Rating: 
Summary: Sad......
Review: A very sad and depressing book about an unhappy teenager. I wouldn't recommend it unless you like feeling worse than before you started reading.
Rating:
Summary: Sad......
Review: A very sad and depressing book about an unhappy teenager. I wouldn't recommend it unless you like feeling worse than before you started reading.
Rating: 
Summary: A penetrating look into the mind of a teenage girl
Review: Anne Tyler's "A Slipping-Down Life" is the story of Evie Decker, a shy, plump teenager who always feels out of step with everything. She has no social life to speak of and spends her evenings listening to the radio. This habit is what sets the plot into motion when she hears an interview on a local radio show hosted by an elderly DJ named Herbert:One evening in February there was a guest on the program. He came right after the "News of the Hour." "I have here a Mr. Bertram Casey," said Herbert. "Better known as, known as Drumstrings." He coughed and shuffled some papers. "It's an honor to have you with us, Mr. Casey." No one answered. Evie was sitting on the bed, twisting her hair into scratchy little pincurls. When the silence grew noticeable she took a bobby pin from her mouth and looked at the radio. All she heard was static. Finally Herbert said, "Well. This is the beginning of a new feature on 'Sweetheart Time': interviews. May I ask if you are a native North Carolinian, Mr. Casey?" Someone said, "Not for long I won't be." His voice was cool and motionless, like a stone plunked into a pool. Herbert coughed again. "Whereabouts in North Carolina?" he asked. "Farinia." "Farinia, yes. Off of Highway--" "But I'm leaving there," said Drumstrings Casey. "All right. Where is it you're going?" "A city, some city. It ain't quite clear yet. I aim to cut records and play night clubs, and if I once wiggle out of here I'm never coming back again, not even for Christmas. If my family gets to missing me they can come to where I'm at, I'll buy them a house with white telephones and a swimming pool." Evie is transfixed by this young man and shortly afterwards sees him perform live. Wanting something--anything--to make her life exciting, she ends up carving his name onto her forehead with nail scissors. This gets her the attention she wants, with very unlikely results. Drum and Evie's relationship forms the core of the book, and it's a penetrating look at the way two people can be together and even love each other without ever really knowing or understanding what the other person is all about. The ending is somewhat unsatisfying--it felt abrupt and hurried to me, as though Tyler had suddenly tired of writing the novel--but the book as a whole is a delight and every word rings true.
Rating:
Summary: A penetrating look into the mind of a teenage girl
Review: Anne Tyler's "A Slipping-Down Life" is the story of Evie Decker, a shy, plump teenager who always feels out of step with everything. She has no social life to speak of and spends her evenings listening to the radio. This habit is what sets the plot into motion when she hears an interview on a local radio show hosted by an elderly DJ named Herbert: One evening in February there was a guest on the program. He came right after the "News of the Hour." "I have here a Mr. Bertram Casey," said Herbert. "Better known as, known as Drumstrings." He coughed and shuffled some papers. "It's an honor to have you with us, Mr. Casey." No one answered. Evie was sitting on the bed, twisting her hair into scratchy little pincurls. When the silence grew noticeable she took a bobby pin from her mouth and looked at the radio. All she heard was static. Finally Herbert said, "Well. This is the beginning of a new feature on 'Sweetheart Time': interviews. May I ask if you are a native North Carolinian, Mr. Casey?" Someone said, "Not for long I won't be." His voice was cool and motionless, like a stone plunked into a pool. Herbert coughed again. "Whereabouts in North Carolina?" he asked. "Farinia." "Farinia, yes. Off of Highway--" "But I'm leaving there," said Drumstrings Casey. "All right. Where is it you're going?" "A city, some city. It ain't quite clear yet. I aim to cut records and play night clubs, and if I once wiggle out of here I'm never coming back again, not even for Christmas. If my family gets to missing me they can come to where I'm at, I'll buy them a house with white telephones and a swimming pool." Evie is transfixed by this young man and shortly afterwards sees him perform live. Wanting something--anything--to make her life exciting, she ends up carving his name onto her forehead with nail scissors. This gets her the attention she wants, with very unlikely results. Drum and Evie's relationship forms the core of the book, and it's a penetrating look at the way two people can be together and even love each other without ever really knowing or understanding what the other person is all about. The ending is somewhat unsatisfying--it felt abrupt and hurried to me, as though Tyler had suddenly tired of writing the novel--but the book as a whole is a delight and every word rings true.
Rating: 
Summary: What the hell was she thinking?
Review: Evie Decker is the daughter no one would want to have, but many people end up with anyway. She pursues the wrong man for all of the wrong reasons, he rejects her, then she marries him. I winced as I read much of this book. The end is a surprising turn of events.
Rating:
Summary: Compulsive reading for any teenager.
Review: I found this book fascinating. Direct and perceptive, it examines the consequences for a lonely, fat teenage girl who slashes the name of a would-be rock star onto her forehead with a pair of nail scissors. What is so interesting is that Evie, the mutilated teenager, never once regrets her action. She only wishes she had taken control of her fate earlier, while Drum, object of her unvoiced obsession and owner of the slipping-down life of the title, lets himself be drawn in by her startling course of action. Every other character in this book, from Evie's sad, widower father to her best (and indeed only) friend Violet, seems drifting and unaware next to efficent, decisive Evie. I can throughly recommend this book to anyone. Not a word is wasted or misplaced by the author and the result is a startlingly vivid novel
Rating:
Summary: Compulsive reading for any teenager.
Review: I found this book fascinating. Direct and perceptive,it examines the consequences for a lonely, fat teenage girl who slashes the name of a would-be rock star onto her forehead with a pair of nail scissors. What is so interesting is that Evie, the mutilated teenager, never once regrets her action. She only wishes she had taken control of her fate earlier, while Drum, object of her unvoiced obsession and owner of the slipping-down life of the title, lets himself be drawn in by her startling course of action.
Every other character in the book, from Evie's sad , widower father to her best (and indeed only) friend Violet, seems drifting and unaware next to efficent and decisive Evie. I can thoroughly recommend this book to anyone. Not a word is wasted or misplaced by the author and the result is a startlingly vivid novel
Rating:
Summary: skeletal compared to other great AT books...
Review: I found this book to be lacking. In character development, plot, etc. It just never really went anywhere - not that it needed to but it just didn't grab me as her other novels have. I found it to be very underdeveloped. Perhaps, as one other reviewer wrote, this was before she hit her stride? That's what I think.
Rating:
Summary: skeletal compared to other great AT books...
Review: I found this book to be lacking. In character development, plot, etc. It just never really went anywhere - not that it needed to but it just didn't grab me as her other novels have. I found it to be very underdeveloped. Perhaps, as one other reviewer wrote, this was before she hit her stride? That's what I think.
Rating:
Summary: haunting!
Review: I just read this book over the weekend because I became attached to it. This book leaves you wanting for more and the ending is horrifically sad. Probably one of the best I've read.
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