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A Ticket to Ride
Remember that girl? The one who was impossibly cool, who taught you how to blow smoke rings, cut school, sneak out of the house? Remember how you turned yourself inside out trying to be just like her--and then she broke your heart?
Set in the long, hot summer of 1973, Paula McLain's lyrical debut novel explores what happens when an insecure, motherless teenager falls under the dangerous spell of "that girl"--her older cousin Fawn. Fawn's worldly ways are mesmerizing to Jamie, who submits to a makeover--both inside and out--to win Fawn's approval. But over the course of a summer wrecked with tragedy and loss, Jamie learns that Fawn will use anything and anyone to further her own motives. When a local girl goes missing, Jamie realizes how dangerous Fawn truly is, and recognizes, too late, her own complicity in the disaster that unfolds around them.
Paula McLain's poignant debut is a compelling family portrait that explores the darker sides of love and loyalty.
Set in the long, hot summer of 1973, Paula McLain's lyrical debut novel explores what happens when an insecure, motherless teenager falls under the dangerous spell of "that girl"--her older cousin Fawn. Fawn's worldly ways are mesmerizing to Jamie, who submits to a makeover--both inside and out--to win Fawn's approval. But over the course of a summer wrecked with tragedy and loss, Jamie learns that Fawn will use anything and anyone to further her own motives. When a local girl goes missing, Jamie realizes how dangerous Fawn truly is, and recognizes, too late, her own complicity in the disaster that unfolds around them.
Paula McLain's poignant debut is a compelling family portrait that explores the darker sides of love and loyalty.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 8, 2008
141 people are currently reading
2666 people want to read
About the author
Paula McLain
28 books5,968 followersPaula McLain is the author of the New York Times and internationally bestselling novels, The Paris Wife, Circling the Sun and Love and Ruin. Her latest instant bestseller is, When the Stars Go Dark. Her forthcoming novel is Skylark, on shelves 1/6/26. She received an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan in 1996, and is also the author of two collections of poetry, the memoir Like Family: Growing Up in Other People's Houses, and the debut novel, A Ticket to Ride. Her work has has appeared in The New York Times, Real Simple, Town & Country, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping, and elsewhere. She lives with her family in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
July 16, 2022
This is Paula McLain's first work. It only 250 pages, and its reviews have been pretty standard threes. It's beautifully written, and the story itself is painful. Its a coming of age story, where a motherless 15 year old falls under the entrancement of a 16 year old cousin, who is every ounce of trouble and danger. When Fawn comes to stay with them, after having blown up her and others lives in another place, she quickly sets her sights on young Jamie. The story is about that fateful summer, and all the consequences of when trouble comes to town, and a 15 year old is entranced by her cousin. But for her Uncle Raymond, newly Jamie's foster parent, this is deja vu. Because the book is half about Jamie's mother, Raymond's sister Suzette. Who couldn't make life work either. I'm left with a sad feeling. Because even though there is still and always a chance for Jamie to somehow start over, the consequences of that summer remain. She had to grow up quickly, and and move from girl to young woman in a heartbeat. The saving grace of the painful content, is that Paula Maclain's writing is absolutely gorgeously beautiful, and something about the way she writes gives me hope and depth to Jamie. And that is what's needed here. Hope for Jamie to use her experiences for the good.
June 25, 2013
I'm waffling between "I liked it" and "It was Ok". Paula McLain is a superb writer and poet, there is no doubt about that. She wrote one of my favorite books from last year- "The Paris Wife"- and I'm finding it very hard to believe "A Ticket to Ride" is also by the same author. The tone and language in both books is COMPLETELY different.
I found "A Ticket to Ride" too florid and almost overwhelming in its beautiful poetic language for the first half of the novel that I was very close to putting it down for good. I like poetry and I admire incredibly well-written literature, but this novel seemed to scream out "Hey, look at me! I know how to write!" so much that I became annoyed rather than in awe. Towards the second half, however, she lets go of the similes and adverbs and the pace and flow of the story picks up dramatically. Unfortunately, the story never quite gets interesting. I wouldn't say the adventures between Jamie and Fawn are anything we haven't read before: lonely, plain parent-less 15 year old girl living in a small town meets gorgeous long-lost cousin who is "bad news". It's easy to guess that the two hit it off but Jamie is always playing second fiddle to the beautiful Fawn who leads her down a troubled path.
McLain does add a side story revolving around Jamie's uncle Raymond and his relationship with Jamie's absent mother Suzette through a series of flashbacks, but I felt this "B" plot was more of a distraction than anything else. Raymond barely exists in Jamie's present, a detail that drove me nuts, so I wasn't understanding exactly why his story was so relevant to the overall arc. I get that Suzette's dark path mirrors that of Fawn's (and possibly Jamie's), but I would have loved more interaction between Raymond and the girls in the present so that we get a sense of what he is reliving. The character spent most of the novel barely at home and out all night at bars, which doesn't seem terribly realistic when you are harboring a particularly wayward teenager who was just kicked out of her own home. I would think he would want to keep on eye Fawn at the very least, but he doesn't even seem aware the two girls sneak out every evening! It is interesting to note that the author mentions in an interview at the back of the book that Raymond was her favorite character, but I felt he was the most underdeveloped and "bland" out of everyone. Not to mention the relationship with his sister bordered on creepy and slightly incestuous.
For most of the novel Jamie is simply following Fawn around and wondering to herself how she can love Fawn so much and aspire to be just like her when she really doesn't care for how she treats everyone else (herself included). This continues and repeats itself so often that I wanted to smack Jamie at one point and tell her to get a grip. To her credit, McLain does know something about the loneliness and the yearning behind being a teen orphan- she herself went through a series of foster homes for most of her childhood. But the dourness and hopelessness and fear Jamie feels most of the time becomes a weight the reader carries as well. The entire novel is almost completely devoid of any humor whatsoever. Every character is cloaked in some sort of sadness, or in Fawn's case utter narcissism, and there is virtually no relief. I put down the book at the very end just a little shy of depressed.
If you are a fan of the novel and film "Girl, Interrupted", you may identify with this book as it carries a lot of the same themes and tone. Again, it is an incredibly beautiful book to read if you wanted to study the language, but the overall story wasn't captivating enough for me.
I found "A Ticket to Ride" too florid and almost overwhelming in its beautiful poetic language for the first half of the novel that I was very close to putting it down for good. I like poetry and I admire incredibly well-written literature, but this novel seemed to scream out "Hey, look at me! I know how to write!" so much that I became annoyed rather than in awe. Towards the second half, however, she lets go of the similes and adverbs and the pace and flow of the story picks up dramatically. Unfortunately, the story never quite gets interesting. I wouldn't say the adventures between Jamie and Fawn are anything we haven't read before: lonely, plain parent-less 15 year old girl living in a small town meets gorgeous long-lost cousin who is "bad news". It's easy to guess that the two hit it off but Jamie is always playing second fiddle to the beautiful Fawn who leads her down a troubled path.
McLain does add a side story revolving around Jamie's uncle Raymond and his relationship with Jamie's absent mother Suzette through a series of flashbacks, but I felt this "B" plot was more of a distraction than anything else. Raymond barely exists in Jamie's present, a detail that drove me nuts, so I wasn't understanding exactly why his story was so relevant to the overall arc. I get that Suzette's dark path mirrors that of Fawn's (and possibly Jamie's), but I would have loved more interaction between Raymond and the girls in the present so that we get a sense of what he is reliving. The character spent most of the novel barely at home and out all night at bars, which doesn't seem terribly realistic when you are harboring a particularly wayward teenager who was just kicked out of her own home. I would think he would want to keep on eye Fawn at the very least, but he doesn't even seem aware the two girls sneak out every evening! It is interesting to note that the author mentions in an interview at the back of the book that Raymond was her favorite character, but I felt he was the most underdeveloped and "bland" out of everyone. Not to mention the relationship with his sister bordered on creepy and slightly incestuous.
For most of the novel Jamie is simply following Fawn around and wondering to herself how she can love Fawn so much and aspire to be just like her when she really doesn't care for how she treats everyone else (herself included). This continues and repeats itself so often that I wanted to smack Jamie at one point and tell her to get a grip. To her credit, McLain does know something about the loneliness and the yearning behind being a teen orphan- she herself went through a series of foster homes for most of her childhood. But the dourness and hopelessness and fear Jamie feels most of the time becomes a weight the reader carries as well. The entire novel is almost completely devoid of any humor whatsoever. Every character is cloaked in some sort of sadness, or in Fawn's case utter narcissism, and there is virtually no relief. I put down the book at the very end just a little shy of depressed.
If you are a fan of the novel and film "Girl, Interrupted", you may identify with this book as it carries a lot of the same themes and tone. Again, it is an incredibly beautiful book to read if you wanted to study the language, but the overall story wasn't captivating enough for me.
October 6, 2014
I adored The Paris Wife - the writing was beautiful and the story was riveting. I read this book simply because of the author and maybe that was my first mistake. The story sounded intriguing but admittedly the description has very little detail. I was disappointed. Almost every character is unlikeable and while we read about the past, it bears little importance on the current situation. Fawn is a sociopath and we never really figure out why. She plops in and messes up everything and then flits out of the book. Jamie is a mess, ignored and unloved, desperate for attention and understanding. You can see how someone like Fawn infects her life. But that doesn't mean she's likeable or that I was rooting for her at any point - especially when her friend is killed and she barely seems to care about it. Only pausing to acknowledge that the friend's death is going to affect her social standing at school the next year. We also never really understand Ray or her mother. Both kids were also ignored and unloved and made messes of their lives. It's a lot of surface but you never dig deep into anyone. No one is deep. Why did Ray return to Moline? What does he feel when he sees his niece? No idea. It's a book of terribly vacant people hurting each other and I'm not sure anyone learns anything or changes for the better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2016
I love a coming of age story and one that takes place in the 70's is even better. This author is a great storyteller and even though the story was a little all over the place at first, it quickly became unputtdownable for me. I just loved all the nostalgic stuff too. Definitely darker than I was expecting.
March 9, 2021
I seem to be contrarian lately, disliking what the majority likes and now quite liking a book that is rated lower by most. I have read a few other Paula McLain books and liked them very much. Her books differ from each other in story but her writing is consistently beautiful. This book captured teenagers in the 70’s perfectly, both the incredible freedom they had then as well as the zeitgeist, trying to be tough and cool. The music, the drugs, the clothes, the secret life they had (and still have) that adults are just not part of. The cultural details were spot on, and not just in the song lyric chapter headings. McLain tells us the story of a broken up family, damaged by the deeply troubled and “unsaveable” members. Unsaveable is not a word, but it’s what I mean. These are the people we love who are simply broken, always seeking drama and needing attention, pushing and pulling us, the so called black sheep that we just can’t leave but they rip us all apart when they are around. Despite the family tragedies, there is hope and love.
November 19, 2018
Paula McLain is a marvel. What an incredible treat to read her first novel....so different than THE PARIS WIFE and the others that have made her so prominent, but equally worthy of praise. A TICKET TO RIDE is a poetic, heartfelt coming of age story that will catapult readers back to adolescence. It is filled with intriguing, flawed characters who make bad decisions (didn’t we all?) as they search for who they are, and who they want to be.
July 15, 2021
I have enjoyed several of this author's other novels, but I didn't like this one as well. The time period (the summer of 1973) appealed to me since I graduated from high school that year, but this is a dark version of that time period, with a visiting cousin corrupting her younger cousin. I didn't have any problem with the plotting or writing, I just didn't enjoy the story. But that's OK, I've enjoyed enough of her other stories that I'll continue to follow her.
February 1, 2011
In the long hot summer of 1973, two young teenage girls push the boundaries, hoping to experience whatever it will take to make them cool, sexy, and happy.
For Jamie, the exploration is about a motherless girl searching for approval and acceptance, which is why she is so willing to follow the lead of her cousin Fawn, who has ended up in Moline, Illinois because she is trouble personified. Fawn's version of the events that brought her to Illinois casts her in the most positive light possible. And to Jamie, who has been shunted back and forth between relatives after her mother Suzette took off one day years before, Fawn's behavior may send up red flags, but she is ill-equipped to interpret the signs.
"A Ticket to Ride: A Novel" alternates between Jamie's point of view and her Uncle Raymond's, and as we follow the story arcs of the two characters, the picture fills in and presents the full story. Each chapter is titled with songs from the era, and sometimes, I could almost hear the music lilting in the background.
As the summer draws to a close, these two young girls seeking excitement have stumbled upon a whole world of trouble and tragedy.
As Jamie is trying to sort out and understand what has happened, she and her uncle finally sit down to talk, and in a few moments of soul-searching honesty, Jamie learns the whole saga about her mother and what happened so long ago. Examining the realities of the past and revisiting the moments of one hot summer full of errors in judgment, Jamie will finally begin to discover her place and her identity.
The characters are multilayered, with all the facets of real people trying to make sense of their lives, the choices they've made, and the possibilities that are left for them. Four stars for an insightful story that, while it may not be for everyone, is a relevant coming-of-age tale set during a unique time in history.
For Jamie, the exploration is about a motherless girl searching for approval and acceptance, which is why she is so willing to follow the lead of her cousin Fawn, who has ended up in Moline, Illinois because she is trouble personified. Fawn's version of the events that brought her to Illinois casts her in the most positive light possible. And to Jamie, who has been shunted back and forth between relatives after her mother Suzette took off one day years before, Fawn's behavior may send up red flags, but she is ill-equipped to interpret the signs.
"A Ticket to Ride: A Novel" alternates between Jamie's point of view and her Uncle Raymond's, and as we follow the story arcs of the two characters, the picture fills in and presents the full story. Each chapter is titled with songs from the era, and sometimes, I could almost hear the music lilting in the background.
As the summer draws to a close, these two young girls seeking excitement have stumbled upon a whole world of trouble and tragedy.
As Jamie is trying to sort out and understand what has happened, she and her uncle finally sit down to talk, and in a few moments of soul-searching honesty, Jamie learns the whole saga about her mother and what happened so long ago. Examining the realities of the past and revisiting the moments of one hot summer full of errors in judgment, Jamie will finally begin to discover her place and her identity.
The characters are multilayered, with all the facets of real people trying to make sense of their lives, the choices they've made, and the possibilities that are left for them. Four stars for an insightful story that, while it may not be for everyone, is a relevant coming-of-age tale set during a unique time in history.
November 11, 2008
"It was August. For days it was August."
During the summer of 1973, Jamie and her cousin, Fawn, who has come to stay for the summer, spend their days sunbathing, listening to great music, and getting into trouble. Jamie lives with her uncle, Raymond, and is excited to have someone to spend the long days with. Fawn is older, very manipulative and quite self absorbed. Jamie is only 14 and still not sure about who she is and what is important to her. She is very impressionable, and wants so much to be accepted by Fawn, her much cooler and prettier older cousin. Jamie and Fawn find themselves in a situation that really tests who they are morally and ethically. Will they do the right thing? Meanwhile, Raymond is forced to reflect on his own life, his relationship with his sister, Suzette, and how it came to be that Jamie is living with him and not her own mother.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The author spent a lot of the book building the characters, which I liked because it gave more feeling to the storyline. I loved every character in the book because I am able to relate to all of them in one way or another. Thinking back, I was just like Jamie, confused about who I was and willing to do what I could to be accepted.
I will caution that the language in the book will be offensive to some. There is a lot of talk about drug use and some about sex.
Thank goodness, I am more sure about who I am now, and confident in myself. Those teenage years are the worst, especially while you are trying to figure out who you are
During the summer of 1973, Jamie and her cousin, Fawn, who has come to stay for the summer, spend their days sunbathing, listening to great music, and getting into trouble. Jamie lives with her uncle, Raymond, and is excited to have someone to spend the long days with. Fawn is older, very manipulative and quite self absorbed. Jamie is only 14 and still not sure about who she is and what is important to her. She is very impressionable, and wants so much to be accepted by Fawn, her much cooler and prettier older cousin. Jamie and Fawn find themselves in a situation that really tests who they are morally and ethically. Will they do the right thing? Meanwhile, Raymond is forced to reflect on his own life, his relationship with his sister, Suzette, and how it came to be that Jamie is living with him and not her own mother.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The author spent a lot of the book building the characters, which I liked because it gave more feeling to the storyline. I loved every character in the book because I am able to relate to all of them in one way or another. Thinking back, I was just like Jamie, confused about who I was and willing to do what I could to be accepted.
I will caution that the language in the book will be offensive to some. There is a lot of talk about drug use and some about sex.
Thank goodness, I am more sure about who I am now, and confident in myself. Those teenage years are the worst, especially while you are trying to figure out who you are
February 9, 2014
Jamie is a motherless girl who grows up with her distant uncle. She's a good girl in every sense of the word, until her cousin Fawn shows up. Jamie is eager to please her much more experienced cousin that she will do anything to impress her. As Jamie changes more and more from the nice person she once was, Fawn entices her to sneak out with her to Chicago.
It is here that Jamie and Fawn go too far, getting involved in a rape, a faked kidnapping, and eventually one of their friends ends up missing.
This was a pleasant surprise for me. It was a sale-priced Kindle book (which usually suck), and I actually thought about giving this 4 stars. This is a haunting, unsettling book about what can happen when childhoods are ruined and children act out.
It is here that Jamie and Fawn go too far, getting involved in a rape, a faked kidnapping, and eventually one of their friends ends up missing.
This was a pleasant surprise for me. It was a sale-priced Kindle book (which usually suck), and I actually thought about giving this 4 stars. This is a haunting, unsettling book about what can happen when childhoods are ruined and children act out.
January 15, 2016
Take a Megan Abbott book, pop it in a time machine back to the 1970s, and A Ticket to Ride is what you'd get.
I was hesitant about this one because this isn't a time period or subject that interests me at all, but I loved Paula McLain's other novels so much that I got desperate to get my hands on anything she'd written.
This definitely feels like a first novel when compared to the outstanding The Paris Wife and the very respectable Circling the Sun. It feels too personal but not relatable. Still, you can see McLain's signature lyrical prose here.
In all, this is a well-executed book, even if the subject matter isn't exactly anything new or unique. Had I even I whit of interest in the time period, I probably would have enjoyed this one a lot more.
I was hesitant about this one because this isn't a time period or subject that interests me at all, but I loved Paula McLain's other novels so much that I got desperate to get my hands on anything she'd written.
This definitely feels like a first novel when compared to the outstanding The Paris Wife and the very respectable Circling the Sun. It feels too personal but not relatable. Still, you can see McLain's signature lyrical prose here.
In all, this is a well-executed book, even if the subject matter isn't exactly anything new or unique. Had I even I whit of interest in the time period, I probably would have enjoyed this one a lot more.
March 1, 2010
When I first started reading this book I thought about abandoning it, which I do not do very often with books. I thought it was another typical coming of age story but it ended up, in the end, very nearly taking my breath away. I fell in love with the characters, Jamie, Claudia, Collin and even Fawn. And Paula McLain wrote it beautifully, I felt everything Jamie was feeling and the imagery that she used was just wonderful. In the end I was definitely shocked by this book, I loved it. It will forever be a favorite.
August 31, 2015
McLain is one of my favorite authors with a personal history (growing up in foster homes) as interesting as her poems and novels. This story takes place during a long, hot Illinois summer in 1973. An insecure, motherless 15yr old girl falls under the dangerous spell of her older and more worldly female cousin. A coming of age story with all the urgency of adolescence that can easily turn into tragedy. The teen girls are written heartbreakingly real. Since I graduated high school in 1973, I had the advantage of going down memory lane in this well written and vivid portrait of those times.
May 2, 2018
I completely loved Paula McLain's first novel! A Ticket to Ride is very different from her two historical fiction novels, but is still so gripping, well-plotted, and marked with the beautiful style and excellent characterization that I've come to expect from this author.
A Ticket to Ride is a less sprawling, more focused novel than McLain's other novels. The setting, amount of characters, and length of time the plot covers are fewer and shorter than The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun, which made for very interesting reading. Though this is a darker story about a lonely, unloved girl, somehow I still found Jaimie and Raymond's story hopeful.
When is Paula McLain going to release a fourth novel??
A Ticket to Ride is a less sprawling, more focused novel than McLain's other novels. The setting, amount of characters, and length of time the plot covers are fewer and shorter than The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun, which made for very interesting reading. Though this is a darker story about a lonely, unloved girl, somehow I still found Jaimie and Raymond's story hopeful.
When is Paula McLain going to release a fourth novel??
January 13, 2020
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 This is the third book I’ve read of McLain’s. I like her writing style, it makes me feel like I’m in her stories somehow. A Ticket to Ride was a quick read for me. It’s a story about a 15 year old who’s had a hard life. Her mother abandoned her when she was a baby and she was raised by her grandma until she suffered a stroke. The book starts with her living with her uncle in a new town. She makes a lot of bad decisions in her attempt to be accepted by her ‘cool’ cousin who comes to stay with them. Towards the end she starts to figure out who she is and the kind of person she wants to be.
July 20, 2017
One off my to-read shelf. A darker story than I expected it was just ok.
January 12, 2011
Family drama
I think that this is one of the most entertaining books to read and it has in my opinion one of the best writing styles I have ever come across I really made a conection with the main charecter Jamie and how she was quite but then she met Fawn when she moved in with them because she was too muc of a hand full for her own parents and the suspenseful moments as you gradualy watch Jamie become more and more attached to fawn eventhough she knows that she is bad and how she is ruining her self to be something that is horrible and seeing how she overcomes it in the end
I think that this is one of the most entertaining books to read and it has in my opinion one of the best writing styles I have ever come across I really made a conection with the main charecter Jamie and how she was quite but then she met Fawn when she moved in with them because she was too muc of a hand full for her own parents and the suspenseful moments as you gradualy watch Jamie become more and more attached to fawn eventhough she knows that she is bad and how she is ruining her self to be something that is horrible and seeing how she overcomes it in the end
May 21, 2014
Nothing new here
I can hardly believe that this is the same author who wrote the brilliant "The Paris Wife". I couldn't even get past the first half of "A Ticket to Ride" as the flip style really put me off. Haven't we all read this somewhere before : shallow, precocious teens getting into trouble ? Readers of that age group might enjoy this book and identify with the characters but as an adult reader I expected much better of Paula McLain.
I can hardly believe that this is the same author who wrote the brilliant "The Paris Wife". I couldn't even get past the first half of "A Ticket to Ride" as the flip style really put me off. Haven't we all read this somewhere before : shallow, precocious teens getting into trouble ? Readers of that age group might enjoy this book and identify with the characters but as an adult reader I expected much better of Paula McLain.
April 20, 2021
Having recently said Paul McLain is one of my favorite writers, I had to write this not very nice review. I read A Ticket to Ride immediately after I finished Circling the Sun because I wanted more McLain.
Writers, like everyone else, must learn their craft. This may have been McLain's first novel. It shows. I wouldn't bother with this review had I not steered folks to McLain. That guidance remains unchanged BUT, it does not include this book. It is mediocre in my opinion.
Writers, like everyone else, must learn their craft. This may have been McLain's first novel. It shows. I wouldn't bother with this review had I not steered folks to McLain. That guidance remains unchanged BUT, it does not include this book. It is mediocre in my opinion.
January 10, 2012
Anyone who ever spent a summer listening to the radio, working on her tan, and learning about boys and life with that not-so-good-for-you friend that you just can't stay away from will be able to relive it vividly with McLain's prose. This was the perfect beach read for me~ a few ticks higher on the literary scale than the chick-lit that usually permeates the beach chair set.
July 10, 2014
This story strikes me on more of a personal level as a result of the era and region of the United States where the story is set.
A distinctive style of writing is equally attractive that shows an already well developed writer that in her more recent work has really emerged.
Another 'goodread'.
A distinctive style of writing is equally attractive that shows an already well developed writer that in her more recent work has really emerged.
Another 'goodread'.
September 2, 2012
Beautiful prose, propelling story.
An evocative start: "It was August. For years it was August."
And an equally profound (near)end line: "Was there anything sadder than starting your life?"
Paula McLain is also a poet. I can't wait to read her poems.
An evocative start: "It was August. For years it was August."
And an equally profound (near)end line: "Was there anything sadder than starting your life?"
Paula McLain is also a poet. I can't wait to read her poems.
June 28, 2012
loved. her language is beautiful and the way she describes ordinary scenes made me want to keep reading well past bedtime. highly recommend, in no small part because anyone can relate to feeling out of place and wanting to fit in with the cool kids.
January 19, 2017
This book was engaging and had lots of tension. I thought she nailed living as a teenager in the early 70s (or late 60s) in the summer. I loved how she used songs from those years as her chapter titles. It was very different from the Paris Wife or Circling the Sun.
February 22, 2018
See Book Riot :)
February 15, 2014
This was a quick read. The book started off slow but ended quickly. I never really felt connected with the charters. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I was a teenager.
January 4, 2024
Mclain's A Ticket to Ride remains a difficult book for me to recommend. Not because it isn't well written, cohesive, thoughtful, and even somewhat provocative, but because it is a realistic portrayal of an unfortunately suffocating period of life we've all lived through: adolescence.
The main protagonist, Jamie, is a meek leftover of a 15 year old. Her mother is a faint whisper in the dark that no one, not even her uncle, will ever speak to her about. It has been her and him in Moline, Ohio, for a long time, but now it is the summer before high school and Jamie finds herself spending it with someone unexpected. Fawn, her older cousin. Jamie is instantly drawn to her magnetic and disruptive personality. Everyone wants to be with Fawn or actually be her. The more Jamie falls into step with Fawn's demanding expectations and personality, the more she begins to lose herself. It isn't until a tragedy strikes one late Chicago summer night that Jamie has to come to terms with who Fawn really is, and who that's made Jamie become.
I'll be honest, I was hoping for a different ending to this book, but I can see exactly where McLain wanted to take it. This is a story about the pain that comes with unflinching love. It is about the importance of learning self respect and the struggle it sometimes is to acquire. It's an entirely human experience to be young and scared and doubtful of yourself and, in that, Jamie is a character that I think we can all relate to. Her fatal flaw is that she refuses to be with herself and instead uses Fawn as the solution to her crippling inability to love herself. She centers Fawn in her universe and pays the consequences most heavily.
A topic I also heavily enjoyed in the book was the trials and tribulations that come with loving someone flawed. Fawn, for instance, is stagnant in her behavior throughout the book. All she cares about is her appearance and being wanted by others. She comes and leaves as she pleases, sneaking out from Jamie's without any hesitation. She surrounds herself with men who only want her for her body. Even when someone gets hurt in one of the meet ups she has with these men, there is no remorse. "Shit happens" she says. Throughout the book, Fawn refuses to take responsibility for her actions. And to be clear, I think that she's portrayed exactly as she should be and Jamie's love for her is all the more painful and real for it. What are we to do when we feel complete by someone who loves us so coldly? Even when we are rejected by the one person we have stood by steadfastly, what can we do when nothing will change?
TLDR; If you're looking for a book that is brutally honest, poetic in its approach, and contemplative in its nature, I definitely recommend A Ticket to Ride. However, if you're looking for a heroine that isn't weak and is courageous when she needs to be, this is not the book or the theme for you.
The main protagonist, Jamie, is a meek leftover of a 15 year old. Her mother is a faint whisper in the dark that no one, not even her uncle, will ever speak to her about. It has been her and him in Moline, Ohio, for a long time, but now it is the summer before high school and Jamie finds herself spending it with someone unexpected. Fawn, her older cousin. Jamie is instantly drawn to her magnetic and disruptive personality. Everyone wants to be with Fawn or actually be her. The more Jamie falls into step with Fawn's demanding expectations and personality, the more she begins to lose herself. It isn't until a tragedy strikes one late Chicago summer night that Jamie has to come to terms with who Fawn really is, and who that's made Jamie become.
I'll be honest, I was hoping for a different ending to this book, but I can see exactly where McLain wanted to take it. This is a story about the pain that comes with unflinching love. It is about the importance of learning self respect and the struggle it sometimes is to acquire. It's an entirely human experience to be young and scared and doubtful of yourself and, in that, Jamie is a character that I think we can all relate to. Her fatal flaw is that she refuses to be with herself and instead uses Fawn as the solution to her crippling inability to love herself. She centers Fawn in her universe and pays the consequences most heavily.
A topic I also heavily enjoyed in the book was the trials and tribulations that come with loving someone flawed. Fawn, for instance, is stagnant in her behavior throughout the book. All she cares about is her appearance and being wanted by others. She comes and leaves as she pleases, sneaking out from Jamie's without any hesitation. She surrounds herself with men who only want her for her body. Even when someone gets hurt in one of the meet ups she has with these men, there is no remorse. "Shit happens" she says. Throughout the book, Fawn refuses to take responsibility for her actions. And to be clear, I think that she's portrayed exactly as she should be and Jamie's love for her is all the more painful and real for it. What are we to do when we feel complete by someone who loves us so coldly? Even when we are rejected by the one person we have stood by steadfastly, what can we do when nothing will change?
TLDR; If you're looking for a book that is brutally honest, poetic in its approach, and contemplative in its nature, I definitely recommend A Ticket to Ride. However, if you're looking for a heroine that isn't weak and is courageous when she needs to be, this is not the book or the theme for you.
September 3, 2021
I read "A Ticket to Ride" right after reading McLain's first book and memoir, "Like Family." I would not recommend doing this unless you like reading about preteen and teenage nonsense and insecurity as well as runaway mothers. But once I got past that, I loved the poetry in the initial pages of the novel and while I have a personal dislike for main characters who do totally stupid things, the "stupid thing" of this novel is what propels it to a climax and slaps the main character upside the head with real life.
Many have called this a coming-of-age novel, and it may be, though it is not clear to me whether Jamie, the girl who tells this story, grows enough. She was already a better person than her cousin before her cousin led her down the wrong path, but she was insecure and vulnerable, and the book left her little better off in the end.
The novel switches back and forth between Jamie's summer with her cousin and the story of her Uncle Raymond and Jamie's mother, Suzette. Though some readers have disliked this part of the novel, there are far more lessons and insights into families in these chapters. (Note: each chapter of the book has a title that is a phrase from a pop song from the 1970s--very creative and sets the tone.)
I liked the book in the end. It's a story I don't think I will forget soon, even though it may seem common--teen rebellion and all that. The novel was first published in 2008, three years before The Paris Wife, which explains the change in style and subject. McLain only recently went back to teen issues with her When the Stars go Dark.
Many have called this a coming-of-age novel, and it may be, though it is not clear to me whether Jamie, the girl who tells this story, grows enough. She was already a better person than her cousin before her cousin led her down the wrong path, but she was insecure and vulnerable, and the book left her little better off in the end.
The novel switches back and forth between Jamie's summer with her cousin and the story of her Uncle Raymond and Jamie's mother, Suzette. Though some readers have disliked this part of the novel, there are far more lessons and insights into families in these chapters. (Note: each chapter of the book has a title that is a phrase from a pop song from the 1970s--very creative and sets the tone.)
I liked the book in the end. It's a story I don't think I will forget soon, even though it may seem common--teen rebellion and all that. The novel was first published in 2008, three years before The Paris Wife, which explains the change in style and subject. McLain only recently went back to teen issues with her When the Stars go Dark.
April 5, 2019
Jamie is your typical teenager whose life is turned upside down when her wild and irresponsible cousin Fawn comes to visit in the summer of 1973.
What a beautiful novel. This was sitting in my To Be Read pile for over a year, and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. Jamie is an introverted, innocent girl of 15 when her cousin Fawn comes to stay with her for the summer (banished from her home, she says, because of an affair with her drama teacher.) Fawn is beautiful and self-assured, and Jamie wants only to be as cool as her cousin. She lets herself become Fawn's summer project, cutting her hair and following her lead in beauty tutorials; she sneaks out of the house with Fawn every night, smokes, drinks, takes up with the 'bad kids' that hang out at the local park. One bad decision leads to another, and the end result is a tragedy.
The characters are rooted in such a strong sense of reality, and I think that's because the timeframe is so perfectly written. I did not grow up in the 70s but I could SEE that 70s landscape in my mind, which is particularly impressive considering there is not a cliché or trope in sight. Jamie, Fawn and their friends just feel like real people – maybe someone you've known, or seen in the high school hallway, or aspired to be – and that's because they're both such perfect products of their time while being equally accessible as high-school-timeless.
What a beautiful novel. This was sitting in my To Be Read pile for over a year, and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. Jamie is an introverted, innocent girl of 15 when her cousin Fawn comes to stay with her for the summer (banished from her home, she says, because of an affair with her drama teacher.) Fawn is beautiful and self-assured, and Jamie wants only to be as cool as her cousin. She lets herself become Fawn's summer project, cutting her hair and following her lead in beauty tutorials; she sneaks out of the house with Fawn every night, smokes, drinks, takes up with the 'bad kids' that hang out at the local park. One bad decision leads to another, and the end result is a tragedy.
The characters are rooted in such a strong sense of reality, and I think that's because the timeframe is so perfectly written. I did not grow up in the 70s but I could SEE that 70s landscape in my mind, which is particularly impressive considering there is not a cliché or trope in sight. Jamie, Fawn and their friends just feel like real people – maybe someone you've known, or seen in the high school hallway, or aspired to be – and that's because they're both such perfect products of their time while being equally accessible as high-school-timeless.
April 22, 2024
After reading Paula McLain's "The Paris Wife," I dove right into "A Ticket to Ride."
This book grabbed me by the collar, on page one, and didn't let go. This is not just a "coming of age" story. It's the tale of three teenage girls who grapple with family pain, loss, and struggles with self identity. They're on a quest to gain attention (particularly from boys...some who are years older) and explore the illusive magic of love.
Set in 1973, fifteen-year-old Jamie travels to Illinois to spend the summer with her uncle, Raymond. There she meets up with her worldly and more sophisticated second cousin Fawn, who's already sixteen. Beyond being Jamie's cousin, Fawn is her idol, and she looks up to her for acceptance and guidance.
"I can't explain it properly," Jamie says, "except to say that something in Fawn made me right again. With her I wasn't the tragic girl who kept her asthma inhaler in her lunch box, who read too much and spent too much time alone and was sad all the time. I was pretty. I had things to say--smart, funny things. Boys followed me with their eyes when I walked by on the street, whether they wanted to or not. Everything was infinitely possible, ordained, even, as long as summer lasted, as long as Fawn was with me."
There's smoking, drinking, and messing around with older boys. Then, something really tragic happens, which will change these girls forever.
This one is a real page-turner.
This book grabbed me by the collar, on page one, and didn't let go. This is not just a "coming of age" story. It's the tale of three teenage girls who grapple with family pain, loss, and struggles with self identity. They're on a quest to gain attention (particularly from boys...some who are years older) and explore the illusive magic of love.
Set in 1973, fifteen-year-old Jamie travels to Illinois to spend the summer with her uncle, Raymond. There she meets up with her worldly and more sophisticated second cousin Fawn, who's already sixteen. Beyond being Jamie's cousin, Fawn is her idol, and she looks up to her for acceptance and guidance.
"I can't explain it properly," Jamie says, "except to say that something in Fawn made me right again. With her I wasn't the tragic girl who kept her asthma inhaler in her lunch box, who read too much and spent too much time alone and was sad all the time. I was pretty. I had things to say--smart, funny things. Boys followed me with their eyes when I walked by on the street, whether they wanted to or not. Everything was infinitely possible, ordained, even, as long as summer lasted, as long as Fawn was with me."
There's smoking, drinking, and messing around with older boys. Then, something really tragic happens, which will change these girls forever.
This one is a real page-turner.
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