The Miss America Family

by Julianna Baggott

The Miss America Family In this stunning follow-up to the acclaimed Girl Talk, a fading beauty-pageant veteran and her sixteen-year-old son team up as the delightfully nimble co-chroniclers of one family's soulful, mordantly funny remembrance of things past. With her irreverent evocation of suburban dissolution, Julianna Baggott gives us a fictional world whose emotional complexity and comedic dysfunction closely resemble our own. It's 1987 in Greenville, Delaware. Ezra Stocker is the son of an insomniac ex-Miss New Jersey named Pixie and a gay, absentee father; the stepson of an ex-quarterback dentist with a taste for turtle-patterned golf pants; and the grandson of a superstitious, stroke-addled woman with a passion for birds and some truly odd notions about fish and the family ancestry. He has created for himself a specific goal this summer to make a list of "Rules to Live By," his own set of guidelines to take him through life. A boy whose chief distinguishing traits include webbed toes and a knack for standardized aptitude tests, Ezra has no reason to expect that by the end of this particular summer, due largely to a doomed romance with a wealthy podiatrist's daughter and a fateful episode with a gun, every one of those rules will be tossed out the window. It's 1987 in Greenville, Delaware, but Pixie Stocker is consumed by the past. When she was Ezra's age, she too sought the secret rules and how-to's for negotiating life and attaining her dream of the all-American family. Pixie had found her answers in the comfortingly black-and-white strictures of Emily Post -- and later in the rigid absolutes of the beauty pageant circuit. Such certainties have long since vanished, replaced by the relentless haunting of her memory, and the ceaseless reverberations of a long-ago act of brutal violation. When Ezra's grandmother, disoriented from her stroke, reveals to her daughter an explosive and longburied family secret, she spurs Pixie toward a series of bizarre and dangerous choices in an endeavor to reclaim her tragic past and, for better or worse, start anew. In the pages of The Miss America Family Julianna Baggott creates as unique a voice -- and as idiosyncratic a sensibility -- as any novelist has managed in years, extending her range and craft with dazzling, high-wire mixtures of absurdity and pathos, hilarity and darkness.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Novels, Contemporary

288 pages, Loose Leaf

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Critically acclaimed, bestselling author Julianna Baggott has published more than twenty books under her own name as well as pen names Bridget Asher and N.E. Bode. Her recent novel, Harriet Wolf’s Seventh Book of Wonders, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year (2015). Her novel Pure, the first of a trilogy, was also a New York Times Notable Book of the Year (2012) and won an ALA Alex Award. Her work has been optioned by Fox2000, Nickelodeon/Paramount, and Anonymous Content and she currently has work in development at Netflix with Shawn Levy attached to direct, Paramount with Jessica Biel attached, Disney+, Lionsgate, and Warner Brothers, to name a few. For more on her film and TV work, click here. There are over one hundred foreign editions of Julianna’s novels published or forthcoming overseas. Baggott’s work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Modern Love column, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The International Herald Tribune, Glamour, Real Simple, Best Creative Nonfiction, Best American Poetry, and has been read on NPR’s Here and Now, Talk of the Nation, and All Things Considered. Her essays, stories, and poems are highly anthologized.

Baggott began publishing short stories when she was twenty-two and sold her first novel while still in her twenties. After receiving her M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, she published her first novel, the national bestseller Girl Talk. It was quickly followed by The Boston Globe bestseller, The Miss America Family, and then The Boston Herald Book Club selection, The Madam, an historical novel based on the life of her grandmother. She co-wrote Which Brings Me to You with Steve Almond, A Best Book of 2006 (Kirkus Reviews); it has been optioned by Anonymous Content, and currently by BCDF, with a screenplay penned by playwright Keith Bunin.

Her Bridget Asher novels, published by Bantam Dell at Random House, include All of Us and Everything, listed in “Best New Books” in People magazine (2015), The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted, The Pretend Wife, and My Husband’s Sweethearts.

Although the bulk of her work is for adults, she has published award-winning novels for younger readers under the pen name N.E. Bode as well as her own name. Her seven novels for younger readers include, most notably, The Anybodies trilogy, which was a People Magazine summer reading pick alongside David Sedaris and Bill Clinton, a Washington Post Book of the Week, a Girl’s Life Top Ten, a Booksense selection, and was in development at Nickelodeon/Paramount. Other titles include The Slippery Map, The Ever Breath, and the prequel to Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, a movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman. For two years, Bode was a recurring personality on XM Sirius Radio. Julianna’s Boston Red Sox novel The Prince of Fenway Park (HarperCollins) was on the Sunshine State Young Readers Awards List and The Massachusetts Children’s Book Award for 2011-2012.

Baggott also has an acclaimed career as a poet, having published four collections of poetry – Instructions: Abject & Fuming, This Country of Mothers, Compulsions of Silkworms and Bees, and Lizzie Borden in Love. Her poems have appeared in some of the most venerable literary publications in the country, including Poetry, The American Poetry Review, and Best American Poetry (2001, 2011, and 2012).

She is an associate professor at Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts where she teaches screenwriting. From 2013-2017, she held the William H.P. Jenks Chair in Contemporary American Letters at the College of the Holy Cross. In 2006, Baggott and her husband, David Scott, co-founded the nonprofit organization Kids in Need – Books in Deed which focuses on literacy and getting free books into the hands of underprivileged children in the state of Florida. David Scott is also her creative and business partner. They have four children. Her oldest daughte

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprising story line and pretty good read. I thought this book was going to be a checky chic-lit book and grabbed after reading a more serious novel. I didn't anticipate the family or personal strive these characters faced in the novel. There is some very heavy subject matter, but it's dealt with in a realistic manner. There isn't a warm and fuzzy ending, but there is a satisfating ending that, as a reader, you could envision happening. The character development was a little odd, but this family is not your typical nuclear family. The story is unique and the character's are flawed, but likeable.

[Amber Eats Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I began reading this novel I didn't know what to expect. The tone of the first chapter was one that didn't grad my interest right away. I'm glad I didn't decide to abandon the book. As the storyline continued I found myself being caught up not only in the plot but in the authors beautifully sad observations. This book was truly a quick and satisfying read.

[Buckette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une assez bonne lecture qui dresse le portrait d'une Amérique dans le déclin, à l'image de ses Miss. Le roman pointe du doigt les dérives du pays, la course à la beauté, au bonheur... que devenir une fois qu'on n'a plus sa jeunesse ni la beauté ? À travers le regard d'une de ses ancienne Miss et de sa famille, on suit les péripéties de Miss Amérique.
Un roman qui ne m'a pas marqué mais je me souviens avoir passé un bon moment.

Ma chronique : https://biblidamelie.blogspot.com/201...

[Jennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been hard for me as I've been reading this book to put my finger on why I haven't liked it more. It has all sorts of elements I usually really enjoy, like a deep dive into the psychology of two interesting individuals, and good-to-excellent prose that's beautiful (the author is apparently also a poet) while still managing to sound like things those particular people could conceivably think or say. But I still just kept bouncing off of it, for whatever reason.

I think part of the reason is the fact that the first-person narration (a writing technique I usually particularly appreciate) was done in such a way that it told various events more than it showed, i.e. with so much hindsight that the reader doesn't get to actually experience most of the dramatic moments from the characters' points of view as they occur (one of the characters does more showing than the other in his narration, and I enjoyed his chapters more than his mother's for that reason). And I also wasn't crazy about the "slice of life" narrative that seemed more concerned with exploring themes than telling a story. But I still can't shake the notion that this is a better book than I'm giving it credit for; it just wasn't for me.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to have a teenager read this and ask him or her an opinion about the book. The story is told from two points of view - a mother and a son. I can't really tell why they were the ones who told the story, though. The divergence between the two styles establishes character, and I understand that, but I don't understand why these two characters are the ones chosen to tell the story. The mother mostly talks about other people, so it might have been more useful to have some of the other characters speak, as well.
I attempt to hesitate to be judgemental, but I feel comfortable saying that the mother character and her mother are bonkers. In small spurts, that's OK. Over the course of an entire book, though, it was annoying. I've read a lot of literary books (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, for examply) that used discontinuous thinking. I'm OK with that, even. However, long-term bonkerosity (yes, it's a word; I refer you to Terry Pratchett) becomes tiresome.
If you choose to read this book, look for Ezra's voice. He has a voice a lot like Augusten Burroughs, but not as amusing. There's some sex, some drugs, and a strange portrayal of gay men.

[K.A. Wiggins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too plausible; I think these books are making me depressed... beautifully, insightfully written, of course, but ended up skimming the last half and putting it away. I don't mind fantasy darkness, but IRL messed-up stuff is just not what I'm looking for in fiction. As always, props for creating great lit, though...

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tragically funny, aberration family of visual perfection that totally falls apart behind the scenes. The epitome of Americana with its contented facade, as if straight from a Hollywood soap opera (or talk show). Characters so real.. they're probably your neighbors.

[Sonia Reppe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the writing style of this. Even though for the first two pages I didn't realize Ezra was a boy (sounds like a girl's name)I really got into this. Part 1 was definitely better than part 2, which lost momentum. This might only be a 3-star book, but I'm giving it 4 for Part 1.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

funny.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out liking this book a lot, got a little less enchanting mid-way through, but finished strong enough to get a 3/5. Still not sure how I'd describe for others who might be interested though!

[Brandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just ok. The author writes well but the story wasn't that great. The ending left me confused and unsatisfied.

[Janet Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up on a take-a-book/leave-a-book shelf on a whim and am glad I did.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read because she is a local author and I heard her speak.

[Rachel Gioia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. Fast read. Done in a week. Ending left me unsatisfied.

[Carrie | Boston Book Fanatic]

12/03

[Dixie Meeks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story with good characters, not too heavy on the action. Thoughtfully written.