chicks review:
Joy School

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Joy School Elizabeth Berg PB list price: $11.95 Ballantine Books (April 1998) ISBN: 0345423097 208 pages average review: Reviews: This gets: a from ryan: Coming of age story about a girl and her first love, making friends and living with a single father. I loved it, but wished it didn't end so soon-I wanted to know what happened to her as she grew up and became a woman… From the back cover: In this exquisite new novel by bestselling writer Elizabeth Berg, a young woman falls in love -- and learns how sorrow can lead to an understanding of joy. Katie, the narrator, has relocated to Missouri with her distant, occasionally abusive father, and she feels very much alone: her much-loved mother is dead; her new school is unaccepting of her; and her only friends fall far short of being ideal companions. When she accidentally falls through the ice while skating, she meets Jimmy. He is handsome, far older than she, and married, but she is entranced. As their relationship unfolds, so too does Katie's awareness of the pain and intensity first love can bring. Beautifully written in Berg's irresistible voice, Joy School portrays the soaring happiness of real love, the deep despair one can feel when it goes unrequited, and the stubbornness of hope that will not let us let go. Here also is recognition that love can come in many forms and offer many different things. Joy School illuminates, too, how the things that hurt the most can sometimes teach us the lessons that really matter. eryka.com scale: So good you just can't stand it. Almost that good. Sort of good. Generally a waste of time. Destined for the recycler. If you'd like to review this book, or another, click here similar books: women writers | american fiction Go home | Go to reviews home © 2002 eryka.com. All rights reserved.