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Loading... Little Beautiesby Kim Addonizio
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Compelling, touching, very engaging. A quick read, told from the standpoint of three women--an OCD sufferer, a single mom-to-be, and her unborn fetus. Addonizo is one of my favorite contemporary poets, and this novel shares her unique perspective and use of vivid language. ( ) Former beauty pageant contestant Diana washes obsessively and works in a baby store, Jamie is a pregnant teenager, and Stella is her soon-to-be-born baby. These characters alternate in narrating the story, which is sad, sad, sad. Other reviewers described the writing as lyrical and beautiful but I just found this sad. Not my usual sort of novel reading, but enjoyable. It really brought to life the worries of a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The other main character was one of the ones you just want to shake some sense into, as she makes bad decision after bad decision. There was some good writing in trying to give voices to even a newborn baby, but the reincarnation bit just seemed silly. no reviews | add a review
Distinctions
The lives of three characters -- an obsessive-compulsive, a pregnant teenager, and the teen's unborn child -- come together in National Book Award finalist and Pushcart Prize winner Kim Addonizio's unsparingly funny and transcendent debut novel. Diana McBride, a thirty-four-year-old former child pageant contender, now works in a baby store in Long Beach. Between dealing with a catastrophic haircut, the failure of her marriage, and phone calls from her alcoholic mother, Diana has gone off her OCD medication and is trying to cope via washing and cleaning rituals. When pregnant teenager Jamie Ramirez enters the store, Diana's already chaotic world is sent spinning. Jamie can't stand being pregnant. She can't wait to get on with her normal life and give the baby up for adoption. But her yet-to-be-born daughter, Stella, has a fierce will and a destiny to fulfill. And as the magical plot of Little Beauties unfolds, these three characters' lives become linked in ever more surprising ways. With a poet's ear for fresh, evocative language and a deft humor that exposes her characters' foibles, Addonizio perfectly captures the messiness and unexpected beauty of life. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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