Release Date: April 7, 2009
Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Source: Purchased
From Goodreads: Sarah Walters, the narrator of GIRLS IN TRUCKS, is a reluctant Camellia Society debutante. She has always felt ill-fitted to the rococo ways of Southern womanhood and family, and is anxious to shake the bonds of her youth. Still, she follows the traditional path laid out for her. This is Charleston, and in this beautiful, dark, segregated town, established rules and manners mean everything.
But as Sarah grows older, she finds that her Camellia lessons fail her, particularly as she goes to college, moves North, and navigates love and life in New York. There, Sarah and her group of displaced deb sisters try to define themselves within the realities of modern life. Heartbreak, addiction, disappointing jobs and death fail to live up to the hazy, happy future promised to them by their Camellia mothers and sisters.
When some unexpected bumps in the road--an unplanned birth, a family death--lead Sarah back home, she's forced to take another long look at the fading empire of her youth. It takes a strange turn of events to finally ground Sarah enough to make some serious choices. And only then does she realize that as much as she tried to deny it, where she comes from will always affect where she ends up. The motto of her girlhood cotillion society, "Once a Camellia, always a Camellia," may turn out to have more wisdom and pull to it than she ever could have guessed.
My review: I wanted a down home Southern fiction story…and this book was sort of like that – at least for a few chapters here and there. This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the story; just that it wasn’t what I expected. Sarah and her group of Camellia Society girls were raised in the South, but then they are dispersed leading us on a wondering, rambling story of finding adulthood and maturity.
The characters were real – they had unspoken pains and hidden problems – but the text rambled along without a lot of depth on the side characters. I went along for the ride, finally enjoying the story as Sarah ended up back in Savannah. I finally found my Southern fiction story, complete with social gatherings and deeply shocking revelations. This is a decent story, just don’t go in expecting a lot of the South on each page and you should enjoy it.
I really like Katie Crouch. I think I read this one of hers, but I can't remember. (lol) It's odd when you think you are going to read something and then you are like, "What?"
ReplyDeleteI love that cover! Too bad it wasn't all you were expecting it to be although it sounds pretty good!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed this even though it wasn't exactly what you were expecting.
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