Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Books
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780670608287ISBN:0670608289
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Good, In good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 275 p. Ex-Library expected imperfections. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780140264791ISBN:0140264795
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Clean, unmarked, hinge tight, excellent reading copy. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. pp. 275 read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780140264791ISBN:0140264795
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. clean, straight, well bound and unmarked, light cover and corner wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Fair. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fair. Dust Cover Missing. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1997-06-01
ISBN-13:9780140264791ISBN:0140264795
Description: Good. Pages clean & tight, wear to cover & edges, creases to cover earmarks, bite mark on back top corner of coverShipped in bubble mailer. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780140264791ISBN:0140264795
Description: Good. Standard used condition. May have light reading or storage wear. All orders processed within 2 business days. Ships from Foxboro MA. read more
"I read Lamott's "Operating Instructions" when my baby was a newborn. Then I read and fell in love with her "Bird by Bird". I really like Lamott's literal and bald-faced honesty; there is so much (for me) to relate to in her neuroses and human foibles, especially those that are never admitted to.
"Rosie", at the beginning, took my breath away with how much I related to its main character. A few chapters in, my interest is flagging. I think what I need is (a) more sleep, if only my child would let me, and (b) a sense of the direction of this plot.
Further "review" forthcoming.
Update 16/11/09: Okay so I'm really not liking and not getting this book. It's so disappointing. And I think I've figured out why I find it so unlikable/frustrating: After reading two of her non-fiction books, "Bird by Bird" and "Operating Instructions", I feel like I know some of what the author, Anne Lamott, is about. I know a bit of her history, I know some of the way she thinks, or at least the way she thinks on paper. And the characters of "Rosie" just feel like fragments of Lamott's own personality, her neuroses, her weaknesses, her foibles. One character is an alcoholic, one is screwed up about men, another is a neurotic writer. It's too easy, too direct a line from the writer to the personalities of her characters. I have heard that you should "write what you know", but I'm beginning to wish that I'd read at least one of Lamott's novels before getting to know her as herself. And I LOVED her non-fiction stuff; it's why I picked up a couple of her novels, wanting MORE of her stuff! I couldn't get enough of her honesty, her letting-it-all-hang-out style.
So not only do the characters feel too transparent as facets of the author's psyche, but they all read too alike, too much the same. They're meant to be different people, obviously, from different backgrounds and interests and motivations. But in dialogue, of which there is plenty, I frequently can't distinguish who's who. Even the eight-year-old from the alcoholic mother. It's driving me a bit crazy.
And the neuroses are relentless. I just finished a bit of the book where the protagonist and her best friend go on a six-hour hike. The sentences---I started to write "passages", but they're not long enough for that---the sentences that describe the transformational nature of Nature are lovely, really inspiring and evocative of natural beauty. But they're so brief, and poof! Back to negativity, complaining, neuroses. I appreciate that that's what the character is about; I get that she's not into hiking or whatever, but every time there's a scene that could potentially be calm, beautiful, or uplifting, it reverts to neurosis. Maddening. Like watching too many Woody Allen films without coming up for air.
Pop culture/literary references are another thing. I don't get them. And if, as they seem to appear, they are necessary to establishing personality and mood, then not understanding them means that I'm losing context and ambiance in the reading of this book. Also maddening. On top of this, I just don't know people who quote obscure books or movie lines like this; I've never seen it happen in real life with absolutely anyone. If just one of the characters did this, I would be able to write it off as just one of the characters who would always be a bit enigmatic to me. But it's not. It's several or many of the characters. I can look up an unusual word in a dictionary to understand it if it appears in a book; if I wanted to understand the movie/literary/musical references that frequently appear in "Rosie", I'd have to look up the quote on the internet, and then either watch the whole movie/read the whole book/read a synopsis on wikipedia to attempt to understand what Lamott's characters are talking about. And that's WAY too much effort for what feels like a pretty directionless story.
Hopefully it'll get better, but at least I feel a bit better now that I've got this frustration out of my system."
"Parts of this made me feel physically ill - what kind of narrator is so openly sympathetic to a raging alcoholic, neglectful, self-absorbed single mom? A realistic one, at the very least. Sympathetic and unapologetic, very much describes Anne Lamott's books."
"The first 20 pages were brilliant, the rest was...tolerable. In the time it was written it was probably original, but a lot of the concepts were tired, and the characterization was inconsistent - this from a woman who wrote an instructional novel on writing. And i feel that there wasn't enough about Rosie. I hated James and we were to love him. Maybe i am just disenchanted. I think Lamott was in love with the idea of Elizabeth, but did not know how to carry that idea out in a believable manner. Yet another book that seems to be a testament to the idea that there is no such thing as a good parent or a happy childhood. What is it with what i am reading these days?"
"The story of a little girl and her mother. The mother desperately loves her daughter, but can't seem to pull it together after her husband dies: sleeps around, drinks way too much, and can't decide what she'd like to do with her life. She meets Rae who becomes her best friend and a man who is an intellectual (but not physical) match for her. Meanwhile, Rosie, the young daughter, has to be the responsible one. She spends a lot of time with a girl friend whose father ends up being a creep and develops close relationships with Rae and her mom's male friend. Mom is forced to make some life decisions when she finds out about Rosie's friend's creep-o dad."
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