Hilary Thayer Hamann'sAnthropology of an American Girl: A Novel [Deckle Edge] (Hardcover)

by Hilary Thayer Hamann

Self-published in 2003, Hilary Thayer Hamann’s Anthropology of an American Girl touched a nerve among readers, who identified with the sexual and intellectual awakening of its heroine, a young woman on the brink of adulthood.  A moving depiction of the transformative power of first love, Hamann’s first novel follows Eveline Auerbach from her high school years in East Hampton, New York, in the 1970s through her early adulthood in the moneyed, high-pressured Manhattan of the 1980s. 

Centering on Evie’s fragile relationship with her family and her thwarted love affair with Harrison Rourke, a professional boxer, the novel is both a love story and an exploration of the difficulty of finding one’s place in the world.  As Evie surrenders to the dazzling emotional highs of love and the crippling loneliness of heartbreak, she strives to reconcile her identity with the constraints that all relationships—whether those familial or romantic, uplifting to the spirit or quietly detrimental—inherently place on us. Though she stumbles and strains against social conventions, Evie remains a strong yet sensitive observer of the world around her, often finding beauty and meaning in unexpected places. 

Newly edited and revised since its original publication, Anthropology of an American Girl is an extraordinary piece of writing, original in its vision and thrilling in its execution.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult, Coming Of Age, Contemporary, Romance, Literary Fiction, Ebooks

Hardcover

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whew! I'm glad that's over.

Anthropology of an American Girl is...long. Often boring. Overwrought. Underedited. Peppered with unrealistic and unlikeable people, as well as people one would have liked to get to know better if our narrator, the passive and weak Eveline, could have stopped obssessing about herself for more than 30 seconds. Disappointingly cliched. And, occassionally, rather beautiful. But I won't read it again and there are very, very few people I would recommend it to without a twinge of guilt. I skimmed pages at a time and even skipped some sections (the recounting of Eveline's various dreams---soooo tedious.) The problem is, all sorts of things happen, but Eveline remains exactly the same. Her usual reaction to any stress seems to be either unemotionally fainting or lapsing into a coma. That may have worked for 18th century heroines but it fails utterly in this account of the life of a 20th century American girl. This book is really just a trite, thinly-plotted romance novel masquerading as a Work of Great Literature. I sound like I hated it---I didn't. As I've previously stated, there were moments of true brilliance and incredible beauty, but they were hidden amongst the pages and pages of angst-ridden, long-winded melodrama.

[hannaH · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so utterly disappointing. As a twenty-something university student, I was hoping this book would "get" me; for example, a review excerpt from the Columbia Spectator on the back cover reads "What 'Catcher in the Rye' did for high school youths troubled by the onslaught of adulthood... 'Anthropology of an American Girl' does for college women struggling to reconcile their dreams with reality... poignantly devastating because it is your life... a modern 'Jane Eyre'..." ... Um... yeah right!

The whole book is weighed down with Eveline's angst and focuses ENTIRELY on her relationships with men- the man (her ex-drama teacher) who she fell in love with as a high school student; Mark, her partner, who is abusive; and Jack, her high school boyfriend who becomes a junkie. It seems as though Eveline can't actually exist without some sort of male drama to bounce off. Eveline is also one of the most blase narrators I've ever read; she doesn't seem to have any interest in her own life, so why should we care?

Plus, the whole book is written so confusingly, and while there are some beautiful passages, the whole thing is just too wordy and convoluted which makes it impossible to follow.

As soon as I finished reading it, I threw it down and said "... well, that was a complete waste of time." I can't remember the last time I've had such high hopes for a book, but have ultimately been let down.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I had the first edition of AAG on my bookshelf for almost 2 years but kept putting off reading it because of its size so when I won an advance copy of the new edition I was thrilled. I am so glad that I finally got around to reading this amazing story. I loved this novel and it will remain on my bookshelf forever as a favorite.

H.T. Hamann's writing is fluid and precise. On several occasions I marked quotes and passages because they are so insightful and written so beautifully. Sometimes I felt like I was reading thoughts that I have had but just could never articulate them for myself, much less trap them into words and onto paper the way that Hamann has masterfully done. Some readers might argue that it takes too many pages to get to the point but I disagree. This book is not as focused on developing a plot as it is about Eveline's experience. That much is clear just by reading the title. To understand her we have to see the world through her eyes and hear her thoughts. But there is also a compelling story, even if its appears only here and there, it is one that is interesting as well as clever.

*spoilers below this point*

I adored the characters, their quirks and I liked how their stories interweave with Evie's story (Rob in particular).

When Elizabeth spoke at the funeral, I cried.

Also, I can't understand why Rourke left after that summer and even why he left again- if their love was so strong. Why was Eveline was so painfully introspective and sensitive that she was paralyzed to do anything about it, even though the rest of the book is about that journey to get back to that place? I think I just don't get it because guess that's just because Evie and I are different types of people. But I am thrilled to have met her & shared her story.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose this book isn't for everyone (I can see some getting impatient with it, though I never did) and it might not be perfect (though I think it comes close), but I loved it. The author has such beautiful and unique and insightful ways of describing emotions and feelings; I don't think I've ever marked so many passages in a book before. It's one of those books I never wanted to put down, as I felt addicted to the characters and their world. It took me longer to read than it should've as I neared the end, and I think it's because I wasn't ready for it to end.

It certainly added to my reading pleasure that Eveline, the main character, went through high school and college only one year after I did. But much, much more than that pleasure was the pleasure of basking in the voice the author created for this young woman. As she struggles through her metamorphosis from girl to woman, Eveline is brave and unflinching as she looks at herself -- something that is hard to do in real life and something that fiction like this can help us do.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think the people who are raving about this book are completely wrong. I find it sophomoric, badly edited, and trite. It's a lot of teenage angst without any of the universal themes to relate to. The object of the main character's affection is a controlling, sexist, angry man. The main character has no self-esteem and no pride in her abilities or interest in developing them. She appears written as a foil for the male characters around her. This book could have been one quarter of the length if it had been edited to remove some of the ridiculous hyperbole and metaphors. It also often fails to transition the reader properly. It was originally self published, so that explains a lot.

I wrote the above before I was finished, and now that I am finished, I still think the above. Don't bother with this book, but if you must, I'll send it to you.

[Rachael Hewison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m somewhat baffled by the positive reviews this book has received. I really did not enjoy it in the slightest.
My main issue was that the entire book seemed to be about the love between Evie and Rourke except I didn’t really buy into their love. From my point of view they barely talked or touched and I just couldn’t understand how she could describe herself as his soulmate when they hadn’t exchanged a word.
I felt nothing towards any of the characters, particularly Evie, Rourke and Rob. I couldn’t see at all how so many of these men could think that they loved her. From what I could gather, she rarely talked or even smiled and only ever seemed to do what she was told. There were never instances of her saying ‘shall we go out to dinner tonight’. She merely followed what everyone else was doing so for me she never grew up or become independent. The only characters I vaguely liked were Evie’s parents who she put down a lot.
The structure felt all over the place, with her leaping back and forth in time with the sections not flowing easily. The author also used extremely long, needless descriptions. Even if she was just getting something from the kitchen, she seems to describe every sight, smell and sound, which just dragged the story out and was overly annoying. I also felt like the book was lacking a direction or a point and ended up just going round in a big circle.
An extremely difficult and lifeless book that I would not read again.

[Vika · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book for free through Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
Ok so this book is VERY confusing!! I have a feeling it's going to take me a long time to finish it! (I'm only on page 66/out of 606) and I just figured out who's mom died and who has/had cancer and who Jack is.. lol. For now I'm giving it 2 stars, because i'm not enjoying reading this. :( ...that much. But i will finish it, i promise! no matter how long it'll take me.
Ok.. now that i'm done with this book, I guess it would deserve 2 1/2 stars.. because there really were some beautifully written passages, but there were also way too many boring, pointless chapters in this book.. It confused me when she'd go back in her memory in mid-sentence, and couple paragraphs later would come back to finish her thought... And it was annoying how every single 'guy' friend she had was in love with her.. and she was in love with them all too... (personally I don't think she knows what love truly is.)Overall I think the characters were very UNbelievable..
I'm just glad that it's over!

[christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just spent two-plus weeks marinating in a slow vacation-style paced read of "Anthropology of an American girl," by Hilary Thayer Hamann, and I think the readjustment period to normal life is going to be a bit shaky. So far it has been like yawning awake after an amazing dream. Looking around groggily and wondering, Huh. When did summer get here?

My God, this novel is intense and brilliant, so beautiful. Words I usually reserve for Haruki Murakami. This is the best thing I have read in years, filled with the best sentences I've ever read.

It starts with lazy days in Southhampton, the proverbial calm before the storm. Eveline and her best friend Kate are in those in-between teen years where they have the resources to get stoned at the beach, but bike home in a girlish lanky-limbed way. Evie is an artist, open and curious, living with her free spirit, socially conscious mother in a shack by the railroad tracks. Kate is into theater, just discovering what it means to be pretty. Her mother, a wise French woman, first is dying, then will die leaving both girls without their main source of maternal comfort. Kate moves in with Evie, the beginning of the dissolution of the girls' relationship.

Evie's boyfriend Jack is a wanderer, a philosopher, a trouble-maker according to his father -- whom he has tried to kill. A nonconformist, a musician searching for authenticity. And they have this incredible relationship like they are linked by a virtual umbilical chord. When Evie makes anonymous tracks in the snow in a parking lot, Jack knows that she made them. While ripping apart his bedroom in a manic fit, he finds a card addressed to a woman named Eveline beneath the carpeting, left decades earlier. Like a postcard from the universe. They speak to each other in paragraphs about things like impulses, and whether acting on them is a feral character flaw. Between them, every gesture has deep meaning. Everything is real thinky.

And so, when something chemical happens between Evie and the substitute drama teacher Harrison Rourke -- on first impact -- Jack senses it before Evie can even define it. Kate flounces around with a very public crush on the teacher who is directing the school play, and for Evie things are in a slow burn beneath the surface. Though they have barely spoken, every time Evie runs into Roarke there is this physical reaction involving gazes and brushes and touching.

Time out: At a time when good old-fashioned longing has become the Play-Doh Fun Factory of Stephenie Meyer, Hamann handles it in such a deep and real way. These characters aren't wearing metaphorical chastity belts. They are plodding through a life beneath a heavy, heavy blanket of reality. Where wanting something, and needing something, are so beautiful just for the sake of ripping someone to life and making them feel something and everything.

Finally, in a dramatic moment that outdoes the greatest of bodice-rippers, they are able to be together. They spend the summer in Montauk, with the knowledge that there is an end-point. Evie will be going off to NYU at the end of the summer; the ever-mysterious Roarke has plans, too. But briefly they are naked and happy, drinking and in the sun. Friends and parties and free to finally knead at each other moan.

Then it ends. Evie in a dorm room, broken with loss. Roarke God-knows where. She is taken in by the posse he left behind: Rob, who is Roarke's lifelong wingman and fiercely loyal, unquestionably in love with Evie, charged with watching out for her; Mark, a big time gamer with unlimited cash, who nurses her back to health after she miscarries the summer love-child. Evie gets into a relationship with Mark, a sort of oppressive character who keeps her in cars and money, the freedom to make her art ... while understanding that he will never fully have her soul. He is fine with that, and considers possessing her to be a great big "fuck you" to his rival Roarke.

Of course there are hiccups. Occasional Roarke sightings that open old wounds, and insight into his demons. Turns out he's a boxer, and pretty good at it, too. Evie coasts along barely playing the role of a human being.

There are four things about this novel that I am overlooking in favor of the incredible experience of reading it: 1. It is 600 pages long, which is too long for this story. Can I think of anything I would cut? Nope. Would I want anyone to monkey with the way it has been written? Nuh-uh. (It was originally self-published by Hamann, then picked up by a major publishing company that had their way with it already). 2. At times, the nonlinear parts get boggy. 3. It made me think a lot about the difference between "overwrought" and true genuine emotion bared freely. I'm not convinced that someone else, maybe even me in another time or place, would read it and snort like a skeptic. 4. Deep into the book I read something that indicated this story is semi-autobiographical, which taints it a bit. Thinking that this really happened makes me lean more toward "overwrought" than "genuine emotion bared freely," which is counter-intuitive, I know.

Regardless, I stand by my belief that this is a stunning book filled with so much smart, so much great phrasing, intense imagery, and a beautiful story. Go. Read now.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that I'm glad I waited until I was finished with this novel to review it. It started slowly and continued painfully at a snail's pace throughout. Relatively speaking, there is very little dialogue in this book; it is more or less 400 pages of our protagonist's internal monologue. It's the typical story of a young woman who is adored by every man who enters her life. My issue with this is simply that I could not identify with these men at all. I felt like I was given no logical reason why anyone would even want to have a conversation with Eveline, let alone pine for her. On the other hand, the same can be said about the desirability of her suitors: the author simply presents Eveline's attraction to each one as fact, but gives her readers no insight as to what truly draws her to them. I admit that, because this novel was so introspective, the reason for the lack of explanation could simply be that Evie herself did not know... But I was still left feeling no true affinity for any of the men, even Harrison or Jack. Evaline told the readers that she loved them, and I accepted that, but I couldn't begin to feel it myself.

I greatly enjoyed the story of this novel, and I'm ultimately happy I stuck with it. I found myself needing to know how it would end, even if I didn't really care what happened. Like others have said, though, this book is unnecessarily long and rife with similes. It seems that the author spent a significant amount more time with a thesaurus in front of her, trying to choose the most poetic and pretentious word, instead of simply telling a lovely story. This novel would benefit from whole chunks being pared down, as mundane details did less to create a vivid picture than to simply lose or confuse the reader.

For a book of this length (especially one with so little external dialogue), the reader should have a better understanding of the central characters. I leave this book still thinking about its story, but with no attachment to the characters I spent so much time with. The language was beautiful, but its beauty came at the expense of full character development. I know every detail of every room in each scene of this novel, but I have no idea why Eveline did the things she did.

[Cathrine]

Hamann's beautifully languid writing in this book was what lured me in, and in the end it was her writing that made me put it down two-thirds of the way through. The way she was able to turn every detached, physical description into some deep, philosophical notion was at first enjoyable and stimulating. But after 400 pages of it over and over, I feel like I'm stumbling around a smoke-filled room with my arms out trying to find something concrete to lean on.

I'm to the point where I just want to smack the main character, Eveline, until she tells me what is really going on around her and what she feels about it. Instead, she's looking up at the ceiling observing how the sunlight is filtering through the crystal prisms hanging from the chandelier, and how the separated waves of color remind her of the separate pieces of herself that were once whole. Ugh!!! I'm done with you, Eveline. I'm just going to assume that the last 200 pages are more of the same and I'm going to move on to some paperback beach read while my head clears.

[Eve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. After a lot of skimming, groaning, and perseverance I finished this book. I was really looking forward to this one, given all of the rave reviews, and am scratching my head now trying to figure out what the hell just happened. First, the good stuff: the book is compulsively readable for the first several hundred pages. After that, it becomes compulsively skimmable.

At 600 pages, it’s hard to believe that the entire plot involves the details of our miserable heroine’s passive and angst-ridden journey through three relationships (one in high-school, one in college, and one post-college). Towards the beginning of the book, Evie is painted as an independent, thoughtful, tortured outcast (by choice), which I think may be the impetus for comparisons to Holden Caulfield? The problem is that this character does not develop – at all. She wallows in her angst over the break-up of a relationship with a (surprise!) tortured, artistic man, Rourke. Although we never get shown any reason for their transcendent connection, we are told repeatedly that theirs is a deep, tortured, predestined love. Take this passage as an illustration of Evie’s typical response to his presence in the room: “My stomach felt weak to see him again, the fullness of his shoulders, the gesture of his body. When I neared, he looked over, turning because he knew to turn, because of messages sent between the sex of us… I felt my skin assume the burden of the sunrise… and when I stepped, my foot touched down with the beneficence of angels” (p. 276). This isn’t a quote taken out of context; every page – nay, paragraph – is swollen with overwrought metaphors and pseudo-philosophical musings. It’s like writing bad poetry in high school or painting your room black and agonizing over how misunderstood you are – don’t we all go through that, to some degree?

Okay then, if that’s the case, it could be argued that this book brilliantly captures the melodramatic essence of the transition from adolescence to young-adulthood. I could buy this if the author seemed to have any perspective on this at all. Instead, the book shares the same flaws as the heroine: melodrama, self-indulgent angst, and overwrought metaphors are mistaken for substance and depth. In reality, Evie seems like a caricature, and an unlikeable one, at that. She is described as irresistible to all men, with her tragic eyes and waif-like appearance. It is mentioned throughout the book that she does not eat and people are constantly expressing concern over her “skin-and-bones” appearance and her pale, translucent skin. Of course, this only makes the men in the book (ALL of them, seemingly!) want to rescue her from herself all the more! And the beauty of it is, she lets them! As far as I could tell, she never actually does anything in the entire book besides bounce from man to man, talking about how tortured she is along the way (if I’m over-using the word in this review, it’s only because the sentiment is so over-used in the book). Take this description of Rourke’s eyes as Evie sits next to him briefly before a school play: “His eyes were black; it was true. Eyes can be called black, but I didn’t think eyes could actually be black. Rourke’s were a reverberant black, a blackness of conviction, as if they had forfeited subordinate hues by decision, as if they were that way by will. They were the eyes of someone who reads the world in terms of opposition. And yet there was light. I could see where they were susceptible. I could see blind pools where the light hit and bounced back. Then, quick as it came, the light was gone, replaced by a cataract of grave insights” (p. 187).

Um, okay. Fine if the character is going to take herself and her vague, overblown sentiments so seriously … but can the reader really be expected to do the same? I know people will disagree with my review of this book, and that’s okay; I actually didn’t hate it or dislike it as much as this review might suggest. I was ultimately so frustrated with both the heroine and the author and the solipsistic nature of it all that “compulsive readability” just couldn’t begin to redeem the book.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through the First Reads program. I was shocked to find that it's more than 600 pages; a book has to be amazing to keep me reading for that long! It took me about a week, but I finished it and really enjoyed it. I must say, the first 200 or so pages were a tad rough getting through, but after that, I was disappointed to have to put the book down and sleep.

This book is poetic, philosophical, and real. It depicts the reality of the transformation of life a girl goes through when leaving high school to begin college and the next chapter in her life. It is a novel about finding oneself - finding strength, and courage, and all of the obstacles that life puts in the way. It is a book about love...finding and losing our first and our true love. A book about the compromises we make in life and how they impact us. It is a book about searching and struggling to find oneself and a refusal to compromise when it comes to love and life.

The one thing that drove me a little crazy was that I could not picture the main character, Eveline. While reading a book, especially a 600+ page novel, it was tough not seeing her face in my mind's eye while reading. This may have been intentional on the part of the author - a way of keeping Eveline suspicious while she searched to find herself. However, I felt I'd be remiss not to mention that it did slightly bother me.

All-in-all, a must-read!

[Emma Bolden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm way behind on Goodreads, mostly because of this book. I couldn't decided what to say about it. I'm still not sure what to say about it. I wanted to love it. Like, beyond loving it. For the most part, I did. But for the other part ... Well, this book reminded me of what Janet Burroway says about proofs, about how you have to provide enough concrete, specific details to make things believable. I'm not sure Hamann did that. Everyone is completely fascinated by Eveline, obsessively so -- I mean, EVERYONE is in love with her. The problem is, I couldn't fall in love with her. Nor could I figure out why everyone else was in love with her, obsessively so, to the point where she couldn't even, at one point, eat in the cafeteria without having men stop to obsessively love her. I think the main problem is that Eveline very rarely speaks. She very rarely interacts with these people who obsessively love her, so it's hard to see, well, why. It's also pretty clear that this is a vaguely veiled autobiography, which made me even grumpier on that score. That being said, there are passages in this book that are breathtaking -- I just wish the editor had a stronger hand with it.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really a 2.5, but I'm not feeling charitable enough to round up. I think that the NPR review, which compared this book to Twilight and the main character to Bella, got it right. It set itself up in the beginning as an intellectual/philosophical exploration into the mind of "an american girl" and I kept waiting for the payoff. Other than the extreme narcissism of the main character, there was nothing remotely anthropological, intellectually stimulating or even interesting here.

If I were to make a movie based on this book, the movie would consist of the protagonist blankly staring at herself in the mirror for four hours while she narrated her story in a voice-over. The mirror would stand in as an obvious metaphor for her passivity in the events of her life and remind the reader that an active internal soliloquy is not a proxy for living. But, my take away and my "interpretation" of the book is probably not the one intended by the author.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

“I was an American girl; I possessed what our culture valued most — independence and blind courage.”

I had heard good reviews about this book, and there was no waiting list for the eBook version of it, so I downloaded away and started in. And then paused, confused. This didn’t seem at all to be a work of great literature, but rather a long-winded and rambling narrative of a rather self-absorbed teen. Well, I thought to myself, this is about an American girl, and not the Pleasant Company brand either. And plodded onward. Somewhere around page two hundred eighty, I started wondering who exactly would enjoy this particular brand of teenage egotism and angst, but forced myself to finish in the hopes that it would have some sort of reward at the end. Still, by the time I got to the last page, six hundred sixteen, I was more than happy to part ways with Eveline. This novel starts out with a fairly ordinary girl growing up in the ’80s, chronicling her on-and-off best friendship with Kate, the traumas of school, her relationship with her boyfriend Jack. But after the first few hundred pages, I lost interest and drifted through the rest. I’m not quite sure who would be more likely to enjoy this novel, but I know that I only finished it because I hate to leave books unfinished.

[Emily Kobler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing coming of age story and a fascinating look at the life of a disenfranchised young woman growing up in the years following the civil rights and women's liberation movements. The main character in the book, Evie, is independent, smart, creative and modern and this book follows her turbulent and often misguided quest for something like happiness. Set in the late '70s and early '80s, Evie grows up with an imperfect but loving mother, she and her friends feel entitled to their freedom and creativity.

The story - though it's from a single and not always sound point of view - subtly shows how women's lib complicated gender roles and the sociological changes that followed in the coming decades. There is an honesty in this book that in itself is liberating. Evie is opened up, strewn apart, and sewn back up (metaphorically) and we are not spared any of the gory details. The reader is certainly not manipulated into liking Evie, but I was wrapped up in all of the characters, and when Evie begins to live like a martyr, it truly showed how complicated and different men and women are, and the sacrifices and compromises we make.

One of the reviews compared it to a young woman's 'Catcher in the Rye'. While I scoffed at the cliche, after putting down the book I agreed completely. I've never read another book from a woman's point of view that so timelessly and eloquently describes growing up as a 'liberated' young woman. The loss of innocence and the realization of the power of a woman's sexuality are universal, and Evie's tendency to objectify herself first, so that she feels that she is giving of herself as a commodity and holding the power, she refuses to be a victim.

The story can be a bit wordy, and just like the main character, I felt fickle while reading it, especially about Evie; but in the end it's her flaws, naivety and questionable decision-making that make her unforgettable. She is at once a fragile young woman, and a survivor with unimaginable strength. She compromises herself without forgetting who she truly is, and though her pain is palpable, she perfectly describes the detachment of depression - and how she built walls to protect her heart, a seed of hope and a sense of self that keeps her going.

It's a fairly long book, but her prose drew me in and I couldn't put it down. I found myself constantly comparing the plot and characters to my own experiences and those of loved ones. The writer has a beautiful vocabulary, and uses it without coming off as pretentious. Also, the wispy and detached young lady in the story, just as a best friend would do, at times infuriated me, but I never stopped wanting Evie to come out on top, to be with the one she loved, to triumph over her demons. She will always be beautifully flawed, but as a reader I would have been devastated had she succumbed in the end.

This book is probably a favorite of mine in part because I am an American girl, and what Hilary Thayer Hamann describes is also my anthropology. It reminded me of another favorite - She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, though the two heroines couldn't have been more different, their inner torment broke my heart and their will to live and to fight and to love inspired me. I related to both stories half the time. The difference being that the other half of the time I felt shame reading She's Come Undone, and the other half of the time I read Evie's story, I felt indignant. And I liked it.

More importantly, this book made me feel connected to all women; both in my personal life and the ones I'll never meet, the ones who fought for my right to an opinion and a voice. It made me think about the changes, and repercussions, that women have experienced over the last 40 years. It was never preachy though, Evie was silenced by her pride, but the author let us in to the depths of her struggles. This book will stick with me forever.

[Farrah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. Maybe the most overwritten book I've ever read. It's like a striving college sophomore took some speed and wrote for four days straight and thought they were super awesome. I am baffled by ANY positive reviews of this book. It was such a slog through total nonsense. Every paragraph had to have like 17 descriptive words or four metaphors to the point that you couldn't even make sense of what you were reading. Just truly some of the dumbest writing I've ever read. I keep comparing it to Under the Dome - not because they are at all similar - but just because I finished it recently and this was a marked contrast, emphasizing it even more what a masterful and clean writer and developer of characters Stephen King is though some might call him "genre fiction" and call this piece of junk "literary fiction." I understand that this book was initially self-published. Guess what - it shows! Can I give you an example? The main character's 16 year old boyfriend says this to her:

"Don't you see? Orgasm is secondary to intimacy. True bliss comes from the union of soul to soul. If you are driven strictly by the will to copulate, you are no more than a beast - unrefined, spiritually bankrupt, devoid of the capacity for distinction. You are feral."

Huh?????? What sixteen year old boy would actually say this nonsense? That sounds like the 45 year old woman who's writing it.

Here's another gem:
"His eyes were black; it was true. Eyes can be called black, but I didn't think eyes could actually be black. Rourke's were a reverberant black, a blackness of conviction, as if they had forfeited subordinate hues by decision, as they were that way by will. They were the eyes of someone who reads the worlds in terms of opposition. And yet there was light. I could see where they were susceptible. I could see blind pools where the light hit and bounced back. Then, quick as it came, the light was gone, replaced by a cataract of grave insights."

COME. ON. That is just garbage and totally nonsensical. The entire book was that way. I got through 1/3 of the over 600 pages and just couldn't deal with it anymore.

[Erica-Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Henry James and Margaret Attwood could have a literary child, it might be Hilary Thayer Hamann. Evoking James’ Portrait of a Lady or Daisy Miller, and Atwood’s Surfacing, Hamann’s debut novel Anthropology of an American Girl poetically, and brutally, follows the seemingly ordinary but at once riveting life of narrator and protagonist Evaline with obsessive detail and powerful insight. It is a modern coming-of-age epic which brings to light this complex and artistic young woman, and it is very much (as the promotion for the book reads) “not for girls.” Hamman’s examination of moral character, and the intimate relationships through which power is exercised well or badly, is the centerpiece around which the mesmerizing, though at times terrifyingly commonplace, plot revolves. Eveline’s voice is almost impossibly and authentically observant, resonant and driven; her nuanced phrasing and painstaking scrutiny propelling the reader through thickly-woven vignettes of memory and experience, consciousness and perception; through the loss of love, the degradation of violence, and, in the end, the essence of hope through the human universal need for connection.

[Bonnie G. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sprung up on my Amazon recommendations based on several books I read and loved, so I figured I would give it a whirl. I am so glad I opted to get this from the library rather than paying. I can't think of a single good thing to say about the book. The prose is clunky, the main character is like a every protaganist in every 1970's afterschool special rolled into a single girl. For the record, I grew up in the same era, and spent my young adulthood in NYC with a moneyed, artistic and adventurous crowd, and I had a bit of the drama queen about me. Fair number of paralells there, and I found Evie cold, totally unrelatable, and worst of all unbeleiveably boring. I have seen this book compared to 'Catcher in the Rye", and I am shocked and bewildered by that. Evie is no Holden Caufield. Avoid this one and go read "Catcher in the Rye", or "Youth in America", or (the underated) "Someday this Pain Will be Useful to You". Seriously, St. Elmo's Fire has more insight.

[Angela Juline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Torture! I knew I should have stayed away from this book...25 hours of my life I will not get back (audio). Incredibly surprising this book got published by a first time author. It was literally painful...not the story but the fact that it NEVER seemed to end. I wanted to scream out of frustration so many times, because I thought for sure there is no way she can continue to belabor the same point. The author indulged herself too much...where was the editing??? Actually, I do think the story was re-worked and published as a revised edition. Yikes! How much worse could it have been?

[Andye.Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right from the start, it must be said: This book is a brick. Not just a brick but pretty much brick in every sense of a way a book could be a brick. For starters, I am pretty sure these 600 pages could be used to hold open a door or be plastered into your wall to give it strength. My copy fell into the bathtub and still survived, instead just adding another inch of strength to its massive form.

Yet, it's a brick between the covers too. It has moderate violence, heavy profanity, very heavy sexual content, and also includes drugs, underage drinking, smoking, and suicide.

But don’t throw out the Anthropology of an American Girl just yet. It was really good. In fact, maybe even a potential classic. There is no way I would categorize this book as young adult, not just because of its “heavy” content, but really just because I don’t think its intended audience is teenagers. This book explores the soul- your own soul. Which is really heavy.

I studied anthropology in college, which in essence, the study of what it means to be human. One of the main things cultural anthropologists do is hang out with a group of people to write these weird books called ethnologies about them. Anthropology tries to capture a particular group’s way of doing, thinking . . . everything. In essence, Anthropology of an American Girl is just that, it is a study of what it is like to be a girl in America. In fact, its even be more about a girl moving to adulthood, something similar to a coming of age story, but one we can relate to long after we have “come of age.”

The book begins with melancholy, sixteen-year-old, artistic Eveline in high school. She has a girly BF, a rebellious philosopher of a boyfriend, and not the best family situation. I actually almost quit reading this book multiple times at the beginning. It was tedious with no real plot yet, but I guess if you are going to write a 600 page book, you have the right to set the scene with the first 200 of them. I think the author still had a purpose in this. Mainly because it is showing Evie’s metamorphosis, but also so we could really get to know Evie. And probably as intended, reading it made me feel like I was her and I was in high school again.

But then the book gets good, as a plot unfolds around when she graduates high school, and the book sticks with Eveline until just past the end of her college. The rest of the book has to do with the desire for love and the heartache love and pain can bring. Its hard to say more than that without ruining it for you, which is why other reviews only go that far. But I will try to offer a little more, by saying there are at least three guys in love with Evie, her being in love with only the one, she was led off by another, with these two plotting to have her as their own. And its also about boxing, the New England beach, New York City, art, the upper class, music, partying, home, relationships, God, psychology and philosophy. Which is to say, a lot. The book moves back and forth throughout time, which made it much more like a mystery the reader had to figure out. Unlike other stories, this one is melancholy enough that I couldn’t actually guess the ending. In fact, if you asked me what I would want the ending to look like in the middle of the book, It would be different than what I was hoping the ending would be in the last few chapters. Which is to say, it is not dead.

Here is a little more description on the content of the book, which I mentioned earlier: Yes, there is a lot of bad stuff in this book. Thankfully, though, it is not glorified as I think I would be disgusted if it was. I think there could be a lot less profanity while still maintaining “the integrity” of the book’s meaning. Yet, for the most part, the drinking, drug-use, and smoking in the book was referred to matter-of-factly. Although the characters in the book used different types of drugs, the end of the book strongly focuses on the way drugs destroy.

Although the sex content is very heavy, sex is more purposeful than not purposeful in this book. By that I mean there are not really descriptive sex scenes written solely just to seduce the readers attention. It shows sex as a very desirable thing, yet also as a very negative thing, but it is always pre-marital sex. More realistically, this book does encompass consequences of teen sex, such as pregnancy. Even more importantly, it spends a large amount of time exploring the effect it can have on the soul- extreme internal brokenness. Rape, “mean sex” (we never really know what, but that is just fine with me), miscarriage, a homosexual friend, extreme partying, death, suicide, and fighting also come up in the book.

If I had a teenager would I let them read this book? Probably not. But if I did, I would read it at the same time with them and probably not until they were going to leave home. I would want to be available to talk with my teen, to help them be prepared for what life can be like from a positive environment. I’d read it with them if I thought they were going to stumble upon all the “life” this book covers, so they through wouldn’t have to figure out by themselves. Still, I will strongly caution parents to use great discretion letting an older teen read it, let alone younger teens. In reality, I would be surprised if this book would actually interest most teens, anyway.

Altogether I would rate this book a three out of six. I myself loved it, but I don’t think its for everyone. I liked it so much that I was totally depressed when I finished it because I felt so close to the characters. But maybe that was because the book took so long to read that these characters were my only friends *wink*. I even cried at different parts and had to process some of the ideas it brought up in my journal! Pathetic, I know. But, it has a lot of heavy content, it is very long and tedious, and I have no doubt some people would just hate it regardless. This book is more of an art, wording experiences and feelings we have lived, than it is just a good story. If one doesn’t appreciate this type of art in the first place, the this book will be lost to them. Yet for me, I will probably shelf this brick with the classics.

-Elisa (guest post)

[Summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, after many weekends (well, maybe only three) spent devoted to reading this book, I have finally finished reading Anthropology of an American Girl. And I am exhausted. Not in that exhilarating, that-book-was-awesome kind of way, but more of a this-book-was-600-pages-long kind of way and everything that comes along with that. (Books that big are heavy - take note when trying to tote it around with you.)

Anthropology of an American Girl follows an American girl (surprise!) living in the Hamptons as she makes her journey through high school, through college, and a little bit into her career afterward. In a nutshell: she lives a somewhat abnormal life for a teenage girl, which involves very little adult supervision from her mother or father (who are divorced). In high school, she primarily hangs out with a troublemaker boyfriend (who is more misunderstood than actually troublesome), and during her senior year she falls in love with another man who is several years older than she and spends one glorious summer before college living with said man. They break up, she is devastated... and she stays devastated all through college and afterward until the end of the book when she has a sort of "epiphany."

Overall, I'd say this was a good idea in theory but didn't quite make it in practice. Mainly, the book is way too long for such a simple story. The main character, Eveline, is constantly telling us how profoundly meaningless her existence is without the love of her life and how she sort of just floats along through life, and she tells us this in a LOT of words. It is awfully hard to sympathize with someone when you can't even see through all the words into the real story. But apparently breaking up with this guy made her a soulless creature who saw the world through "dead" eyes. If I were one of her friends, I would have recommended some serious therapy if she was really as lifeless and dull as she said she was. But alas, none of her friends come to her aid, and so she continues to tell the reader how profound are her dull moments of inner reflection.

In the end, Evie has her epiphany and manages to snap herself out of the lifeless being she was for so many years. But I don't quite buy that her epiphany was profound enough to merit such a verbose build-up, nor do I believe that she is truly happy again after so much negativity. I won't spoil the ending for you (in case you do decide to read it), but there is not a whole lot here that any (somewhat) normal high school or college girl hasn't experienced in some form or fashion. And yet the author felt the need to use an exorbitant amount of words to describe it.

Reading some of the other reviews of this book, I get the feeling that there are a lot of mixed reviews and emotions for this one. I see some people who were confused by the writing, some who found it philosophical and beautiful, and some who struggled with the negativity "fog." All of these things hit the nail on the head - Hamann indeed writes some very beautiful, descriptive things in her book. I even bookmarked some of them in case they would be useful to me in the future. However, I don't think everything in the story required so much description, and I too experienced the "fog" that made it difficult to follow the story sometimes. The author said a lot without actually saying anything for much of the book. There were many details I missed because I was unable to experience the story the way I would have liked, along with the character, instead of trapped inside her depressed psyche.

I am grateful to the author for having the opportunity to read the pre-release version of this story. I am sad that I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have hoped or as I'm sure the author intended.

Anthropology of an American Girl: A Novel

[Inbal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a major disappointment! I picked it up at a book store cause I liked the title and the reviews on the cover and was really looking forward to reading what I thought would be a cheese free coming of age story. Six pages into it and I realised this is not what I bargained for but decided to go ahead and keep reading in the hopes it would get better.

Good news is it does get better. Bad news is it only gets better around the 300 page mark for about 150-200 pages before regressing back into everything I thought was wrong with it to begin with (which was bearable at page 100 or even 200 but by page 520 I was pretty much ready for it to be over).

Like many other reviewers here I too found the book’s protagonist utterly unrelatable and despite going on endlessly about her feelings of love for the men in her life read more like a Bret Easton Ellis character that’s only going through the motions but is really devoid of all human feelings.

The main problem of the book however was the writer’s incessant need of endlessly describing every useless little thought, gesture and feeling had by her characters, all whilst opting for fancy synonyms when really a simple description could’ve achieved so much more – it’s like, we get it Hilary, you’re a smart girl and you have depth but guess what 16 year old high school girls don’t say or think things like ‘her shoulders floated waifishly within the vigorous circle of my arms’.

** Warning some spoilers included in the following paragraphs **

Despite these endless descriptions of simple human gestures such as breathing, smiling and sitting the writer decided that for some reason (artistic integrity perhaps?) us readers should not be given any insight or made to understand Eveline and Rourke’s love for each other. Even Eveliene herself confesses to not knowing (what I would consider rather crucial) details such as the circumstances in which the father of the love of her life died in, and this little side hobby of his (Rourke’s) involving boxing for a living (and this is the same girl we’re meant to believe ended up on the Dean’s List with a 4.0 grade average). In the absence of any descriptions of conversations or meaningful emotional interactions between the two the only valid reason I found for their heart wrenching love for each other is that they’re both really hot and good in bed.

The timeline of the story was difficult if not impossible to follow and for the most part read like a jumbled, uncut stream of consciousness in which the writer just jumps from one strain of thought to another.

All the male characters in this book read like bad cardboard film clichés: the honest Irish boxer; the New York wise guy with a heart of gold and razor sharp smarts; the sleazy privileged Harvard boy; and my personal favourite, the talented tortured musician with long messy blond hair, piercing blue eyes, a heroin addiction and suicidal tendencies (seriously am I the only one that thinks this reads suspiciously like Kurt Cobain?).

I really wanted to like this book and for certain parts I did and found myself moved by the characters’ lives and trials. You can tell the writer poured her heart and soul into this manuscript but what a shame she couldn’t collate her emotions into a coherent plotline. Bottom line is this book could’ve really benefited from a strong editor - minus 200 pages of dribble and this could’ve been a solid three star read.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A First Reads win!

There are many things I like about Hamann's writing yet there are several things I dislike about this book.

Let's start with the good stuff. Generally speaking, I like the writing. There are some beautiful sentences and Hamann's attention to detail is admirable. One of the strengths of this book is Eveline's idiosyncratic ways...I found her observations about life curious, hilarious, sharp, and wise. I'm glad to read a novel where the main character feels like a unique individual.

However, the book feels too long. Honestly? Around page 300, I started to get antsy--waiting for something to happen, waiting for the heavy fog of negativity to lift. I stuck it out until about page 450 or so, and then read the last 150 quickly, skimming some parts. It's hard to spend so much time reading about unhappy (and, in some cases, unlikable) characters.

But I like Hamann's writing enough to read another book of hers in the future.

[Mojdehp · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was SO long, for no reason except the author must be one of those people who likes to hear herself talk. The main character has no character at all. There is no emotion in any of the events or the words of the character. We're just told what she feels, but I doubt she feels anything. This book would be a lot better if it were about 400 pages shorter. When authors explain all their symbolism and metaphors to you its not only insulting but remarkably boring to read. Can you tell how much I dislike this book?

[mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anthropology Of An American Girl (2003/2010) Hilary Thayer Hamann
The Beauty of Introversion and Neuroticism.

A student in my writing class asked me: “What do you look for when picking out a book to read?” This novel popped into my head. I look for first novels, character driven (usually written in the first person); the title (subject) and then yes, absolutely – I look at the author photo on the jacket. I told the student, a female, that if I thought I would like to go out with the person captured on the jacket (as a dinner partner, not a romantic one necessarily) that that would seal the deal. In addition, I told the student about what a reviewer had wrote about this book. The reviewer, a female, was complaining about the “overwrought writing.” Her husband, she said, took one glance at Hamann’s picture and said, “Well what did you expect? Look at her!” It’s true—the character of a person is stamped on their face. And for me, I would rather sit across from a Neurotic Introvert for interesting conversation than any other personality type. I know they will have insightful observations and opinions. In other words, the talk won’t be boring, if you can get them started (Which I am good at.). I agree with the reviews that echoed the one above. Yes, the novel is too long and the main character, the narrarator, is self-absorbed; but it is a story of an American girl as she recounts her life from seventeen through twenty-two (1979-1984). Moreover, this girl is an artist, intelligent, introverted and neurotic … Tada. Yes, sometimes I would want her to get on with it; and still other times her metaphors and similes, instead of being instructive or clarifying—were confusing. But this is what you get with such a person. You get beautiful insight into life, along with the superfluous.

The beauty of Introversion and Neuroticism. Why do such traits persist in the human DNA? Why did they even evolve in the first place? This novel is the answer. Following are just a few of the gems amidst the muck.
Boys will be boys. We [girls] are expected to stifle the same feelings boys are encouraged to express. We are to gossip as a means of policing ourselves. We are to make false promises, then resist the attentions solicited. Basically we are to become expert liars. (p.28)

“You were wrong to keep it to yourself. You let your shame silence you. It’s exactly what they were counting on. You protected them.” Shame can take your voice away. Maybe I thought that if I kept my humiliation to myself, it would go away faster. (p. 107)

I saw a figure, a man, … never in my life had I seen anything so profoundly extrinsic, so exotic, so mystifying. … He seemed to know me as I knew him; instantly we entered into confidence. He smiled, one swift and contemptuous smile … whoever he was, he was inside—like a bullet, lodged. (p.112)

It was common knowledge that if a girl was assertive in regard to sex, it was because she wanted to keep a boyfriend or steal a boyfriend or act out against her parents and society. Possibly she craved togetherness. (p.117)

Talk is funny; it’s like a volley with no one getting anywhere; it’s better not to bother trying. (p.353)

If privileged is not how I feel, it is how I look, and how I look is how I am viewed, and view is everything. … If I live a life of compromise, it’s a life I’ve chosen. I am wholly responsible. (p. 361)

When you don’t care what a man does, he comes up with new things until you do. … my indifference exposses him for what he is—contemptable in the dark. Perhaps all men fall under the spell of their perversion when given the chance. (p. 365)

I could never settle for anything less than a renegrade and a runaway, a descendant of greatness capable of voluntary disinheritance. Someone who would choose self-governance or death. An American. (p. 395)

If only women had voices. (p. 441)

As the protective net for the self tightens, the net for the others widens. This is how Jack fell through. (p. 530)

“If my relationship with her were any less difficult—if she did not challenge me, if she accepted me too easily, at face value, then she would not be a friend but an acquaintance. Certainly at this level of intensity, one cannot have many friends. This is not a bad thing. Reduced circumstances are a consequence of truthfulness.” (p. 546)

“…once you have been called upon to love this way, once you have proved your capacity, you will be called upon again.” (p.547)

You have to wonder whether an extreme need to please is not just a convenient, socially approved way of encrypting the darker corridors. And if that false face is


accepted by others, it breaks the wearer doubly! The person isn’t known, and the attention they receive isn’t trustworthy. The wearer of the disguise proves what they believe deeply, that people around him are stupid. (p. 555)

The first time I saw you—it was like seeing a river. Something that could be touched but not held. Something there but not there. I never wanted anything so much in my life. (p. 594)

Five stars … writing does not get any better for it is—thinking.

[Rachel Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

To read more reviews check out Reading Rendezvous at: www.missomnimedia.com/tag/reading-ren...


It took me some time to think about how to start this review not for the lack of content or enjoyment but because the topics discussed in this novel are extremely heavy and thought provoking. Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann is strong and endearing. Yet these are only the first words that come to my mind. Do not be put off by the size or the amount of pages, as this novel spans a few years of Eveline Auerbach’s life. Dictated through Eveline’s expressive voice we are led believe that she is battling some form of anorexia amongst a myriad of other things that plague the lives of young adults. We follow Eveline through the ups and downs that adulthood brings, especially in Eveline’s case. From a tumultuous and volatile relationship with men. It becomes evident that Eveline is quite attached to the men in her life going from one man to another.

As we begin the novel she is attached to Jack who is truly infatuated and in love with Eveline, while showing disenchantment with authority depicted during this time. Describing their relationship she said: “For purposes unknown I had been entrusted with the care of his soul, and so it was the vile type of treason for me to have enriched his self-loathing”. Quickly she evolves and falls for Harrison Rourke, their relationship is more than tumultuous – it is destructive and self- abusive- at times even obsessive. Ending the manipulative relationship between Mark and her, not only is the relationship physically abusive but depressive. Eveline is quickly and inexplicably in love with almost every man in her life. Yet as women we might be able to identify with each of Eveline’s relationships. From the extremely volatile to obsessive to abusive we are quickly confronted with the possibility.

At times the literature can be reminiscent of the Twilight novels that dominate teenage literary culture. Evocative of the purely self-destructive manner in which Eveline speaks she says, “When people say time heals, they are wrong. Time simply extinguishes hope.” Eveline Auerbach and Bella Swan certainly have a lot in common ranging from their obsessive nature in men to their self-destructive attitudes. Yet Eveline is so much more than Bella she is prophetic, bratty, dismissive, wise, intelligent, self-deprecating, intelligent, and poetic. Her worldview is suggestive of many disgruntled and disenfranchised youth that was very vociferous during this time period. When considering the opportunity the novel presents it becomes evident that we are educated about so much more then the monotonous life of a young adult.

When considering this new book it was initially not hard for me to connect with yet the language is somewhat verbose and at times evasive. The reader does not fully see the whole picture until the end of the novel. Do not be put off by the evasive language and if you can power through because this novel is certainly worth your time and is profoundly different from anything else of this specific genre. As a reader it becomes possible for us to connect with the piece but also each character you yearn for them simply because you want to belong in their unique group and somehow be the support for Eveline. If I were to suggest that you read one grandiose novel this year I certainly and wholeheartedly support this novel. Specifically for the way it makes you grieve, grow, love, and flourish.

[Sara Strand · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK. I'm nothing if not 100% honest with my readers about everything I write about and my book reviews are no different. I did not finish this book. For me to say that is a huge deal because I finished two books I absolutely hated, including Wuthering Heights and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. But the difference with those books were that I really felt like it'd come around and I'd eventually get it. I didn't, but throughout both books I really felt like it'd come around.

And I've really thought about what it was about this book that couldn't draw me in. And you know what it was? The overuse of adjectives. Basically the entire writing style. For this being a debut novel it's really heavy. I found myself having re-read passages because I might just be stupid, but I didn't get it. The entire story is meant to be written from the point of view of a woman who is recalling her first love and the ones that came after yet... reading this I'm thinking, "I know high school wasn't like this and I didn't speak like this at all." It never felt authentic and it never felt like something that would logically be happening. Here's an example:

"Jack's body had not yet moved. He was like a jetty rock, obstinate and motionless against the savage force of the sea. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do or say so I waited, passing time by thinking of things I knew. I knew that he loved me desperately, never more so than at that moment. I knew that he was ready, aroused for once by the honorableness of his emotions, and yet the anger that moved him had no means of expression. How betrayed he must have felt by his belligerent pacifism, by the ambivalence he'd constantly displayed. He was thinking that the attack had not been arbitrary, that it had happened to me for a reason. He was thinking the reason was him."

Ok. Now, what did that even mean?? Because I'm not sure. Part of me is sad that I'll never know what happened between Jack and Evie but on the other hand, who cares? After getting half way through the book I can't even tell you what it was even really about, what the story was. There was nothing in any of the pages I read that made me want to turn another page and keep going. For me, reading is an escape and it should be fun. I don't like having to think a whole lot about what I'm reading to process it. I like being able to relate to a book within my own life or back story and even though I've been a teenage girl working through the weird phases and first loves and all of that... I could not relate. In the end, I feel like the author has tried too hard to write a book that would be a classic, or something that would end up on a must read list somewhere.

[Catherine (The Gilmore Guide to Books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anthropology of an American Girl is a red flag to anyone considering self-publishing. It’s not a dreadful book but I can almost hear the author talking to herself, convinced that this is the ONLY work she will ever publish and therefore, every single thought/emotion/interaction of her protagonist must be recorded to a navel-gazing degree that makes Holden Caulfield and Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom look distracted. In short, this book is exhausting to read. Overloaded, overwrought and overwritten, it’s clear that Hamann never met an adjective, adverb, simile, metaphor and descriptor she didn’t want to trample into submission. “Puerile lips”- really?

At 597 pages this book is 200 pages too long. A broken hearted anorexic teenager with low blood pressure simply does not warrant 597 pages when her strongest character trait is that she’s willing to be the trophy for a sexist, violent man who controls her. Evaline shows no propensity to live her own life (which, if you had any soul, you’d know is not possible because of the loss of the man who was her one true love) except for running away from any situation she finds uncomfortable.

What AOAAG needed was a vigorous editor with an active red pencil and the disposition to use it. Insightful prose loses its meaning when found on the same page as such nonsense like this: “I dressed in front of them because modesty seemed solemn and unnecessary, because sometimes a night has a natural drive, and you are transported past the conceit of your despair.” Or “It was like being hungry for blood and smelling it everywhere around, hearing it drive, and you do not mind it touching you when you are it and it is you.” Neither of these make sense much less contribute to the story. As poetry? OK. But not in the midst of action and definitely not on every page.

This book slogs through Evaline’s trials and tribulations until the last forty pages when Hamann finally gets a sense of pacing and cuts the excessive, leaden prose to reveal a scene of real humanity. Unfortunately, she obliterates that with her closing line, something so trite I was reminded of my high school journal. I had the common sense to burn it. Bottom line: this unending saga of nothing is not a mark of greatness but merely supreme self-indulgence.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely, deep and involving first novel, telling of Evie Auerbach, a young woman living on the East Coast of America in the late 1970’s and the 1980’s, detailing her high school and college days as she learns about life and love. Narrated in the first person by Evie, we are allowed into her innermost thoughts and feelings about her friends, family, fellow schoolmates, and partners, as she shares her philosophies on her varied experiences in life, and we gain insights into what her world and the American society around her is like. Relationships key to Evie’s life, are explored through the significant and traumatic events that shape her life and the lives of those close to her, and we discover how the different personalities and beliefs of those around her impact on Evie’s own evolving perceptions of the world. Evie is an artistic, creative soul, and her account here of these years in her life is an intimate, thorough portrait of a sensitive young woman and her opinions, and a compelling read.

The writer Hilary Thayer Hamann has based some of the novel on her own experiences, taken from her diary, and has combined these with fictional writing to produce a really authentic, contemplative read, rich in incisive observations and detail. Any young woman or indeed a mature woman looking back on younger days would read this and be reminded of memories of times at school or college, of experiences with love and friendship, the pains and challenges involved in growing up, and hope for the future: read and ponder what events Evie’s life evokes in you; it certainly got me thinking about school and university, friends and romance, and in so doing it brought back an array of memories for me. It’s an epic, ambitious and intelligent novel, and definitely one to sit back and immerse yourself in and enjoy the quality of the language; I think it is beautifully written, with sentences and passages which made me stop and ponder the words and the meaning.

Thank you very much to Emily at Constable and Robinson Ltd for giving me the opportunity to read and review this novel.