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The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls

Julie Schumacher

3.20 · Rating details · 1,306 ratings · 287 reviews

I'm Adrienne Haus, survivor of a mother-daughter book club. Most of us didn't want to join. My mother signed me up because I was stuck at home all summer, with my knee in a brace. CeeCee's parents forced her to join after cancelling her Paris trip because she bashed up their car. The members of "The Unbearable Book Club," CeeCee, Jill, Wallis, and I, were all going into el ...more

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Hardcover, 240 pages

Published May 8th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

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Jul 01, 2012 Lorel rated it it was ok

This book starts off full of promise- it appears to be a rather mocking, more gritty version of the often maudlin "Traveling Pants" series as well as the even more saccharine Mother-Daughter Book Club series for younger readers. Four very different girls are thrown together by their mothers, who met in yoga class. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

The story is written by Adrienne, as an assignment for her Advanced Placement Literature class. She is 15 and frustrated by an injured knee and the lack of This book starts off full of promise- it appears to be a rather mocking, more gritty version of the often maudlin "Traveling Pants" series as well as the even more saccharine Mother-Daughter Book Club series for younger readers. Four very different girls are thrown together by their mothers, who met in yoga class. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

The story is written by Adrienne, as an assignment for her Advanced Placement Literature class. She is 15 and frustrated by an injured knee and the lack of a strong self identity. The knee injury has canceled out her summer plans for travel and adventure, ans she is stuck in West New Hope Delaware. She is joined in the club by CeeCee, a rather stereotypical popular girl, Jill, an adopted Asian brainiac, and Wallis,an enigmatic loner. The author has a charming style and uses evocative imagery to conjure up scenes. Her humorous banter shows that Adrienne is a smart girl, though she doesn't drill herself with flashcards by the pool, as Jill is known to do.

Here's an excerpt I enjoyed from the first scene: "I wasn't sure if she was talking to me: I wasn't the sort of person CeeCee Christiansen usually talked to. The two of us chatting? It was like a dolphin hanging out with a squirrel." Despite her apprehension at being addressed by CeeCee, the two girls continue chatting and Adrienne finds that she doesn't dislike CeeCee. It takes the whole summer for the group to gel and then tragedy (not a spoiler, as it is spelled out at he beginning of the novel) strikes and nothing will ever be the same.

The story is directed at teens and contains some more mature subject matter, though there are no sex scenes. There is a girl/girl kiss, an unlicensed teen joyriding in a "borrowed" vehicle, underage drinking (complete with vomit!), but no actual sex scenes, which I find rather refreshing in a Young Adult book. The book club discusses real works of literature and one of these features hermaphroditic characters, so that is another topic covered obliquely.

My feeling is that the story starts off with a bang and gets lost a bit as things slow down in the middle. The ending is less than satisfying, as it resolves some things but leaves others hanging.
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May 08, 2020 Jeanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bll-book-bunch, 2020-total-books-read, 2020-may-books

When mothers who are taking a yoga class together, all have teenage girls the same age, decide to have a Mother-Daughter book club for the late summer.
Four girls, all different in personality and class structure " lightly bond" over the books and antics a youngster might experience during a summer around a poolclub.
I encourage you all to read this YA book. ...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Christiana rated it it was ok

Shelves: teen-fic, high-school

I like the idea of this book more than the execution. I like all the literary references, especially for a big-time reader who reads this book. It's cool to recognize characters of other books when Adrienne remarks on them and inserts them into conversation and her narration. I was interested in reading this book the whole way through (Schmacher does a good job of the chapter endings that make you want to keep reading) but by the end I was kind of underwhelmed.

The characters promise to be more t ...more

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Feb 22, 2014 Tiyana rated it it was amazing

This book was a really good one. I really liked the personalities of the characters and the message the author conveyed was that friendships sometimes grow in the least expected way, but sometimes the least expected friendships are also the most true.

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Sep 11, 2013 Amber rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, ebooks-library

This was a pretty good book. I enjoyed reading it. It is about these girls that their parents force them to do a book club on books they have to read for their school book reports.

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May 12, 2012 Mimi Francis rated it it was ok

The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls is written in the form of a creative essay for an A.P. English class. Adrienne Haus is summarizing the reading list and therefore her summer, for her teacher. Each chapter begins with the definition of a literary term, but not the type of definition you would expect. Instead the definitions are snarky and witty, for example: “subplot—This is sort of like the plot’s younger brother, the one who tags along behind the big kids who are hogging all the to The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls is written in the form of a creative essay for an A.P. English class. Adrienne Haus is summarizing the reading list and therefore her summer, for her teacher. Each chapter begins with the definition of a literary term, but not the type of definition you would expect. Instead the definitions are snarky and witty, for example: “subplot—This is sort of like the plot’s younger brother, the one who tags along behind the big kids who are hogging all the toys and having most of the fun. But mostly it means a less important plot” (location 720, subject to change). These were actually my favorite part of the book.

I thought that a book about forcing four girls with nothing in common into a book club for the summer would be really fun to read. It started off great; at first I felt a connection to Adrienne because she had no father, loved to read and really had only one friend (who was gone for the summer). Unfortunately, a few chapters in, that connection was gone. I thought the premise of the book was interesting and I felt it had a lot of potential. But the book really ended up fizzling for me and I found myself struggling to get through it.

I didn’t think that the characters connected in the way the author wanted us to believe. CeeCee, your quintessential popular girl, latched onto Adrienne immediately. But CeeCee opting to spend time with Adrienne outside of the book club seemed very unrealistic. They have absolutely nothing in common aside from their forced participation in the book club. And Adrienne accepting CeeCee friendship also seemed farfetched. I’m not sure anyone would put up with a “friend” who rifles through her stuff and frequently insults her. As a matter of fact, none of the girls really seemed to get along. Jill doesn’t trust CeeCee and Wallis doesn’t trust anyone. The mothers even seemed to dislike each other. I just couldn’t connect with the characters as the book progressed because the characters couldn’t connect.

The synopsis of the book suggests that a great deal of it takes place at the pool. Ummm, yeah, not so much. In reality, I think that the girls were at the pool maybe three or four times. And one of those times was the climax of the story. I felt like the pool was supposed to have some kind of great significance to the story, but because so little time was actually spent there, it was lost on me. Adrienne spent more time at home than she did at the pool.

While I appreciate the use of imagery in a story, sometimes an author can go overboard. Schumacher really loves her metaphors and similes, so much so that she uses anywhere from three to four per paragraph. It really got old after awhile. Sometimes it’s ok to describe something without comparing it to something else. Or leave it out entirely. I really didn’t need to know that the scouring pad was “like a slimy, silver wig for fish” used to scrub the “islands of burned rice” (location 1887, subject to change). I don’t think the reader should notice the imagery; it should be so seamlessly interwoven into the story that its use doesn’t affect the reader at all. I might have been more appreciative of the imagery if it had not been extremely overused. I started to feel as if the author was trying to write the “next great literary masterpiece” in young adult form. She was just trying too hard.

I can’t say I enjoyed The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls. It was readable, but certainly not something I would read again or recommend, especially to my pickier readers. It’s just not interesting enough. ...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Daisy rated it did not like it

Shelves: netgalley

You guys, do not make the same mistake I did and be misled by this cover and summary: this is NOT a cute summer read. It's just not. I had expected it to be about girls bonding and forming genuine friendships while being in the book club and discovering everything wasn't so bad after all. Or something like it. I had expected it to be funny.

I was dead wrong.

The main character, Adrienne, is a bratty, whiny teenager. Seriously, I REALLY disliked her. I mean, sure she's hasn't had the best of luck You guys, do not make the same mistake I did and be misled by this cover and summary: this is NOT a cute summer read. It's just not. I had expected it to be about girls bonding and forming genuine friendships while being in the book club and discovering everything wasn't so bad after all. Or something like it. I had expected it to be funny.

I was dead wrong.

The main character, Adrienne, is a bratty, whiny teenager. Seriously, I REALLY disliked her. I mean, sure she's hasn't had the best of luck lately and having to cancel her summer trip with her best friend because she banged up her knee is tough. But really, she was just so annoying! I found myself rolling my eyes at her 'woe is me and my mom sucks'-attitude, I got it after the first few times it was mentioned. I didn't really get why the other three girls would even want to hang out with her. Her only redeeming quality to me was the fact that she loved reading, but other than that, she was kinda bland.
Also, CeeCee REALLY annoyed me as well. There was no sense to her actions and I never really got what drove her to be the way she was. Jill and Wallis were actually much more interesting, but I just didn't feel invested in any of their stories really.

For the most part I had hoped that we would really delve into all the characters and discover secrets and friendships would be formed and YES, I know pretty much on the first page it's said that someone dies, but well, I guess I was still expecting some sort of happy to be had first. Also, a LOT of questions I had about them all never got answered. I mean, what was going on with CeeCee? What exactly was wrong with Jill's mom and dad and what was the deal with Wallis and her mother??? And seriously, WHO is Adrienne's dad? And why is her mom being all skeevy about not telling her? I felt no sense of fulfillment whatsoever when I finished the last page.

Basically, I felt that nothing had really happened in The Unbearable Book Club For Unsinkable Girls. I don't think any of the girls will in fact be 'changed' because of the big and potential life-altering moment that happened at the end of it. I didn't feel like Adrienne had learned anything from her summer apart from her best friend or from any of the stupid things she did.
I did like Adrienne's doctor, he was probably one of the only ones with a positive outlook in life and I did like the scenes in which Adrienne visited him for her check-ups.
I mean, I don't need a happily ever after, though I do like them, but there was just not even a sense of hope for the future.

I guess this just wasn't the book for me, sadly.

My rating: 1,5 stars ...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Cindy Hudson rated it liked it

Adrienne is sure her summer is going to be a disaster. Instead of spending it on a wilderness canoe trip in Canada with her best friend, she’s stuck at home in West New Hope, Delaware with a knee injury. And if that isn’t bad enough, her mother is forcing her to be in a mother-daughter book club with girls she would never hang out with. CeeCee is popular and a bit of a spoiled, rich girl, Jill works at the pool and her mother thinks she doesn’t socialize enough, and Wallis is a sort of recluse w Adrienne is sure her summer is going to be a disaster. Instead of spending it on a wilderness canoe trip in Canada with her best friend, she’s stuck at home in West New Hope, Delaware with a knee injury. And if that isn’t bad enough, her mother is forcing her to be in a mother-daughter book club with girls she would never hang out with. CeeCee is popular and a bit of a spoiled, rich girl, Jill works at the pool and her mother thinks she doesn’t socialize enough, and Wallis is a sort of recluse who for some reason actually wanted to be in the club. Her mother never attends meetings and no one has ever met her.

The girls choose to read five books from their AP English list for junior year, but it’s clear from the beginning that reading and books isn’t at all what this club is about.

Until reading The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher I had never considered the possibility that mother-daughter book clubs could actually be a bad influence on girls. Even though this reading group bears no resemblance to real-life groups that I know of, the issues brought up are important ones.

The story is told from Adrienne’s perspective. She loves to read, she’s comfortable around her best friend but not in broader social circles, and she’s not much of a risk taker. But CeeCee, who has a knack for creating trouble, starts to get under her skin.

As the two of them spend more time together Adrienne finds herself doing things she never would have otherwise, as though she’s trying on a different personality for the summer. She questions who she is and thinks about who she wants to be, but the questions create turmoil and the answers don’t come easy. The moms also have issues they are dealing with, and it’s clear that there are different levels of parental supervision and involvement in each of the girls’ lives.

As a side note, girls and their moms may also want to explore the titles in the summer reading list this book club takes on: The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Anna Perkins; Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley; The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula LeGuin; The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros; and The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. Each book resonates in some way with the girls, and their discussions about them are interesting. Girls in mother-daughter book clubs with girls ages 14 and up will find a lot to talk about when reading The Unbearable Book Club.

The author provided me with a copy of this book to review.
...more

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Jan 07, 2014 Lauren rated it really liked it

Shelves: recommend, united-states-of-ya

So if you don’t know already, I am doing the United States of YA Challenge from Epicreads. It really isn’t a challenge because all it is a list of one book that takes place in every state in the United States and this year I challenged myself to read every one of them. One of the books on the list was The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! It wasn't what I expected it to be and it even had a plot twist that through me for a bit So if you don’t know already, I am doing the United States of YA Challenge from Epicreads. It really isn’t a challenge because all it is a list of one book that takes place in every state in the United States and this year I challenged myself to read every one of them. One of the books on the list was The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! It wasn't what I expected it to be and it even had a plot twist that through me for a bit. Each chapter of the book starts with Adrienne explaining English terms like plot, climax, simile, etc. It was cool to read her definitions and they went along with what was going on with the chapter. The story is about a group of four girls coming together with their moms for a mother-daughter bookclub. In a way it was your typical book where four girls that aren't friends come together. You have the gorgeous girl that can get away with anything, the book smart girl, the average girl that is always the main voice, and the weird girl that no one really talks to.

All of the girls are fifteen and going into AP English and are going through that phase when they don't get along with their mom. This is a major conflict in the book and I found it very annoying. The reason I found it annoying was because I've already gone through that phase and I'm past it, but I think if you're fifteen and reading the book it wouldn't bother you at all and you'd be able to relate to it.

Along with having the typical girls in every coming together book, the usual 'we aren't friends but somehow we became friends and when the climax happens we come together again and solve the problem.' Even though it's one of those plots that are over used, I was able to enjoy this one because even though it had the typical stuff, it was written in a way that didn't feel so typical.

I only had one problem with the book, and I'm not going to say what it was here, but overall I highly recommend the book and I really think you should read it. It's only a little over 200 pages so it's quick and easy to read, and the story flows well.

If you want to read my other reviews, you can visit my blog at http://teenscenereading.blogspot.com/

If you want to take part in the Epicreads United States of YA visit the website at http://www.epicreads.com/blog/the-uni... ...more

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Jun 17, 2017 ❤ Aly ❤ rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017

This book was interesting. I enjoyed the concept. I also enjoyed the format.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Sep 22, 2020 Audrey Kammerer rated it liked it

Teenagers being teenagers, with a high concentration on the pity party, no empathy moments. It was clever for the author to use the class assignment as a format for the book, though I’m not sure the chapters tied to their vocabulary word headings well enough to warrant a good grade on the assignment. The writing style was loose and gave personality to the main character. Unfortunately, stereotyped characters did what they do, and because there was no change in the characters, I didn’t really car ...more

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Aug 15, 2013 Desertisland rated it really liked it

Fun for booklovers/bookclubs! Hope there's a sequel (hint there might be: Adrienne's mom--a big fan of Jane Austen--suggests they read some of the latter's books, after the official club ends).

P.S. At least some of the girls in the book club have similarities to Austen heroines: Adrienne's mom tells her daughter she is like impressionable Catherine of NORTHANGER ABBEY. CeeCee shares qualities with EMMA "handsome, clever and rich" (not to mention manipulative), and Jill is adopted for reasons som ...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Christina (A Reader of Fictions) rated it it was ok

Shelves: netgalley

The opening chapters of this book really appealed to me, and, though I enjoyed the book as a whole, it definitely flagged as the book progressed. This is probably the least effectual book club ever that actually manages to meet up (my friends and I haven't even managed that yet...wah wah). Even so, every mention of a book club makes me desperately want to discuss literature in person. I loved the sections where they actually discussed the books, but these were unfortunately brief.

The main issue The opening chapters of this book really appealed to me, and, though I enjoyed the book as a whole, it definitely flagged as the book progressed. This is probably the least effectual book club ever that actually manages to meet up (my friends and I haven't even managed that yet...wah wah). Even so, every mention of a book club makes me desperately want to discuss literature in person. I loved the sections where they actually discussed the books, but these were unfortunately brief.

The main issue this book had was the plotting. The ending was pretty obvious from the opening. In an attempt to create suspense, and to have a dramatic opening to the story, the ending is spoiled. Well, it might surprise some, but I definitely saw it coming. I just found it hard to care about most of the lead up.

The characters also had some serious issues. The only one who felt full-fleshed was Adrienne, the main character, but I'll discuss her more momentarily. Cee-Cee never really comes off as anything more than a bored popular girl, messing with people for her own amusement. Jill, who I actually like most perhaps, never really gets any focus and is dismissed as boring. Wallis is WEIRD. I kept expecting to learn what her deal was, and, in fact, I'm pretty sure I KNOW what was up with her and her mom, but we're never actually told. In fact, what's so weird about all of this is that none of the characters ever stop being their stereotype. At the end of the summer, they're all still the same people they were, even, perhaps, Adrienne.

The book's saving grace, besides the literary references, was Adrienne's character. Adrienne has her flaws, a boatload of them. However, she did feel real to me, largely because a lot of her thoughts are totally on my wavelength. For example, she often thinks like this:

"Teachers often referred to me as a student with 'a lot of potential.' This meant they expected me to be smart; but in fact my mind was often packing a mental suitcase and wandering off on its own. I sometimes pictured all the things I had learned during the previous week at school jumping into brightly painted railroad cars and disappearing into the distance on a speeding train." (6)

I always personify things, and laughed to see someone else having the same thoughts about the elusiveness of all the knowledge entering the brain. She also struggles with identity. She feels as though she has no discernible personality and that no one would even care if she died. I definitely felt that way too, so I could identify with that. Her responses to this feeling, which mostly involved doing really stupid things for Cee-Cees benefit, I didn't approve of, but did seem rather possible. People will do any number of idiotic things for attention in hopes of being liked.

The other part that I really enjoyed was whenever Adrienne was reading. I wish I could read like this girl, although I certainly would not be able to read anywhere near the volume of books I currently read. She seems to be pushing it to get through two books a month. However, when she reads, she really gets into the story. She dreams the story. She gets so deep down into it that she cannot hear people talking to her. I so wish I had that focus. It was amazing how you could feel her slipping into another world. That part was awesome writing.

All told, this was a really great idea, and I feel like it could have been a fantastic book. I feel like with a bit more work, like more details on Wallis' situation and Adrienne's dad, along with more book talk, this could have been a darker, young adult version of The Jane Austen Book Club. As it is, it's a pleasant enough read, but just does not quite make it. ...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Terri rated it it was amazing

Minnesota author, Julie Schumacher, has written a Language Arts teacher's, a librarian's, and a female teen reader's dream book! "The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls" has garnered several positive professional reviews - and deservedly so (though now that I look at the goodreads reviews I see that the reviews are mixed - I will have to investigate this). I really liked "The Black Box" by Schumacher - but loved this even more!

The story concerns four teenage girls who are brought together Minnesota author, Julie Schumacher, has written a Language Arts teacher's, a librarian's, and a female teen reader's dream book! "The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls" has garnered several positive professional reviews - and deservedly so (though now that I look at the goodreads reviews I see that the reviews are mixed - I will have to investigate this). I really liked "The Black Box" by Schumacher - but loved this even more!

The story concerns four teenage girls who are brought together in a mother-daughter book club the summer between their sophomore and junior years: Adreinne, CeeCee, Jill, and Wallis. Because their mothers arrange the group at a yoga class, the girls are at first reluctant (with the exception of Wallis), but the club ends up changing them and their relationships as they try figure each other and themselves out. The girls will all be part of an Advanced Placement course in the fall, for which they are required to read several books and write an essay about what they've read. The book is Adrienne's essay and is told from her first person perspective.

What is to love about this book? It is very "literary" in the sense that each chapter begins with a literary term which is exemplified in the chapter (part of the essay assignment is that students demonstrate that they have learned the literary terms on a list that the instructor has given them. The book is also very literary in that it is beautifully written. The imagery and use of figurative language is terrific.

Another aspect of the book is that the four teen characters are all unique, quirky, flawed, and multi-dimensional. However, Schumacher leaves the reader to answer unanswered questions. What is Wallace's real story? What really happens in the climax of the story? What is the truth about Adrienne's mom and the dad she has never met? I can't decide whether or not I liked this. On one hand, I like it when the writer believes in the intelligence of the reader - this is indeed a "smart" book. On the other hand, I really wanted to know the truth about some of these characters. Is there, possibly, a sequel in the making? I also appreciated it that there were adults present in the lives of these teens. Though we don't get to know the mothers well, we know enough to see that they care about their daughters - and that raising a teenage girl is fraught with all sorts of difficulties.

Finally, there is a plethora of thematic material here that would be perfect for...well, perfect for a book club. I intend to use this with my high school book club this year. And there several things that have led me back to the classics lately - anyone read "The Phantom Tollbooth"? So I am also going to do a classic with my book club and work the classics into my programming - probably one of those mentioned in the pages of "The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls." We have really worked on developing a culture of reading at our school, and I think the some of the kids are ready to make this leap.

Congratulations, Julie Schumacher! I LOVED this book! ...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Holly rated it liked it

Shelves: teen

Well, like many of the other reviewers, I was ready to be done with the book in the first 50 pages. But alas, the only thing that kept me reading was to find out who bit the dust at the end. The cover flap makes you think its going to be a funny lighthearted book, but as the first page suggests, the events to come changed the main characters life, and she was never the same, and yes, book clubs can kill you b/c someone ends up drowning in the end. So says the first page.

As I was finishing this b Well, like many of the other reviewers, I was ready to be done with the book in the first 50 pages. But alas, the only thing that kept me reading was to find out who bit the dust at the end. The cover flap makes you think its going to be a funny lighthearted book, but as the first page suggests, the events to come changed the main characters life, and she was never the same, and yes, book clubs can kill you b/c someone ends up drowning in the end. So says the first page.

As I was finishing this book, at the end, I had an epiphany. How to describe this book?? Then it hit me,the way this book just breezes through and barely scratches the surface of its characters reminds me of the old movie "The Breakfast Club". A bunch of teens from different worlds thrown together, we get to know a little about each one, but when its all said and done, we have only glimpsed into a small part of the world of these teen lives. So goes this Unsinkable book. Although I do wish that we got to know the other characters a little bit more. Like, why was Wallis the way she was? Quiet, elusive, and the only one who actually *wanted to join the book club. My biggest gripe was that the main character, Adrienne, call 'A' by stuck up CeeCee, attached to Ceecee so quickly?? Lets face it, Ceecee was that superficial, stuck up, play with peoples lives just for the fun of it who thought they were better than anyone else, and assumed everyone wanted to either be her, or be around her, just because. Why did Adrienne let CC pierce her ear in the beginning?? And as it got increasingly infected, STILL didnt remove it?? Things like that, that just didnt make sense, annoyed me. First meeting of the book club, thrown together by their mothers, and CeeCee points out how 1 girl is almost an orphan, and another one IS an orphan, abandoned by fathers or parents. How rude! Yet the moms dont say anything. I think parts like that in the book were a little too hard to believe, yet none of this seemed to bother Adrienne as she continued to be Ceecees pet. The only believable thing was the relationship between Adrienne and her mother. Ok..now why I finished..

Chapter 16, thats when things get realllly good. The book picks up, Im determined to finish. And, beleive it or not, I liked the ending, alot. Once I realized that this book wasnt supposed to be deep, touching, existential, or even remotely intellectual (no offense) but simply an easy breezy read, a blip on the "Ive read this" radar. The ending was actually good. After reading the last page, I sat for a while, and pondered what this book was really about. All in all, its amazing how an ending can make or break a book. Its why there are 3 stars up there and not 2. When its all said and done, read the book. Will it change your life? Probably not. But it is an incredibly fast read, and, like me, you might just find yourself with a little smile on your face as you close the last page. ...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Julia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, ya, 50-states-locales-ya-challenge, advice, criticism

I lovelovelove this book!
“Thesis statement: Book clubs can kill you. (This essay ends with a person drowning. It turns out you don’t need much water for a person to drown.)…I want to apologize for some of the things you’ll read in this essay: they may not be appropriate for the assignment. In The Left Hand of Darkness Genly says, ‘I’ll make my report as if I told a story.’ That’s what I’m going to do. And I’ll explain how the books affected me – because whoever I was at the beginning of the sum I lovelovelove this book!
“Thesis statement: Book clubs can kill you. (This essay ends with a person drowning. It turns out you don’t need much water for a person to drown.)…I want to apologize for some of the things you’ll read in this essay: they may not be appropriate for the assignment. In The Left Hand of Darkness Genly says, ‘I’ll make my report as if I told a story.’ That’s what I’m going to do. And I’ll explain how the books affected me – because whoever I was at the beginning of the summer, I am not that person anymore.” (i)
“The joke about West New Hope was that there was no East New Hope, and there was No Hope. We lived in a flat, oversized suburb west of nothing, a dot on the map in a state people drove through to get somewhere else.” (9)
Here Adrienne imagines her Library of Congress description. “Haus, Adrienne. 1. People with knee ailments –- Biography. 2. Bored fifteen- year-old Delawareans –- Non-fiction. 3. People without hobbies who have only one friend, and that friend is away for the summer. 4. People who have never met their fathers.” (20)
15. EPIPHANY: Probably because I once saw my third- grade teacher use an EpiPen, driving the point of it into Jordan Wersall, who’d been stung by a bee, I think of an epiphany as something that gets injected into the main character so she suddenly sees things differently.” (184)
“Edna and Esperanza and Genly and Frankenstein’s monster and the crazy woman in the yellow room: it seemed they all wanted to tell me something. They wanted to talk to me about this person Adrienne Haus.” (227)
I love this book because Adrienne tells us how she changes with the books she reads. She learns about the girls in the book club and their moms through the book club. And it’s a really nice look at the books the book club reads, two of which I’ve recently read (The Yellow Wallpaper and Frankenstein) and three I want to read or reread. (The Left Hand of Darkness, The House on Mango Street, The Awakening.)(Interlibrary loan, 50 States+ YA Challenge, Delaware) ...more

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Apr 21, 2014 Jennifer Rinehart rated it liked it

Kill Your Darlings

If you aren't familiar with the phrase, allow me to share with you, Kill Your Darlings is a common writer's term which means as the God of the story, you have to be brutal but true with the story, sometimes that means killing a beloved character and sometimes it means cutting those parts of the story that do not;

1. Add to character development in a meaningful way, or

2. Advance the story.

The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls really needs more of this kind of brutality, ...more

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May 07, 2012 Ginny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, 2012, netgalley, e-book, arc, nook, secret-shock-tag

When this book showed up on NetGalley, I grabbed it. But I left it on my Nook, debating if I wanted to read it or not. But I decided to read it-I've kind of been on a Contemporary kick lately and wanted another one. Immediately I was hooked. This book was just so much MORE than I could have hoped for!

The story starts with an assignment page for an 11th Grade AP English class. Adrienne Haus is the protagonist (to use some of her literary terms) and she is the voice of the novel. At the end of he ...more

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Jan 06, 2016 Katie rated it it was ok

This book would probably be best for teenage girls between 8th and 12th grade, but could also be used when teaching about what book clubs are and the benefits they have. When looking at the cover of this book I thought it would be a lighthearted book about teenage girls in a summer book club. The book wasn’t as lighthearted as I had originally hoped, but it still had some good qualities. I liked how relatable the four main girls were. Each was very different from the others, but had qualities th ...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Debbie Wenk rated it it was ok

This story has a great premise with interesting characters, yet it falls flat. I was left turning pages looking for the rest of the story. Adrienne narrates this tale of four vastly different girls thrown together in a mother-daughter book club during the summer. A - as one of the girls calls her - has a single mom who is an English teacher. Jill is the only child of adoptive parents, CeeCee is the poor little rich girl woefully neglected by her parents, and Wallis is an enigma who actually want ...more

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May 23, 2014 On4ever rated it it was amazing

This book is so sad, so happy, it just.. URGH!! words cannot explain it. It made me cry, it made me laugh, and it made me angry (at some characters of course!). It is about these 4 girls, with different personalities and with different worlds. And they are basically forced by their parents to have a book club and read their summer reading books and talk about it, as a book club should do. But, more crazy problems come their way, and when I say crazy I mean CRAZY, like CRAY CRAY crazy. I totally ...more

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May 09, 2012 PopcornReads - MkNoah rated it really liked it

Shelves: children-s-books, family, fiction, tween, young-adult, ya, teen, relationships, julie-schumacher, coming-of-age

When I saw the title for Julie Schumacher’s new YA novel, I couldn’t imagine a book club being unbearable – at least not at first. Then I read the publisher’s brief description and cracked up. Yep, I thought, that could definitely become unbearable very quickly. A bit of trivia: If you read The Body Is Water, Ms. Schumacher’s first novel, the character Jane Haus in that novel is the mom sixteen years later in this novel. Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=3840. ...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Jane added it

Shelves: 5th-grade, friendship

charming and funny-a collection of types, the overachieving adopted from Asia girl, the mean rich girl, the follower with no self confidence and the mysterious and weird genius read the classics, with their mothers Read this one on the plane. Toward the end of the flight the teen boy sitting next to me asked me what I was reading, he'd been reading over my shoulder and liked it. ...more

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Jun 23, 2016 Jen rated it liked it

Shelves: summer-2016, ya

This book was.... OK, I guess. The plot was nothing special, and the final big plot twist.... Kinda anti-climatic. What I did like was the main character's sarcasm and her description of literary devices-were pretty amusing.

All in all, though, the book was pretty mediocre. ...more

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Jun 01, 2016 Lesley rated it it was ok

Shelves: library-book, coming-of-age-teenager

Descent story, just a little too for teens/young adult readers!

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Oct 11, 2019 Grady Hendrix rated it really liked it

Shelves: southern-book-club-s-guide-research

I was totally taken by surprise.

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Jan 16, 2019 Elaina Jane rated it really liked it

I recently read The Inbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls and since this is literally the second review I’ve ever written I’m just going to give a regular person review that’s a little short but gives the average person all the information they need.

So the basic plot is, there are these four girls who for some reason or another join this mother-daughter book club. They all think it’s stupid except for one girl who’s just there because she likes to read. They have a few meetings over the summ ...more

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Apr 07, 2018 Rebekah rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya

Was not a fan. Before I get into the negatives, I will say the one positive I had about the book. I liked how each chapter was based on a literary term. I also got a couple book recommendations from it.

Overall, I did not enjoy it. It had promise but didn't fulfill. I kept reading because I wanted to know what was going to happen. I didn't like the writing or the the two main girls. There wasn't much character development either. The character "creating" wasn't good either. You were introduced t ...more

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Jul 18, 2018 Gina rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018-books, young-adult, chick-lit, delaware

This was a good book. Good, not great, because the ending made me feel empty, as if there should have been more... perhaps something less anti-climatic?

Four girls in a fictional Delaware town are thrown together for the summer, thanks to their mothers' 'bright idea', to form a book club. These four girls are so different, they hardly can stand to be around each other. However, they manage.

I'm still left wondering if CeeCee was just a jerk who needed a good scolding? Were Wallis and her mother r ...more

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Dec 03, 2020 Cara Noyes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, teen-fiction, fiction

The title of this book reeled me in, and I was not disappointed!

The format of the novel was a bit strange- an essay for AP English summer reading done in the form of personal experiences with the literary terms and personal experiences of the teem reading the novels.

I really loved the flow of the book. The teen rebellion and angst jived well with the funky format. All of the 4 main teen characters were very interesting and unique. Throwing them into a book club that 3 don't want to be in led t ...more

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About Julie Schumacher

Julie Schumacher

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JULIE SCHUMACHER grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, and graduated from Oberlin College and Cornell University, where she earned her MFA. Her first novel, The Body Is Water, was published by Soho Press in 1995 and was an ALA Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her 2014 novel, Dear Committee Members, won the Thurber Prize for American Humor; she is the first woman to h ...more

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