Martha O'Connor

I found The Bitch Posse to be very interesting and I couldn't read it fast enough, at first anyways. To me it's a mixture of 3 very distinct books/movies. The main two being a mixture of the movie Thirteen and the book/movie Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood, the teenage mentality of doing messed up things while being apart of a group game it this feel. The other is a bit more of a reach, but it's The Time Traveler's Wife, not only does the book alternated between each character and being set in 1988 to 2003, but Bitch Posse is also set in the midwest (near Chicago) and they loved the same music the two main characters did in The Time Traveler's wife, when I read the Violent Femmes part it was just a strong feeling that reminded me of Time Traverls's. With these three mixes of books/movies that I loved I thought the Bitch Posse was very engrossing as well, but I was so disappointed with the ending, not because it was obvious or something I didn't expect/like, but it just felt so sloppy and slapped together. The first half of the book is amazing and it builds up to all these different things and as you are going into the climax it just falls short completely. I can even pinpoint the exact moment I felt the shift (Amy going to Cali) and it just continued to get worse and worse. Amy and Wrens meet up was so short and pointless feeling and not in a that's how it's suppose to feel because that's what it was, no, it was too much was left out and was a "yada yada" moment. It continued to get worse with what you finally found out what happened at Porters Place, left me feeling like I had wasted my time and that "this is what I wanted to know?" and finally Cherry's ending was just bad and short again. I'm still going to recommend the book because the beginning is great and if you don't get your hopes up too much the ending isn't so bad, just go in knowing it's not going to be as good as the first half.… (mais)

I cannot quite say that I really enjoyed the book, but I was extremely engrossed by it. I just kept reading and reading until I had pretty much forgotten the time, until I realized that I had just passed a whole day. And this was actually my second time reading this book, though to be fair, it was quite a while since I last read it. The writing was simple, yet beautiful, and the characters were so real, so painfully real that it was as if they were sitting there telling me the entire story. I really ended up feeling for all of them, and it was truly sad how screwed up they became due to their families and past experiences.

I found the ending beautiful though. At least two of them managed to reconcile, and especially Rennie, the writer, who managed to reconcile her past with her present, and it seemed that she was able to move on. I especially love the meeting between her and Amy, and how they realised that, despite everything that happened, they could still count on each other and the memories of their friendship. I also loved how Amy managed to come clean about her role in the crime she and her friends took part in, and how she was able to... well... not really reconcile with the man who betrayed her, but at least there was some form of comfort between them.

I'm not too sure about what happened to Cherry though, her story was a bit convoluted. I was able to understand her past, but I'm not sure whether the way she ended her story was to be a happy or sad ending. It also saddened me that she never got to reconcile with her two best friends. At the same time, what she did for both of them was extremely touching, and it made her present situation all the more sad because it seemed that she never really recovered from her past.

All in all, it was a beautiful book, and I really loved it. I especially felt that the message behind the story, that only when you are able to confront the past are you able to move on from it, especially true, and told beautifully with this story. It's definitely on my recommended reads list, and it's a book that I would definitely be visiting over and over again.… (mais)

Summary: Three high school girls commit a single act that haunts them into their thirties. Each reacts in their own way. Each story is told.

The Take-Away: I have mixed feelings about this book. It's very "in your face," both in the writing, the actions and the personalities of Cherry, Amy and Rennie. The story is told by each, and setting flips from 2003 to 1988 continuously.

The three girls are best friends who do typical teenage girl things -- hang out, give advice about relationships, smoke, etc. But they also do the things that parents pray that they will never do: skipping school, drugs, sex and cutting. Each page reveals actions that lead into further destructive behavior. Each action pulls the three of them tighter.

Their parents' have just as many faults as the girls. Secrets are kept when they shouldn't be. Truths are told that shouldn't have been. Roles are reversed when daughter is forced to take care of parent.

O'Connor states on her website that she...

longed for a book about the girls I remembered from growing up, girls like the one I had been. Girls with multicolored hair and pierced noses, who would cut school and head to Chicago in combat boots and miniskirts, Pixies t-shirts and ripped fishnets. Girls who ditched P.E. to grab a smoke in the parking lot, who carried around poetry books and wrote about death and hate and high emotion, things that mattered.

The limits are pushed when 0'Connor shows what happens to these women grow-up. Do they become normal? How do the actions of one night of high school reach into the future?

The book stays with me, as to the characters. While their story was told, there wasn't a warm, fuzzy closure and I hope that things do turn out well for them.

Recommendation: I have mixed feelings on this one. I liked the writing, but it's probably one you'd need to check out for yourself and decide if the style works for you. Luckily O'Connor has an excerpt available on her website.

http://raspberry-latte.blogspot.com/2007/06/bitch-posse-by-martha-oconnor.html… (mais)