Ali Liebegott

What can I say? I love a good dysfunctional lesbian book. The IHOP Papers chronicles the life of Francesca, a nineteen-year-old lesbian virgin who moves to San Francisco because she's obsessed with her Philosophy teacher.

Irene, the Philosophy teacher in question, is a real piece of work. She wants to "live simply and responsibly" but she is completely bonkers, leading a controlling and emotionally uneven polyamorous relationship with three of her former students. She favors Gustavo, the show more only male out of the three. Gustavo is violent and abusive.

Francesca's over-emotional crushes dominate the majority of her life decisions. She has the hots for her AA sponsor and routinely fantasizes about a TV actress from Days of Our Lives. At times I felt like I was reading the thoughts of a fifteen-year-old boy. She is so obsessed with sex and women, and it's unfortunate. She has a lot of potential but is always thinking with the wrong part of her body.

I think everyone has that trainwreck friend who makes a lot of irresponsible decisions. Francesca is that trainwreck friend. I cared about her, but at times I wished she exercised more critical thinking skills. At the same time, if she did, we probably wouldn't have as interesting of a book to read. I was glad to see some character development by the end of the book. Finally, she grew a backbone. Finally, she stood up for herself. Thank god.

I liked this book, and I would recommend it to others. It wasn't my favorite book in the world, but it was a fun trip. show less

3.5*

This was an audiobook I picked up on a whim not knowing what it was about.

As it turns out, The Beautifully Worthless is a work of poetic fiction that describes a road trip in letters to the protagonist's girlfriend.

Unsatisfied with her life the protagonist sets out with her dog to find a town in Idaho that she has read about. On the way she ponders about her life, her expectations, her interaction with others. It's a melancholy description of her experiences and her anxieties.

If I had show more known what the book was about, I probably would not have picked it up. However, I was pleasantly surprised by it. In parts it reminded me of Kerouac and Ginsberg - but not in a way that describes similarity between Liebegott's work and that of the two Beats. I've never been able to get into Ginsburg. He always seemed too pompous to me. And Kerouac seemed too self-indulgent. No, the link I struck between those two and Liebegott's book was one of difference: I wish Kerouac and Ginsberg had written with the same warmth and flair as Liebegott.

Anyway, I'm curious to read another of her books. show less

I have a special fondness in my heart for this book. The narrative is a bit random, but I find the randomness, the heartfelt honest observations of the main character, Francesca, and the emotional truths about finding your way when you’re in love with your hippy community college professor, working at IHOP and cutting yourself, all wonderful. Oddly the emotional truths Frannie experiences resonated with me (despite not having any of the above said troubles). It’s a novel about growing show more up, finding your way, and barely hanging onto sanity while doing it. I think we can all relate to that. I wish I had this book when I was painfully coming out in college.
Plus Francesca is down right hilarious. The scene with the baby deer is priceless. show less

"It was 1994, the year of bad, low-blood-sugar decisions. As soon as Theo was done watching her favorite episode of Top 25 Best 911 Emergencies she planned to leave her empty San Francisco apartment and move to New York."

I'm not going to say much about Cha-Ching! other than I really like Liebegott's main characters - they are flawed but good at heart - and even though their stories are quite depressing and deal with difficult issues like addiction, anxiety, and the role of being an outsider, show more there is also so much warmth and hope in Liebegott's books. show less