Girls in Trucks
by Katie Crouch
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Book Summary Information
Author: Katie CrouchEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-07
ISBN: 0316002119
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Book Reviews of Girls in Trucks
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
As someone who has moved from the north to the south, and back (and back) again, I had high hopes for this book, as I enjoy reading about others changing regions. Unfortunately, the book did not meet my expectations, particularly given that the book jacket and reviews describe the main character's heritage as a fundamental part of the story. The basic premise of the story is this - Sarah, the main character, moves to New York for college after living in South Carolina her entire life. After she graduates, she moves to New York City, where she has a series of bad relationships and jobs. Two of her friends from childhood - Bitsy and Charlotte - also move to New York, and we see Bitsy marry a wealthy man and become even snobbier than before and Charlotte become a drug addict. Another friend, Annie, stays in Charleston and struggles to find someone for herself. Sarah returns to Charleston on occassion, but it is only at the end of the book, when she returns with her own daughter, that she is supposed to fully embrace her heritage.
A previous reviewer described the book as a "collage of scenes" and this is absolutely right. The book starts with Sarah's life in Charleston, takes us through her sleeping with an socially unacceptable farmer, spends about 4 pages on her college life, and then moves to New York City. Although there are some good descriptions of growing up in the South, there's no development beyond that point - we don't really see how that affects Sarah in her new life, other than the author repeatedly reminding us that Sarah got rid of her accent. Likewise, the scenes with Max - who is supposed to be the guy who just destroys Sarah - only last about 30 pages and then he is rarely mentioned again. She appears to just replace him with other guys. Likewise, other characters close to Sarah, such as her sister and Charlotte, drop in and out of the book to the point that you barely remember they exist until they suddenly appear again. At a couple of points, the point of view of the character switches from Sarah to Bitsy and Annie. At the end of the day, there is nothing unique about Sarah other than just being another woman making poor relationship choices and doing next to nothing with her life - and she could have grown up in Anytown, USA.
The author had a good idea, but the character development is severely lacking. I think the point of view changes could have worked if the readers cared more about the characters. I also think the story could have been a lot better if it had focused on just one period of Sarah's life instead of cramming 30 years into the book and not discussing any of them in depth. The relationships between the female friends are not truly developed - and there is definite room for development, given that they are supposed to be permanently connected to one another through their Southern heritage, but don't necessarily like each other.
I would definitely read another book by this author - like I said, she shows definite talent and a way with words. I kept reading until the end because I did want to see what happened with Sarah. For this book though, I would advise people to just check it out from the library before spending your money.
Summary of Girls in Trucks
Sarah Walters is a less-than-perfect debutante. She tries hard to follow the time-honored customs of the Charleston Camellia Society, as her mother and grandmother did, standing up straight in cotillion class and attending lectures about all the things that Camellias don't do. (Like ride with boys in pickup trucks.)But Sarah can't quite ignore the barbarism just beneath all that propriety, and as soon as she can she decamps
When life's complications become overwhelming, Sarah returns home to confront with matured eyes the motto "Once a Camellia, always a Camellia"- and to see how much fuller life can be, for good and for ill, among those who know you best.
Girls in Trucks introduces an irresistable, sweet, and wise voice that heralds the arrival of an exciting new talent.
Katie Crouch's debut novel, Girls in Trucks, is the hilarious, heartbreaking tale of Sarah Walters, a Southern debutante whose endless quest for love and fulfillment takes her around the world and back again. Orbiting Sarah is a cast of characters whose misadventures keep the story moving, even as readers grow frustrated with our heroine's inability to rise above her self-destructive tendencies and see the proverbial light.
We first meet Sarah and her friends Charlotte, Bitsy and Annie at the Charleston Cotillion Training School, where you're not allowed to dance with your cousin under any circumstances, and students are strictly forbidden from dancing the Shag. Sarah, who lives in the shadow of her brilliant, beautiful sister Eloise, is a reluctant debutante at best, and unsurprisingly heads East for college. She eventually lands in New York City, where she slaves away as an editorial assistant and ruins an impressive number of relationships with nice, and not so nice guys. Woven into Sarah's tales of romantic woe are Bitsy, Charlotte and Annie's struggles with infidelity, addiction and low self esteem, respectively. What saves this novel from becoming a cliched tale of failed romance and Southern excess is Crouch's amazing wit, which magically appears every time her characters' self-loathing threatens the affection we inevitably develop for each woman:
I loved the neighborhood: tiny streets peppered by angry painters with peacock-colored fingertips and sturdy women from Sicily clutching armfuls of warm bread. It took us a while to shed our Southern ways, but after a few months we figured out that one's natural height should not be enhanced by one's bangs.
Crouch's sharp wit and keen insight into the dynamics between mothers and daughters, sisters, friends and lovers make her an exciting newcomer to the Southern fiction genre. --Gisele Toueg
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