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Probably as close as I'm ever going to feel to "flowering into womanhood" as it is often referred to? I don't pretend to know how good or bad a term that is for the process. But I digress. An amazing read that proves that Mary Tyler Moore was right. We are going to make it after all.
I can't believe that I never read this before. I absolutely loved it.
When I found this at a Little Free Library, I thought it would be shallow, escapist reading. Instead, I found a beautiful, honest and realistic look at youth, mental illness and life that transcends generations. Yes, it's very dated now. But it's still very well-written and Jo Spencer is an enormously likable, yet complex character.
There were times I really thought I was reading my own story. But maybe every one is just as messed up as everyone else.
This is one of my all time favorite books. I used to re-read it every year but I hadn't read it in ages and was interested to see if I'd still love it as much as I always had. I'm so happy to see that it's absolutely as good as I remember it. The perfect coming of age novel. I laughed, I cried, and I have thought of this book every time I've worn sunglasses for the last 30 years. I'm definitely giving this to my daughter when she's old enough to get it.
I read this book in one sitting, so I felt like I really got to know Jo Spencer's story and point of view from start to finish. The unraveling of a high school "it" girl is something that doesn't happen all the time, but certainly wasn't suprising when it did in this book. Mccorkle speaks to the idea that we can try to hold all the pieces together on the inside in order to look perfect on the outside, but this carefully constructed house of cards can easily come tumbling down.
It is a nice writing style but must admit I just found it too disturbing to like it. I only finished it because I was hoping to learn she recovered enough to at least be able to think rationally, function somewhat normally and establish some satisfying relationships in her life.
This book has a strong character--Jo Spencer--who wants a perfect life. She does obtain it; she's perfect in high school, the cheif cheer leader, has popular friends, becomes May Qeen. It is set in North Carolina, and captures innocence, pain, hardship, joy, and aching love--some of the things living in a small southern town exposes one to. I loved this book because it had a touch of everything that was familiar, and yet explored new territory. It is worth reading.
Wow. Jill McCorkle hits the mark with this coming of age story of teenager Jo who tries to blend in, be a good girl, do the right things during rapidly changing times of the early 1970's. Jo wishes for another time (1950's?) when the rules were spelled out and you followed them and no one had the confusing grey areas of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Unfortunately, life has moved on and Jo struggles with figuring out the new paths and the book rapidly describes her mental break during the summer
McCorkle explored the unraveling of a teenage girl who appeared to be successful by all conventional measures - intelligent, popular, athletics, and attractive. The author brought readers through the difficulty of trying to find an identity without the benefit of wisdom or perspective. The main character fell further than most young women experience, but the author captured emotions that are easily identifiable to most women who survived adolescence. By using shifts in narrator perspective, the
This was an emotional story about the pressure to conform to society's expectations and the consequence of repressing your individual interests. It takes you on a journey through two decades with a girl who creates her own rigid rules to follow and leaves you witnessing her break down as she completely loses control. I'll admit, I describe much of this book as "painful." The book itself has a great impact, however, McCorkle forces you to be a part of a girl's mental disintegration that you can e...
This was a random $1 find at the Japanese bookstore. I had a fuzzy idea that I liked McCorkle's short fiction, and on reading the back my husband did say it seemed like my "kind of thing." Sadly, not so much. It begins with an interesting enough set-up (though the format gets tiresome pretty quickly), then it just fizzles. The first act is just guns, guns, guns, and we eventually wind up with, well, barely even one of those flags from old Warner Bros. cartoons that says "BANG!". It was unclear w...
One of McCorkle's two debut novels published simultaneously in 1984, The Cheerleader is a flood of pure character. Jo Spenser documents her young life from before it even began through a disastrous first love to the harrowing breakdown during her freshman year of college. What impressed me most was how the author really put Jo out there hovering over the abyss and then reeled her back in. All I could think was "this really happens." People really do lose it sometimes and it doesn't necessarily m...
