The Last Girls Contributor(s): Smith, Lee (Author) |
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ISBN: 0345464958 ISBN-13: 9780345464958 Publisher: Ballantine Group OUR PRICE: $15.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2003 Annotation: THE "NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LEE SMITH Author of "News of the Spirit THE LAST GIRLS A Novel "Wise and insightful . . . "The Last Girls deserves to be shared, pondered, and treasured." -"The "Dallas Morning News "[A] GENIAL, THOUGHTFUL, FUNNY NOVEL, WRITTEN WITH THE WIT AND ASSURANCE OF A BORN STORYTELLER." -"The Hartford Courant "RICH AND DELICIOUS . . . THE STORY OF FOUR WOMEN . . .Years ago, they were girls, not women-the last generation of American females to be called 'girls'-who traveled down the Mississippi River . . . on a makeshift raft while they were on summer vacation . . . There were twelve of them on that trip; now there are these four, brought together by tragedy. One of their classmates . . . has died in an automobile wreck (was it really an accident?), and her husband has asked the old friends to re-create the river journey and scatter her ashes at the mouth of the Mississippi. . . . It's a reunion of classmates with all of the in-between revealed in intimate detail, as only a skilled and classy storyteller can do it." -"The Boston Globe "AN HONEST PORTRAIT OF INTELLIGENT, WELL-ROUNDED SOUTHERNERS is always refreshing, and "The Last Girls delivers. The book may be influenced by Twain, but Smith proves she has a voice all her own." -"USA Today "BREEZILY WRITTEN AND DISPLAYING SMITH'S TRADEMARK PITCH-PERFECT EAR FOR DIALOGUE, funny but with the dark touches of all good comedy, the novel charts the course by which the 'girls' . . . seek love and self-fulfillment during the three decades approaching the end of the century. Call it "Huckleberry Fin de Siecle." -"Time Out New York "SMITH'S COMIC GENIUS SPARKLES . . .Under Smith's deft hand, these woman bloom exceptionally authentic." -"Winston-Salem Journal BB/Ballantine Books Visit the Ballantine Reader's Circle Web site at www.ballantinebooks.com/BRC/ A 2002 "BOOKLIST EDITOR'S CHOICE PICK |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Historical - General - Fiction | Family Life - General - Fiction | Sagas |
Dewey: FIC |
Series: Ballantine Reader's Circle |
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.5" W x 8.2" (0.90 lbs) 432 pages |
Themes: - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: On a beautiful June day in 1965, a dozen girls-classmates at a picturesque Blue Ridge women's college-launched their homemade raft (inspired by Huck Finn's) on a trip down the Mississippi. It's Girls A-Go-Go Down the Mississippi read the headline in the Paducah, Kentucky, paper.Thirty-five years later, four of those girls reunite to cruise the river again. This time it's on the luxury steamboat, The Belle of Natchez, and there's no publicity. This time, when they reach New Orleans, they'll give the river the ashes of a fifth rafter-beautiful Margaret (Baby) Ballou. Revered for her powerful female characters, here Lee Smith tells a brilliantly authoritative story of how college pals who grew up in an era when they were still called girls have negotiated life as women. Harriet Holding is a hesitant teacher who has never married (she can't explain why, even to herself). Courtney Gray struggles to step away from her Southern Living-style life. Catherine Wilson, a sculptor, is suffocating in her happy third marriage. Anna Todd is a world-famous romance novelist escaping her own tragedies through her fiction. And finally there is Baby, the girl they come to bury-along with their memories of her rebellions and betrayals. THE LAST GIRLS is wonderful reading. It's also wonderfully revealing of women's lives-of the idea of romance, of the relevance of past to present, of memory and desire. |