Review of Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

Girls in Trucks
By Katie Crouch


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 Thoughts:


This was a pretty good book. I won't be saving it for the re-read shelf though. The author has a unique style of writing that just didn't flow naturally for me. The book is told from the point of view of Sarah Walters, but she does this in a story-telling manner, and so some of the stories overlap. There is some back and forth, and some stories don't completely wrap up. There are huge chunks of time that we don't get to hear about, and there are events that don't really resolve, we just have to make assumptions about how they turned out.


It wasn't so confusing that I couldn't follow it, but it wasn't always easy to string together. Some of the segments are told from a different point of view, but only a few. It turns out that one of these segments was published separately as a short story. Perhaps the other was initially intended as a short piece too? It just seemed forced to me to include them in this book as part of the otherwise first person narrative.


There are plenty of entertaining anecdotes, and some real southern ambiance. The novel is set in Charleston, SC and since I'm from the Upstate I'm pretty familiar with that area. I enjoyed the reading with that respect. As best I can tell it's set in the early 90s. It was fun and entertaining. There is a small town feel to the whole thing. Everyone knows everyone and even if you only barely met a character in the first 15 pages, you remember then when they are mentioned later on.


It was a light-hearted, quick read. It's perfect for a vacation read, and especially enjoyable for someone from the southern states! 3 cup rating!

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

In the summer of 1977, Victoria Leonard’s world changes forever when Caitlin Somers chooses her as a friend. Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomes Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha’s Vineyard, an enchanting place where the two friends become “summer sisters.”

Now, years later, Vix is working in New York City. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their long, complicated friendship has faded. But Caitlin begs Vix to come to her wedding, to be her maid of honor. And Vix knows that she will go—because Vix wants to understand what happened during that last shattering summer. And, after all these years, she needs to know why her best friend—her summer sister—still has the power to break her heart.

- Synopsis from Goodreads

I loved this book, it was a story that I was all too familiar with. The story-line is frustrating, because you just want to shake Vix for putting up with Caitlin, because no one needs a friend who is so wrapped up in themselves that they aren't being a friend.


Of course I understood her dilemma. How do you cut off a friend who at one point meant so much to you? Coming back for this wedding Vix is looking for answers, because even with all the time that has passed and the space between them, it's still Caitlin, the girl who was her very best friend.


Judy Blume does a good job of portraying the dynamics of this unbalanced friendship. For the person who can relate to having a friendship that you know is unhealthy, and yet you can't bring yourself to turn your back on the person, this book will really speak to you. For others who don't understand that dynamic it will be a frustrating story-line with characters that you may not like very well.


In any event, the book was well written and I enjoyed it. 4 out of 5 cups.

The Help by Katherine Stockett

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

- Synopsis from Goodreads

I loved this book. I'd heard people talking about how good it was, and as soon as I saw the trailer for the movie I knew I had to read the book first. I'm so glad I did. I look forward to the movie, but I'm already anticipating the changes. 

The characters were so well developed each with their own voice and own way of thinking. It was beautifully written and so honest. I loved that this was easily a story that could be true. The complexities of life-long friendships with people that don't always agree was perfectly portrayed between Skeeter and her friends. 

I love that the end of the book allows you to imagine the ways in which this book likely continued to shape the lives of the women who wrote it. I don't want to spoil anything for someone who hasn't read it yet, but you will love these women.

Katherine Stockett did a wonderful job with this novel. I give it 5 out of 5 cups.