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Jennifer
Rating:
Review
This story is simply the narrator, Tyler's, description of a summer in his life. His girlfriend, Anna Louise is the most normal of his group of friends and family. Aside from her eating disorder, she isn't too pleased when Tyler goes to Europe and meets "Princess Stephanie", a spoiled, entitled European girl. All goes well, until she decides to come to visit Tyler, eventually causing Anna Louise to break up with him. Jasmine, Tyler's mom, is a hippie who insists on being called by her first name, and has a history of picking horrible men. I have fantasies about being such an irreverent but likeable mother like her. This book is extremely entertaining. It's a story about semi-average people's lives, and nothing history-making in particular, but is fun and has great descriptions. I devoured it, and sometimes, that is just what is needed. A fun, fast read that makes you laugh.
Best Line:
"Perhaps underneath this cold crust of rock there lies a hidden different world, one where pink flowers rot and stink and exude perfume all at once – a world where heat is so generous and pervasive that the cycles of life and death become confused and overlap, depositing fruits and leaves and carcasses on the ground with such speed that the soil cannot remain solid, instead forever flexing languidly like the muscle of a sleeping athlete." This is just a description of the nighttime, so imagine what detail he gives to other aspects of his life.
Kim
Rating:
Review
20 year-old Tyler lives in Lanchaster, Washington with his mother, Jasmine, and siblings Daisy and Mark. Their father is long gone, a hippie living in a commune with his new wife and family (we are formally introduced to him in the middle of the story). Early in the story, Tyler claims, "I have a plan. I have a good car and a wide assortment of excellent hair-care products.", and what he wants most in life is to work for Bechtol in Seattle. Tyler has a girlfriend, Anna-Louise, and they are both students at Lancaster Community College. They have an eclectic group of friends together. They have witty names for their cars, rooms and each other. Tyler manages to sabotage this Eden of his by having a fling with Stephanie while on a trip to Europe, and when Stephanie comes to visit Tyler in Lancaster, everything changes. As we knew it would. This is a funny book and only borderline weird. A nice little escape.
Best Line:
"You are my trailer park." "And you, Anna-Louise, are my tornado."
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