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Anne Lamott burst onto the literary scene in 1993 with Operating Instructions. This now-classic memoir of her son Sam's first year of life endeared her to single mothers, parents, and even non-parents across the country. With her new book, Some Assembly Required (Riverhead), she is set to do the same for grandparenthood. Stunned to learn that Sam, now 19, is about to become a father, Lamott begins a journal about the first year of her grandson Jax's life, recalling her own experiences with Sam when she was a single mother. Over the course of the year, the rhythms of life, death, family, and friends unfold in surprising and joyful ways. Please note: This ticketed event takes place at the Bagdad Theater, 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Tickets, $26.95, include admission and a copy of Some Assembly Required and are available at the Bagdad Theater, the Crystal Ballroom, CascadeTickets.com, or by phone at 855-227-8499. Books distributed at event.
Lamott's down-to-earth language reveals the inner workings of a modern family to wonderful effect, exposing hidden addictions and quiet loves with equal aplomb, and showing a palpable, non-judgmental fondness for every character. Recommended by Nathan W., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
A powerful and redemptive novel of love and family, from the author of the bestselling Blue Shoe, Grace (Eventually), and Operating Instructions.
Rosie Ferguson is seventeen and ready to enjoy the summer before her senior year of high school. She's intelligent — she aced AP physics; athletic — a former state-ranked tennis doubles champion; and beautiful. She is, in short, everything her mother, Elizabeth, hoped she could be. The family's move to Landsdale, with stepfather James in tow, hadn't been as bumpy as Elizabeth feared.
But as the school year draws to a close, there are disturbing signs that the life Rosie claims to be leading is a sham, and that Elizabeth's hopes for her daughter to remain immune from the pull of the darker impulses of drugs and alcohol are dashed. Slowly and against their will, Elizabeth and James are forced to confront the fact that Rosie has been lying to them — and that her deceptions will have profound consequences.
This is Anne Lamott's most honest and heartrending novel yet, exploring our human quest for connection and salvation as it reveals the traps that can befall all of us.
Review:
"Rosie Ferguson, the young heroine of Lamott's Rosie and Crooked Little Heart, almost succumbs to the drug culture in this unsparing look at teenagers and parents who walk the tightrope between all-encompassing love and impotent fury. The former tennis star is now a straight-A high school senior, living with her mother, Elizabeth, and stepfather, James, in Marin County. Elizabeth, still susceptible to emotional breakdowns and fighting lapses into alcoholism, is acutely aware of Rosie's vulnerability, and she and James are vigilant in watching Rosie's behavior, knowing, as everyone does, that drug deals go down in the town's central square, and that the kids are drinking, sexually active, and aligned against their parents. Lamott captures this gestalt with her distinctive mixture of warmth, humor, and sensitivity to volatile emotional equilibrium, going laser-sharp into teen mindsets: the craving for secrecy and excitement, the thrill of flaunting the law and parental rules. Eventually forced to confront Rosie's peril and its potentially marriage-destroying power, Elizabeth and James take decisive action and risk their family. Straddling a line between heartwarming and heartbreaking, this novel is Lamott at her most witty, observant, and psychologically astute." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"This is a hell of a book, tough and wonderful. A heartbreak and a heart- mender." Martin Cruz Smith, author of Gorky Park and The Golden Mile
Synopsis:
The bestselling author of Blue Shoe, Grace (Eventually), and Operating Instructions returns with her most honest and heartrending novel yet, in which she explores the human quest for connection and salvation, love and family.
Anne Lamott is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Grace (Eventually), Plan B, Traveling Mercies and Operating Instructions, as well as seven novels, including Rosie and Crooked Little Heart. A past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, she lives in Northern California.
mkeyser, January 25, 2011 (view all comments by mkeyser)
It was good, not too engrossing, with people who acted like "real people" that made me want to come back to them. And it is refreshing to read a novel with a teen who uses drugs who is not portrayed as either "perfectly normal - that's what all kids do" or some kind of demon. It was written with balance and awareness of real life.
Lamott's down-to-earth language reveals the inner workings of a modern family to wonderful effect, exposing hidden addictions and quiet loves with equal aplomb, and showing a palpable, non-judgmental fondness for every character.
by Nathan W.
"Publishers Weekly Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"Rosie Ferguson, the young heroine of Lamott's Rosie and Crooked Little Heart, almost succumbs to the drug culture in this unsparing look at teenagers and parents who walk the tightrope between all-encompassing love and impotent fury. The former tennis star is now a straight-A high school senior, living with her mother, Elizabeth, and stepfather, James, in Marin County. Elizabeth, still susceptible to emotional breakdowns and fighting lapses into alcoholism, is acutely aware of Rosie's vulnerability, and she and James are vigilant in watching Rosie's behavior, knowing, as everyone does, that drug deals go down in the town's central square, and that the kids are drinking, sexually active, and aligned against their parents. Lamott captures this gestalt with her distinctive mixture of warmth, humor, and sensitivity to volatile emotional equilibrium, going laser-sharp into teen mindsets: the craving for secrecy and excitement, the thrill of flaunting the law and parental rules. Eventually forced to confront Rosie's peril and its potentially marriage-destroying power, Elizabeth and James take decisive action and risk their family. Straddling a line between heartwarming and heartbreaking, this novel is Lamott at her most witty, observant, and psychologically astute." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review"
by Martin Cruz Smith, author of Gorky Park and The Golden Mile,
"This is a hell of a book, tough and wonderful. A heartbreak and a heart- mender."
"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
The bestselling author of Blue Shoe, Grace (Eventually), and Operating Instructions returns with her most honest and heartrending novel yet, in which she explores the human quest for connection and salvation, love and family.
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