
This book is about a 13 year-old-girl who is starting to learn about herself. While going through this process she has to deal with a mother ...more...]]> 3 0 false true Sat Jun 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 15:57:46 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 14:49:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon May 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 08:04:20 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 08:11:32 -0700 2009
I read this on a plane ride. I finished it, but I think it was more circumstances and a horrid fascination than actual interest. I wanted to make sure Jasira was okay in the end.

The poor girl is subjected to abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual), racis...more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 07 10:02:45 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 19:15:30 -0800 2008
I'm thinking probably the ...more...]]>