Lisa GlattRezensionen

The Short of It:

Super flawed characters, an engaging story and a nudist camp. This will probably be one of my faves for the year.

The Rest of It:

From Indiebound:

"Seven-year-old Hannah Teller is on her way to school when she’s hit by a car. Martin Kettle—just out of high school, still drunk from the night before—is the driver who injures Hannah and leaves her by the side of the road. Glatt follows the intertwined lives of these two characters as they deal with the accident’s aftermath."

Martin’s guilt over the accident leads him to Hannah’s bedside at the hospital. There, he leaves her secret presents, inquires about her progress and realizes that he’s changed her life forever but decides not to come forward. Instead, he moves far away and attempts to get his life in order, never really getting past the actions of that fateful day.

Hannah’s family is supportive, but her mother and father are on the brink of divorce and the added burden of caring for a crippled child just adds to their stress. Endlessly hopeful, her parents do their best for Hannah, but ultimately their marriage ends leaving Hannah to deal with visitations, new significant others and the nudist lifestyle that her step-father encourages.

Yes folks, nudist lifestyle. You read that right. This was such an interesting addition to the story and although it did make for some awkward moments, I couldn’t help but think that in some way, it mirrored the awkwardness and disappointment Hannah had over her own body. Realizing that she may never walk again, Hannah’s perception of what others think of her plays a huge role in who she is and the idea of being naked, in front of all those people is too much for her.

The story spans many years and alternates between different characters but it all comes together beautifully. It was meaningful, sometimes funny, other times very deep. All of these characters have their quirks and for some, deep running faults, but you can relate to all of them which is not something that happens too often.

I haven’t seen many reviews of The Nakeds which surprises me because it’s really quite good. I hope you pick it up.

For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter.

The Nakeds has a lot going on: nudism, alcoholism, open marriages, blended families, immigration, recovery, teenage exploration. But Lisa Glatt navigates her many themes without the use of tricks or fanfare—all she needs is great writing. I found myself devouring pages, even when the plot felt a little tangled or slightly unrealistic, which made The Nakeds an absolutely perfect book for really losing myself on vacation.

Why don't I have enough budget to buy all the cute beginning chapter girl series out there? Why? Why? Well, at least I can put Abigail Iris on the top of my wishlist and hope money will be left in the budget at the end of the year....

Abigail Iris knows exactly what she wants for her half-birthday; an adorable kitten from the adoption group at the farmer's market. When she gets her wish, everything seems to be working out perfectly....but then things go wrong.

I haven't read the first Abigail Iris story (although it's now on my to read list!) but what set this story apart from the other little girl series is the strong realism of the story and sweet character of Abigail Iris. She's not a perfect little girl; she squabbles with her siblings and is whiny and selfish on occasion. Her family is realistic and warm; they have financial difficulties, arguments, and her parents' divorce isn't the picture-perfect glossy story I see so often in beginning chapter books. But Abigail is knows when she's being unreasonable and selfish and makes an effort to fix things that have gone wrong. Her family is warm and caring and works through their problems together.

Verdict: Joy Allen's charming black and white illustrations bring to life this story about friendship, family, and growing up. Hand this one to kids who are comfortable with chapter books (its length and vocabulary put it a little above a beginning chapter book) and to fans of Clementine and Kennemore's Alice.

ISBN: 978-0802786579; Published March 2010 by Walker; ARC provided by the publisher at ALA

Abigail Iris: The One and Only by Lisa Glatt and Suzanne Greenberg is the 2011 winner of the Bank Street Children's Books of the Year.

Abigail Iris is the story of an 8 yr old girl with many siblings and 3 best friends. All of her best friends are only children. Abigail Iris is invited on a vacation with one of her best friends to San Francisco, where she can go to Chinatown, have breakfast in bed, and have chocolate milkshakes for breakfast. All without her older siblings around! She soon realizes that maybe having a set of parents all to yourself isn't all it's cracked up to be.

This is an awesome start to a series about a charming young lady, similar to Judy Bloom. It touches on some important life lessons- like being thankful for your family and appreciating what you have. There was some subtle jokes in it that would go over a child's head, but still make for fun reading for parents. An example can be seen as they drive into the city and see a pink station wagon decorated with high heels and tiaras, and the parents say "Well, would you look at that. We are definitely heading into San Francisco."
The illustrations By Joy Allen were captivating and portrayed the story's emotions well.

Abigail Iris wants a pet. How does she break this news to her parents? She tells them her "half-birthday" is coming up and that is what she wants. When she and her mother visit the farmer's market they stop at the animal rescue booth. This is where Abigail Iris finds her kitten. Now all she has to do is convince her mother and father to let her have it. When this wish comes true she faces a new problem. What to do with her new pet when her sister has an allergic reaction to it. This was a cute a fun book. This book is all abut changes. She watches her brother change when he gets a girlfriend, she watches her best friends change, especially when one of them is getting a new baby brother. Simple, cute and a quick easy read.

Read review at:
http://letitread.blogspot.com/2010/03/book-review-lisa-glatt-girl-becomes.html

" A girl becomes a comma like that, with wrong boy after wrong boy, she becomes a pause, something quick before the real thing." Its so true. This is a story about the struggles that women go through everyday, but Lisa Glatt found a way to make it funny. It's serious and hilarious at the same time. I bought this book because the title intrigued me and it didn't hurt that it was on the bargain shelf for $2. Its been years since I read it and it still stays in my top 3 favorite books. I think every woman should read it just once.

Great for grades 2-4. Illustrations drawn with color pencils. Teaches kids good character. This book tells abot the life of Abigail.

This is a book that shows how vulnerable women are who are in emotional pain. Their sexuality is used as a cessation of the pain and an understanding of their places in life. The men they encounter are a means to an achievable end - they are not promiscuous, but trying to find a way to end the pain. Perhaps this is universally true and certainly worth examination. Rachel is a very moving character with the intelligence to know how self-destructive her behavior is and yet she is unable to stop it since it is a fleetiong anesthetic to the pain she endures anticipating her mother's death. Her mother's belief in breast reconstruction is indicative of her strength in the face of adversity. I am impressed by the way these characters are woven into the plot, and I found myself caring about all of them.

This book was a good read. It took me a few days to get through it but I enjoyed it. It is about a woman who has a mother who is dying of breast cancer. It has a lot of side characters who get their own sections of the story but Rachel, the main character was the most interesting. I didn't really think the other characters added too much to the story, especially with Angela, the best friend of Rachel who was a very minor character. But I liked the way this book was written.

I also found this book somewhat hard to follow as the author jumped around between the interconnecting stories. As a book about relationships it did a pretty good job.½

I loved Lisa's book A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That. I thought it was amazing, and this one was just as good. I love her writing style. Her writing style is very gritty and realistic, and I can really get into her stories because of it. It's hard to explain. "The Apple's Bruise" is a book of short stories, but with these stories, you're pretty much dropped right in the middle of these people's lives, their discussions, their arguments, their problems, and that's it. That's all you get. You don't get to see the beginning or the end, which makes many of them rather disturbing.

Amazing read. I LOVED this book. The only other book I read last year that I loved in the manner I love this one was The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing. I'm really weird about books that are supposedly an accurate potrayal of what it's like to be a female. I find that usually the women are written as characters I just can't relate to. I understand not every woman's life was/is as screwed up as mine is/was, especially with regards to sex and relationships with men, but I always appreciate books that show the side of women that's not all shopping and cute boys and hair and nails. I appreciate the ones that are real, and I definitely think this one was that. But this book is not about sex. It's about something much deeper than that. I think it's more about trying to fill a void.

This book mainly focuses on the stories of 3 women - Ella Bloom, Georgia and Rachel Spark. It's told in a series of short stories. I really liked how in the beginning of this book, you make these snap little judgements about the characters. You think you know them. They could be any average jane you meet out on the street and judge based on what little you see of them or what little or lot they choose to show to you. But as the book progresses, each character is broken down and more and more of who they are and how they got to the places their characters started out at in the beginning of the book is revealed. I think the book did a really good job at dissecting each character in a simple, real and relatable way. I also loved the way each story intertwined. It was interesting how alike these women were and how they entered and exited each other's lives, sometimes on a daily basis, and didn't even know it or realize it. Their stories intertwined beautifully.

The book did depress me though. Only because it reminded me so much of myself. ESPECIALLY as a teenager. Overall, amazing read. I subtracted a star though because of the time jumps. The book is broken up into short stories about 3 different women, but each woman's story intertwines with the rest AND the book moves backwards in time which makes things hard to understand at first. It took me a while to get everything sorted out and in the end I understood what the purpose of that was, but it was still confusing. Also towards the end, they never really touched on Ella Bloom's character again and that bugged me. I had really wanted to know what happened with her and her husband. But there really is no closure for any of the characters and you never get to find out what becomes of any of these women which can be bothersome, but I liked that.