Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89463 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Entertaining, but obviously by a very young writer
I enjoyed this novel a great deal. It was entertaining and engrossing, sometimes erotic. As a teenager myself (16) I can relate less to the turbulant sex-and-drug-drenched world the author depicts, and more to her style of writing. Bett Williams is obviously an extremely talented writer (some selections of her prose are astoundingly poignant) but she also shares the self-absorbed dramatization of everything in her writing that is characteristic of youth. Each "gothic" character was depicted as achingly beautiful, each description of each outfit and eyeliner described as if it were art in it's highest form, each syllable uttered by each character took on almost too much meaning. While suitable for perhaps the description of Jessica because the main character is so obsessed with her, it becomes almost tiring to keep reading about these 'profoundly' beautiful people. And cynic that I am, I never imagine them in my head as quite as beautiful or romantic as Williams probably would like me to; instead I imagine that they like to think of themselves in such a way. The book gets better farther along, and I was surprised to find a great deal of depth in Skye by the end. (Who's very name smacks of a teenager's main character) However, with mention of Doc Martins and goths, it will not be long before this book will become extremely dated and almost cringely-embarrassing to read. (it's never fun to read how self-important we are in our youth) However, read it. It's enjoyable and entertaining, and although it doesn't reach the level of depth I think it strove for, I am positive that Bett Williams is capable of such a novel in the future.

-Liz

fantastic, well controlled writing
Most coming of age stories are huge yawns. In GWB right when you think you have the plot nailed the author redirects you, along with your assumptions. And the surprise drives the plot deeper into you. I might be way more attached to this book because I live in Santa Barbara but I think it is not a book rooted to its setting. I found the prose powerful enough that I didn't want to put the book down but I also didn't want it to end. The characters are developed and at first hit me as being way too mature for their supposed ages but maybe I have been living inside too long. I have to say Williams' writing shines in this book. She writes precise but loose and flowing, it rings with wonderful imagery, insights and postmodern poetic language. The biggest compliment I can give about this book is the range of emotions I felt reading it: anxious, annoyed, strengthened, made compassionate, defiant, liberated. It had an enormous palette of emotions which Williams handles deftly, without degrading into gross sentimentality and hedonistic suffereing that so often coming of age novels have to rely on to make up for the author's lack of skill and self esteem. The angst is genuine and not empty and at all like "Our Noise", or most other psuedo gen-x baloney. Read it. Buy it for your daughters, give it to your mom.

Intimate, funny and lively.
Bett Williams is a great writer, a fearless innovator who does not gloss over truth, even when it is fiction. Honest, provocative and edgy. Best book I've read in ages.