Walking on Trampolines in Aussie Readers

Aug 29, 2013 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it it was amazing

Shelves: provided-by-publisher, arc-are

Tallulah de Longland and Annabelle Andrews were the best of friends from the day they met at St Rita's in Grade Seven. For the next six years they were inseparable, finding in each other an ally against Sister Scholastica, The Piranha Sisters and the eccentricities of their respective families. And then on the day of their high school graduation, Lulu discovers Annabelle in the arms of Joshua Keaton, and her future lays in tatters.

In part a coming of age tale, Walking on Trampolines is a delight
Tallulah de Longland and Annabelle Andrews were the best of friends from the day they met at St Rita's in Grade Seven. For the next six years they were inseparable, finding in each other an ally against Sister Scholastica, The Piranha Sisters and the eccentricities of their respective families. And then on the day of their high school graduation, Lulu discovers Annabelle in the arms of Joshua Keaton, and her future lays in tatters.

In part a coming of age tale, Walking on Trampolines is a delightfully engaging story about the joys and sorrows of friendship, first love and family.

Most of us, at least briefly, have had a best friend like Annabelle or at least recognise the dynamic. Lulu and Annabelle's relationship is a reminder of the all consuming nature of teenage friendship, and the devastation of the inevitable betrayal that destroyed it. Since I spent hours on the trampoline with my childhood best friend, the title, with the tagline 'It's not how far you fall but how high you bounce.', resonates with me particularly, conjuring memories of promises made on a mat of blue elastic weave, to be 'best friends forever'.

Oh and first love, the thrill, the excitement and passion and then the crushing pain when dreams of forever collapse. For Lulu the simultaneous loss of her boyfriend and her best friend paralyses her so that while Annabelle lives the life with Joshua that she had imagined, she is stuck, keeping the books for her father's plumbing business, until her father forces her to take a risk.

Family is an important theme in Walking On Trampolines but it is the complex relationship between mothers and daughters that Whiting captures particularly well. Lulu's mother names her dresses, 'Grace' is "...buttercup yellow with a Peter Pan collar and a row of pearl buttons down the front to the waist..." but when the shapeless 'Doris' makes an appearance, Lulu knows to tread lightly. Annabelle's artistic mother doesn't make lunches, or do birthday cakes and abandons her husband and daughter for a fling with her brother in law.

Further populated by a charmingly flawed cast of characters from Annabelle's eccentric father, Frank to Lulu's crass, yet wise mentor, Duncan, and the rabidly Catholic Stella, Walking on Trampolines offers heart, humor and drama as Lulu learns that she too is capable of the extraordinary.

Funny, tender and bitter sweet, Walking in Trampolines is a wonderful debut fiction novel from Australian columnist, Frances Whiting. I adored this story and I am looking forward to her next already.

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Dec 25, 2014 Kathryn rated it liked it

Shelves: reading-list-2015, fiction, australian-authors, owned

This was a good effort for a debut novelist. Parts of it annoyed me a little in the beginning - with the young Annabelle and Tallulah - especially the combined words that were the trademark of the 2 girls’ friendship - words like “starvenous” (starving and ravenous), “astoundazing” (astounding and amazing), “disgustellent” (disgusting and repellent) - and I could go on, but I won’t. I didn’t like Annabelle very much who seemed quite manipulative. I also didn’t like Tallulah’s boyfriend who seeme ...more

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Apr 02, 2014 Jodie rated it really liked it

Shelves: emotional, entertaining, could-not-put-down, clever

If you like Liane Moriarty you will love this. I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did, it was recommended to me by a friend so I thought "why not" and I couldn't put it down. The characters are believable and realistic while at the same time quirky and interesting. I did have a bit of trouble with the way some relationships turned out but at the same time this gave the book an edge, something to ponder instead of it working out just the way you thought it should. ...more

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Nov 21, 2013 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, australian, aww2013

From the day Annabelle Andrews walks into her high school classroom, Tallulah (Lulu) de Longland is under her spell. Passionate, willful Annabelle and Lulu become best friends, each of them finding something to crave in the other’s lifestyle. Annabelle lives with her artistic parents in a crumbling house by a picturesque river and Lulu finds peace in the freedom to just be there, to not have to worry or look after people. And in Lulu’s comfy home with her homebody parents and her twin younger br From the day Annabelle Andrews walks into her high school classroom, Tallulah (Lulu) de Longland is under her spell. Passionate, willful Annabelle and Lulu become best friends, each of them finding something to crave in the other’s lifestyle. Annabelle lives with her artistic parents in a crumbling house by a picturesque river and Lulu finds peace in the freedom to just be there, to not have to worry or look after people. And in Lulu’s comfy home with her homebody parents and her twin younger brothers, can Annabelle find the busy family she’s never been a part of. It is an all-consuming friendship and for years, everything goes smoothly.

But all things change, including people and Lulu and Annabelle drift a little apart as they grow older and want different things. Lulu finds the heady rush of first love and sinks into it. For a while things are harmonious and Lulu doesn’t see what is right under her nose until it is too late. Betrayal leads to implosion and the friendship is torn apart leaving Lulu alone when school finishes, uncertain of how to go forward with her life and what to do with it. So she stays in her hometown of Juniper Bay, working for her father’s business, taking care of the twins the way she has always done and keeping an eye on her mother Rose, who is prone to bad patches. But eventually Harry, Lulu’s father decides that enough is enough and she needs to be living her own life again, not just standing still, treading water.

Years later, Lulu has done just that. Fate puts her in the path of those who betrayed her so long ago and she is faced with a choice: to lash out, to be the one that does the bad thing, something that the old Lulu would never do or to walk away and remain that same perpetual good girl. The choice she makes will alter the path of her life and set her on the one that will eventually give her purpose.

I’ve been hearing wonderful things about this book since it was released and I was thrilled to get a copy to read. I was hooked from the first line, I think because I found so much to identify with in the story. I love reading novels that really explore the dynamics of high school friendships because they are both beautiful and so very ugly. It’s a time of your life when you often have the most passionate of friendships, where you tell each other everything and spend all of your time together. It can also be incredibly, incredibly dangerous because these friendships can turn on a dime and all of a sudden that person you’ve confided all your secrets in, is now your worst enemy. In some ways, Lulu and Annabelle is a classic example of a toxic friendship. Annabelle is the more dominant friend, she quite often sulks if Lulu wants to spend time with other friends and she can be manipulative. But she is also quite fiercely devoted to Lulu in many ways, she stands up for her and she keeps her secrets. What she does to Lulu is betray her in a very different way, not an uncommon way. Lulu, the quintessentially good girl, thought she was doing the right thing in keeping Annabelle included when she began spending so much time with her new boyfriend when she turned 16. It did not occur to her at all that this would backfire and so badly.

The characters in this novel shine so brightly. Lulu is delightful, mature beyond her years, a caring person who has worked so hard to shelter her young twin brothers from their mother’s crippling depression. Rose, Lulu’s mother is a character that could’ve been a cliche, the distant mother who can’t get out of bed but Whiting gives her such life and vitality in the stories of how she names all of her dresses, each of them meaning a different thing, a different mood. Her father is a lovely character, supportive and gentle, but also protective. This continued on through the story, each person that Lulu met being a character that stuck with the reader, that imprinted themselves upon the reader’s memory, especially her boss, Duncan a larger than life radio host with a lot of ex-wives. The bond that he and Lulu build up over the period that she works for him is so wonderfully written and culminates in true grief. Each relationship in this book, each friendship was so well crafted and defined that it was impossible not to feel as if I was right in the story and knew these people. Maybe because I felt that Annabelle was so very like a friend of my own from high school, as well. I don’t have much in common with Lulu but I easily felt I could’ve been her, or could’ve been in her situation. The characters are all also brilliantly flawed, including Lulu – at times, especially Lulu. But her flaws accentuated her even more. Actually, I liked her more because of them, after her ‘choice’ was made than I did before. She had been so passive, so ridiculously accepting of what had been done to her and allowed these people back in her life to cause her even more pain so it was actually kind of satisfying to see her lash out and do something, feel. She almost operates on automatic pilot after the betrayal and it seems like only after she has made that choice and done something, can she move forward and begin to heal and get over it.

Walking On Trampolines is a truly fabulous debut, wonderfully written and characters that come to life. I cannot wait to see what Frances Whiting has to offer readers next. ...more

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Jun 01, 2015 Joanie rated it really liked it

Shelves: aus, family, friendship, romance

What an enjoyable read - warm, funny and wonderful characters.

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Nov 14, 2014 Kathy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Walking on Trampolines by Frances Whiting is an absolutely beautiful novel of friendship, family, love, betrayal and forgiveness. This captivating story is a wonderful mix of humor that is laugh out loud funny and tender, poignant moments that are heartbreakingly sad. The true to life characters are multi-faceted and flawed but so likable and sympathetic it is impossible not to root for them as they experience all of the joys and sorrows of life.

Despite their very different backgrounds, Tallulah Walking on Trampolines by Frances Whiting is an absolutely beautiful novel of friendship, family, love, betrayal and forgiveness. This captivating story is a wonderful mix of humor that is laugh out loud funny and tender, poignant moments that are heartbreakingly sad. The true to life characters are multi-faceted and flawed but so likable and sympathetic it is impossible not to root for them as they experience all of the joys and sorrows of life.

Despite their very different backgrounds, Tallulah "Lulu" deLongland and Annabelle Andrews became instant friends at the age of twelve. Neither girl has what would be considered an ideal home life but they each find enjoyment in one another's homes. Lulu helps her dad raise her younger brothers because her mother suffers debilitating depression for much of her childhood. Annabelle's parents are eccentric artists and her alcoholic father is more reliable than her less than maternal mother. Nonetheless, the two girls giggle their way through adolescence and support one another through the various ups and downs of their respective lives. But their once rock solid friendship comes to an abrupt end after a shocking betrayal and although Lulu and Annabelle eventually reunite as adults, a split second decision once again threatens their relationship.

Lulu is a wonderful lead character; genuine, kind, loving and incredibly loyal. She is, in so many ways, the anti-thesis of the much more outgoing, rather dominating and larger than life Annabelle. Their friendship is all consuming, intense and excludes Lulu's other friends, Simone and Stella. In the wake of devastation, Lulu retreats into a safe life until she is forced to step out of her comfort zone. Leaving her family and small town behind, she begins working for a dynamic radio personality who is as wise as he is crass.

Annabelle is, surprisingly, an enjoyable character to get to know. Without a doubt, she is self-centered and she hurts Lulu is the worst possible way, but it is impossible not to like her. In spite of these flaws, Annabelle is Lulu's staunchest ally and supporter throughout their childhood. As an adult, despite their strained relationship, Annabelle is there for Lulu when she needs her most.

The secondary cast of characters is quirky, well-developed and quite appealing. Lulu's childhood friends Simone and Sophie are complete opposites but incredibly supportive of her no matter what mistakes she makes. Lulu's boss and friend Duncan McAllister is deeply flawed but this just adds to his (sometimes dubious) charm. It is impossible not love Lulu's dad, Harry, who depends on her more than he should but always has a comfortable shoulder for her to lean on when she needs one. Lulu's mom, Rose, is such a heartbreaking character as she battles to overcome the depression that keeps her from participating in the lives of her loved ones. And, of course, the list of favorite characters would not be complete without mentioning the lovable canine, Barney, who provides Duncan with the means to aid Lulu as she makes peace with her past.

Walking on Trampolines is an emotionally compelling novel of redemption, forgiveness and love. With much laughter and a few tears, Frances Whiting brings life's messiest moments vividly and unapologetically to life. An absolutely breathtaking story that I absolutely loved and highly recommend.
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