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American Thighs
Pushcart Prize Award-winning author Elizabeth Ellen’s American Thighs tells the darkly comedic story of a thirty-one-year-old former child star’s journey from Hollywood to Elkhart, Indiana, experiencing for the first time the off-screen life of a high school sophomore.
Tatum Grant spent the first years of her life on various film sets and locations in Hollywood, never knowing a real childhood, before becoming impregnated by an older, award-winning actor. Fifteen years after his death, experiencing an existential crisis, Tatum leaves Hollywood, her mother and her daughter behind, on a quest to find herself. Posing as a 16-year-old student with the help of her daughter’s stolen identification, Tatum uses the talents she learned portraying various film characters to earn a spot on the cheer team, date a football player, and befriend the most popular girl at school.
Like Tom Perrota’s Election, the novel is told through the voices of students and teachers at Dobson High, as well as social media influencers, actors, and celebrity children back in Hollywood, readers follow as Tatum’s past catches up with her amidst a cross-country road trip turned police chase.
Elizabeth Ellen manifests typical teenage woes into a breathtaking, rib-breaking story of love, loss, and media. American Thighs strikes the same chord as Heathers but for the TikTok generation.
Tatum Grant spent the first years of her life on various film sets and locations in Hollywood, never knowing a real childhood, before becoming impregnated by an older, award-winning actor. Fifteen years after his death, experiencing an existential crisis, Tatum leaves Hollywood, her mother and her daughter behind, on a quest to find herself. Posing as a 16-year-old student with the help of her daughter’s stolen identification, Tatum uses the talents she learned portraying various film characters to earn a spot on the cheer team, date a football player, and befriend the most popular girl at school.
Like Tom Perrota’s Election, the novel is told through the voices of students and teachers at Dobson High, as well as social media influencers, actors, and celebrity children back in Hollywood, readers follow as Tatum’s past catches up with her amidst a cross-country road trip turned police chase.
Elizabeth Ellen manifests typical teenage woes into a breathtaking, rib-breaking story of love, loss, and media. American Thighs strikes the same chord as Heathers but for the TikTok generation.
- GenresContemporaryLiterature
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 2025
6 people are currently reading
230 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Ellen
34 books83 followersElizabeth Ellen's stories have appeared in numerous online and print journals over the last ten years, including elimae, Quick Fiction, Hobart, Lamination Colony, Muumuu House, HTMLGIANT, and many others. She is the author of the chapbook Before You She Was a Pit Bull (Future Tense) and her collection of flash fictions, Sixteen Miles Outside of Phoenix, was included in A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: four chapbooks of short short fiction by four women (Rose Metal Press). Fast Machine is a collection of her best work from the last decade. She was recently awarded a Pushcart Prize for her story "Teen Culture" which appeared in American Short Fiction in 2012. She lives in Ann Arbor, where she co-edits Hobart and oversees Hobart's book division, Short Flight/Long Drive Books.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
September 3, 2024
ARC for review. To be published January 28, 2025.
This is complicated. I don’t know about this one.
Tatum Grant was a child star (c’mon, Tatum?!?! Really?), spending her formative years on location and on various film sets. Then she got pregnant, the father an older, award winning actor.
Fifteen years after the actor’s death Tatum leaves L.A., her mother and daughter and goes off on a search for her authentic self. She uses her daughter’s ID and poses as a sixteen year old high school student at Dobson High School in the hometown of the actor, living the life of a popular teen, because she is Stockard Channing. Oh, wait until the police catch on. And did I mention she is having torrid sex with teachers and MINORS? Because she is. There are predators everywhere. This is one fucked up high school, if you’ll pardon my French. I’m sorry, they don’t offer French? Or any other classes? Because they are busy with cheerleading and sex? Got it.
What, if anything, are we to take from this? Based just on the title I would say it might just be an avenue to portray illicit, predatory sex. I didn’t really see much, if any redeeming roles for any of the mothers and daughters here. There are the LOLITAS of this world, then there is….this. I did like the use of multiple POVs, including real life stars and others in the film industry…so much better than the use of made up names that have no context.
Oh, if someone is going to college on a D1 golf scholarship, maybe they should have, I don’t know, have played golf at some point in the book? Just a thought. This was a bit of a mess.
This is complicated. I don’t know about this one.
Tatum Grant was a child star (c’mon, Tatum?!?! Really?), spending her formative years on location and on various film sets. Then she got pregnant, the father an older, award winning actor.
Fifteen years after the actor’s death Tatum leaves L.A., her mother and daughter and goes off on a search for her authentic self. She uses her daughter’s ID and poses as a sixteen year old high school student at Dobson High School in the hometown of the actor, living the life of a popular teen, because she is Stockard Channing. Oh, wait until the police catch on. And did I mention she is having torrid sex with teachers and MINORS? Because she is. There are predators everywhere. This is one fucked up high school, if you’ll pardon my French. I’m sorry, they don’t offer French? Or any other classes? Because they are busy with cheerleading and sex? Got it.
What, if anything, are we to take from this? Based just on the title I would say it might just be an avenue to portray illicit, predatory sex. I didn’t really see much, if any redeeming roles for any of the mothers and daughters here. There are the LOLITAS of this world, then there is….this. I did like the use of multiple POVs, including real life stars and others in the film industry…so much better than the use of made up names that have no context.
Oh, if someone is going to college on a D1 golf scholarship, maybe they should have, I don’t know, have played golf at some point in the book? Just a thought. This was a bit of a mess.
November 19, 2024
Looking at other reviews it’s easy to see that this book has not yet reached its ideal audience. American Thighs isn’t quite what I expected, but it is exactly the type of book that a twenty-something me would have devoured and re-read. It’s the kind of book I rarely come across now, and it made me more than a bit nostalgic for the uncensored and explicit chick lit of my youth. A dash of high school drama, some Hollywood intrigue, and an illicit sapphic romance, all culminate to make this an immensely bingable novel. I think it fills a gap in new adult literature that’s been mostly ignored in favour of speculative fiction and more quiet/staid literary books. American Thighs is deliciously lurid and propulsive; I have no doubt it will find an enthusiastic audience amongst young woman who’ve been fed a literary diet of otherworldly fantasy and restrained morality and are maybe looking for something a bit more juicy to sink their teeth into.
December 29, 2024
only elizabeth ellen could write something so deranged and unrepressed. american thighs is a midwest epic that feels like the most chaotic group chat of your life, or the most overwhelming episode of ‘euphoria’ you can imagine. it is compulsively readable (i tore through the nearly 350 pages in five days) and it’s as funny as it is profound. need the film adaptation immediately
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February 7, 2025Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review (though I’m not above it.) Also, I received a free e-arc in exchange for publicly singing this novel’s praises (I’m kidding.)
First, I want to start by admitting I read every single review available before requesting a copy. I was not sold on the premise (which seems to have attracted everyone else including the reviewers that disliked the book) and I wanted to see what was being said. I’m not going to rehash with spoilers as others have already done. But from the first few pages, the breadth of pop culture references told me I would be in for a ride and that Elizabeth Ellen would take the story beyond a Never Been Kissed retelling.
As has been said by others, American Thighs is written as a multiple pov narrative. It’s important to note this because reading it will require perhaps more focus than what people have become accustomed to. It adds richness to the story that could’ve come off very narcissistic if it were a first person pov. You should come into this book expecting to fall into something gossipy and salacious ala E! Hollywood True Story or a VH1 Behind the music not a sprawling historical fiction. It was immediately fun and to me, it was as exciting to read as Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon.
Another gripe others had with the text seems to be the morally ambiguous characters and lack of ethical positioning. And to that I say, it’s not the job of an artist to tell you how to live. I also find it quite condescending to give a low star review with the caveat of wishing the book finds the right audience. The merits were clear but the objection was more personal offense as opposed to the bad writing.
As with anything, American Thighs is not perfect but it is good. One error that irked me was a typo where the word used was Columbia when referring to the country Colombia. Is that a dealbreaker? No. Could I leave a review without mentioning it? Also, no. That’s all I have to say.
TLDR; Very enjoyable, highly recommended.
First, I want to start by admitting I read every single review available before requesting a copy. I was not sold on the premise (which seems to have attracted everyone else including the reviewers that disliked the book) and I wanted to see what was being said. I’m not going to rehash with spoilers as others have already done. But from the first few pages, the breadth of pop culture references told me I would be in for a ride and that Elizabeth Ellen would take the story beyond a Never Been Kissed retelling.
As has been said by others, American Thighs is written as a multiple pov narrative. It’s important to note this because reading it will require perhaps more focus than what people have become accustomed to. It adds richness to the story that could’ve come off very narcissistic if it were a first person pov. You should come into this book expecting to fall into something gossipy and salacious ala E! Hollywood True Story or a VH1 Behind the music not a sprawling historical fiction. It was immediately fun and to me, it was as exciting to read as Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon.
Another gripe others had with the text seems to be the morally ambiguous characters and lack of ethical positioning. And to that I say, it’s not the job of an artist to tell you how to live. I also find it quite condescending to give a low star review with the caveat of wishing the book finds the right audience. The merits were clear but the objection was more personal offense as opposed to the bad writing.
As with anything, American Thighs is not perfect but it is good. One error that irked me was a typo where the word used was Columbia when referring to the country Colombia. Is that a dealbreaker? No. Could I leave a review without mentioning it? Also, no. That’s all I have to say.
TLDR; Very enjoyable, highly recommended.
September 19, 2024
I’m just….. alarmed
March 21, 2025
In "American Thighs", former child star 'Tatum' Grant disguises herself as a high school student in order to be able to experience the typical adolescence that she missed out on.
I think the 3 stars is generous, and only slightly warranted for one reason: I kind of needed to know where this trainwreck was heading next so I kept turning the page.
The premise is promising but I found so many other factors unsatisfactory. For starters, despite her crazy backstory, Tatum fails as a protagonist. She's bland (admittedly this is purposeful) and then extremely unlikable. I don't mind unlikable female protagonists! But in this case I don't think it works- from the dedication and the initial part of the book I thought the goal was to create sympathy for celebrities (how they are under constant scrutiny, robbed of a sense of normalcy, etc) but Tatum makes this very difficult for reasons that would 100% be a spoiler (a predictable one at that). My main issue in fact is entirely tied to that exact spoiler - I think it's a heavy topic not handled very well.
My other criticism are a bit more due to personal preference: the bouncing between POVs get tiring/repetitive and makes it hard to care about any characters initially; I found the book to drag a bit and like it could do with a cut so that could be a factor as to why. Also slightly petty but I found the references to real life celebs lazy and not very relevant in 2024- do actual 15 year old girls still care about Demi Lovato?
The book could still probably find its own niche audience but overall I found it an uncomfortable yet dull read. I think some of the themes presented are interesting and worth discussing: the cycle of abuse; trauma; the difference in the way a male abuser is treated compared to a female abuser. I just don't think this book does a good job of having that discussion to be honest.
I have received this free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I think the 3 stars is generous, and only slightly warranted for one reason: I kind of needed to know where this trainwreck was heading next so I kept turning the page.
The premise is promising but I found so many other factors unsatisfactory. For starters, despite her crazy backstory, Tatum fails as a protagonist. She's bland (admittedly this is purposeful) and then extremely unlikable. I don't mind unlikable female protagonists! But in this case I don't think it works- from the dedication and the initial part of the book I thought the goal was to create sympathy for celebrities (how they are under constant scrutiny, robbed of a sense of normalcy, etc) but Tatum makes this very difficult for reasons that would 100% be a spoiler (a predictable one at that). My main issue in fact is entirely tied to that exact spoiler - I think it's a heavy topic not handled very well.
My other criticism are a bit more due to personal preference: the bouncing between POVs get tiring/repetitive and makes it hard to care about any characters initially; I found the book to drag a bit and like it could do with a cut so that could be a factor as to why. Also slightly petty but I found the references to real life celebs lazy and not very relevant in 2024- do actual 15 year old girls still care about Demi Lovato?
The book could still probably find its own niche audience but overall I found it an uncomfortable yet dull read. I think some of the themes presented are interesting and worth discussing: the cycle of abuse; trauma; the difference in the way a male abuser is treated compared to a female abuser. I just don't think this book does a good job of having that discussion to be honest.
I have received this free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 17, 2024
As someone who to this day still believes Bret Easton Ellis's "American Psycho" to be one of the greatest books of all-time, I've long had no issue with embracing the more challenging, controversial, and perhaps even offensive side of literature.
However, I never could quite immerse myself in the world being created by Elizabeth Ellen in "American Thighs," a book I have no doubt will have an audience and could easily become optioned for cinematic adaptation.
I'm simply not it.
In "American Thighs," Pushcart Award-winner Ellen introduces us to Tatum, a 31-year-old former child star and her journey from Hollywood to Elkhart, Indiana (spelled "Elkheart" in the book, though one hopes this will be corrected as it's distracting).
Tatum spent her early years on various film sets and Hollywood locales, a story we've heard before including the fact that she became impregnated by an award-winning actor fifteen years her senior. Fifteen years after his death, Tatum experiences an existential crisis and ends up leaving behind Hollywood, her mother, and even her 16-year-old daughter and heads toward the Midwest determined to, for the first time, experience a normal high school life.
In its marketing, "American Thighs" is compared to both Tom Perrota's "Election" and the film "Heathers," loose comparisons at best. There is something here, I suppose, as we watch Tatum use her childhood talents to manipulate her way into a life that never feels quite right to anyone around her. She earns a spot on the cheer team, dates a football player, befriends the schools most popular girl, and yet also shows glimpses of an uncommon maternal side and begins to show the cracks of a childhood wildly misspent.
As a reader, I don't need characters I like. This is good. There are none here I particularly cared for at all.
As a reader, I don't necessarily need a world with which I identify. I definitely don't identify with the world here and never once bought into it.
As a reader, I'm willing to be offended (at times, I was), willing to be challenged (on occasion, I was), and willing to embrace the absurdity (I wanted to, however, mostly found it too manipulative to buy into). I could never quite visualize this world, something I really wanted, and thus the little things bothered me - like a misspelled "Elkheart" or the various other little attributes of the story that would actually, in all likelihood, play off well on the big-screen.
I'm leaning into what feels like a generous three-star rating here mostly because I see what Ellen's going for and do think there will be those who connect with this novel. It wasn't for me, something that surprised me, but my hope for any writer is that their book finds the audience it deserves. I have friends to this day who don't understand my love for "American Psycho" and other books with a similar tone. While I'm not one of them, there will be readers who embrace Ellen's relentless, fearless, and at times quite touching story of culture, love, loss, and the absurdity of it all.
However, I never could quite immerse myself in the world being created by Elizabeth Ellen in "American Thighs," a book I have no doubt will have an audience and could easily become optioned for cinematic adaptation.
I'm simply not it.
In "American Thighs," Pushcart Award-winner Ellen introduces us to Tatum, a 31-year-old former child star and her journey from Hollywood to Elkhart, Indiana (spelled "Elkheart" in the book, though one hopes this will be corrected as it's distracting).
Tatum spent her early years on various film sets and Hollywood locales, a story we've heard before including the fact that she became impregnated by an award-winning actor fifteen years her senior. Fifteen years after his death, Tatum experiences an existential crisis and ends up leaving behind Hollywood, her mother, and even her 16-year-old daughter and heads toward the Midwest determined to, for the first time, experience a normal high school life.
In its marketing, "American Thighs" is compared to both Tom Perrota's "Election" and the film "Heathers," loose comparisons at best. There is something here, I suppose, as we watch Tatum use her childhood talents to manipulate her way into a life that never feels quite right to anyone around her. She earns a spot on the cheer team, dates a football player, befriends the schools most popular girl, and yet also shows glimpses of an uncommon maternal side and begins to show the cracks of a childhood wildly misspent.
As a reader, I don't need characters I like. This is good. There are none here I particularly cared for at all.
As a reader, I don't necessarily need a world with which I identify. I definitely don't identify with the world here and never once bought into it.
As a reader, I'm willing to be offended (at times, I was), willing to be challenged (on occasion, I was), and willing to embrace the absurdity (I wanted to, however, mostly found it too manipulative to buy into). I could never quite visualize this world, something I really wanted, and thus the little things bothered me - like a misspelled "Elkheart" or the various other little attributes of the story that would actually, in all likelihood, play off well on the big-screen.
I'm leaning into what feels like a generous three-star rating here mostly because I see what Ellen's going for and do think there will be those who connect with this novel. It wasn't for me, something that surprised me, but my hope for any writer is that their book finds the audience it deserves. I have friends to this day who don't understand my love for "American Psycho" and other books with a similar tone. While I'm not one of them, there will be readers who embrace Ellen's relentless, fearless, and at times quite touching story of culture, love, loss, and the absurdity of it all.
November 12, 2025
This book is a modern soap opera, but based in film and music. The characters are mostly unlikable, but that allows them to take you on a crazy ride where they all have strange secrets that continue to surprise you and up the ante. If you're interested in reality shows or TMZ or just general gossip and transgressive characters, then American Thighs is for you. I thought that the ending perfectly wrapped everything up, especially after having no idea where this wild ride might finish.
January 22, 2025
Goodness GRACIOUS was this squeamy. But EE knows how to write the djee dee effin ess out of a book. Raises an awful lot of questions through these walking contradictions for characters and their wild choices, provides no answers—just breeds even more questions to which there are also no answers. Touching in the end, but not without a fiendish smirk to send you on your way.
October 27, 2024
Tatum Grant was a child star. She spent her formative years in Hollywood, essentially being bounced from set to set to please the adults in her life. She totally missed out on having any sort of normalcy in her childhood. And then she became a teen age mother having been impregnated by a much older very famous actor. Soooooo at age 31, she leaves her mother and her starlet daughter in Hollywood to start her life over.
Tatum travels to small town Elkheart ( yes there’s an e in heart) Indiana, where using the ID of her 16 year old daughter, she summons up her best acting skills to take on the real life role of a high school student. She makes friends with the most popular girl in class, has sex with boys and grown men and indeed lives the life she has missed. Elizabeth Ellen is an award winning author and her plot sounds intriguing. BUT in reality, for me, it just didn’t work.
Told from a plethora of POVs I felt the story lacked continuity, became confusing and complicated causing me to lose interest. It turned out to be too much work keeping characters and events straight. Also it was just too long given the unending series of narrators. Some of the sex scenes were very descriptive. I’m usually okay with that but here it felt just too dramatic and a tad too titillating. The fact they the characters aren’t likable didn’t phase me. In the past I have loved books and despised the characters.
I’ll bet there are other readers who will enjoy this book for all the reasons I did not. I can see it as a chart topping movie. It just wasn’t for me. So a mere two disappointing stars for a book I had trouble reading until the end. My thanks to CLASH books and Netgalley for and ARC in exchange for my review. Publication date is January 28, 2025.
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December 16, 2024DNF @ 80%
The synopsis of the book really caught my interest but unfortunately I just couldn’t continue on. This book was SO LONG when it didn’t have to be. I almost DNF’ed at 40% because I just didn’t care so much for the characters (the fact that it’s told from about 7 different character POVs can get quite confusing as well) but I pushed on because I wanted to know what would happen to “Tatum”, our main character who is 30 years old pretending to be a teenager, when she eventually gets caught. I didn’t make it to that part. I liked reading about the relationship between Taylor and Tatum and the LGBTQ representation but the story just got too repetitive. I’m sure there are people out there who will really enjoy this but it just didn’t hold my attention.
Thank you to netgalley and CLASH Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review ✨
The synopsis of the book really caught my interest but unfortunately I just couldn’t continue on. This book was SO LONG when it didn’t have to be. I almost DNF’ed at 40% because I just didn’t care so much for the characters (the fact that it’s told from about 7 different character POVs can get quite confusing as well) but I pushed on because I wanted to know what would happen to “Tatum”, our main character who is 30 years old pretending to be a teenager, when she eventually gets caught. I didn’t make it to that part. I liked reading about the relationship between Taylor and Tatum and the LGBTQ representation but the story just got too repetitive. I’m sure there are people out there who will really enjoy this but it just didn’t hold my attention.
Thank you to netgalley and CLASH Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review ✨
October 9, 2025
I liked how absolutely deranged this book was but it needed soooo much more work. It was far too long and managed to be both too elusive and too on the nose at times.
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November 12, 2024Very, very odd book. Really not sure I can rate this.
Sometimes I wish books came with an essay by the author explaining why they wrote the book and what they were attempting to achieve with it. This is one of those times! If this had been written by a man I would be disgusted. I confess that as the author is a woman I find myself looking for a "why" to this story or some kind of "message." Perhaps there is nothing there. I would just like to understand a bit more.
Sometimes I wish books came with an essay by the author explaining why they wrote the book and what they were attempting to achieve with it. This is one of those times! If this had been written by a man I would be disgusted. I confess that as the author is a woman I find myself looking for a "why" to this story or some kind of "message." Perhaps there is nothing there. I would just like to understand a bit more.
February 14, 2025
This is my favorite book I've read in a long time! I loved every second of it and couldn't put it down. When is the TV show coming out?!
February 11, 2025
Thanks to CLASH & NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I really wanted to like this: it sounded great, an updated mishmash of "Never Been Kissed" and "Election." What's not to be excited about? Alas, it fell very short of my expectations.
It's 2016, and Anissa, no Rachel, no Tatum, is a former teen actress who left the biz after getting pregnant by her true love, a young (but considerably older than Anissa) actor who soon after died young due to long term heroin addiction. She missed out on the whole high school experience, and has been more or less living like a shut-in with her daughter and mom, perpetuating her mom's lie that Anissa is her own daughter's sister. But the truth comes out during a fight (very much off-camera) and this propels Anissa, now going by her daughter's name of Tatum, back to the small town from which her true love originated, to have a do-over of her formative teen years. Sounds intriguing, right?
Well, Elizabeth Ellen might have won a Pushcart, but she is no Tom Perotta.
This book just gave me the ick so bad. Anissa's motivations start out pure (kind of), but she quickly goes off the rails, and some of the stuff she does seems to happen bc the author needs it to create catalysts later. Huge emphasis is put on people's appearance, and I get it, callow youth and everything, but the adults do it too. The kids are as bad as the adults and vice versa, in a number of different ways. This is one of those literary soap operas where no one does any work - there are sports (football & cheerleading, all others need not apply - this is AMERICA goddammit) and there are parties, but there is never homework or tests. Everyone is drunk or high, but there are no repercussions, except for what happens socially. Yes, I understand it's fiction.
There is no one to root for, even though we are given many, many (perhaps too many) POVs. Anissa is utterly without a moral compass; she is basically playing the Margaret Mead role in the wilds of American adolescence and seeing what she can stir up while living the quintessential teen school year: cheerleading, popular girl best friend, drugs, booze, sex. Taylor, Anissa's best friend and eventually romantic interest, is perhaps the most relatable character, but even she despises her mother for not being deemed desirable by her father.
The lesbian "romance" is discussed in the most boring terms; it's not interesting or even titillating; I started a separate story about a same-sex teen friendship that veered towards romance a few days after giving up on this one, and the contrast was striking.
This one was very much Not For Me, and honestly, wasn't even written very well. The characters were almost interchangeable, as was the dialogue. Great premise, not great execution. YMMV
I really wanted to like this: it sounded great, an updated mishmash of "Never Been Kissed" and "Election." What's not to be excited about? Alas, it fell very short of my expectations.
It's 2016, and Anissa, no Rachel, no Tatum, is a former teen actress who left the biz after getting pregnant by her true love, a young (but considerably older than Anissa) actor who soon after died young due to long term heroin addiction. She missed out on the whole high school experience, and has been more or less living like a shut-in with her daughter and mom, perpetuating her mom's lie that Anissa is her own daughter's sister. But the truth comes out during a fight (very much off-camera) and this propels Anissa, now going by her daughter's name of Tatum, back to the small town from which her true love originated, to have a do-over of her formative teen years. Sounds intriguing, right?
Well, Elizabeth Ellen might have won a Pushcart, but she is no Tom Perotta.
This book just gave me the ick so bad. Anissa's motivations start out pure (kind of), but she quickly goes off the rails, and some of the stuff she does seems to happen bc the author needs it to create catalysts later. Huge emphasis is put on people's appearance, and I get it, callow youth and everything, but the adults do it too. The kids are as bad as the adults and vice versa, in a number of different ways. This is one of those literary soap operas where no one does any work - there are sports (football & cheerleading, all others need not apply - this is AMERICA goddammit) and there are parties, but there is never homework or tests. Everyone is drunk or high, but there are no repercussions, except for what happens socially. Yes, I understand it's fiction.
There is no one to root for, even though we are given many, many (perhaps too many) POVs. Anissa is utterly without a moral compass; she is basically playing the Margaret Mead role in the wilds of American adolescence and seeing what she can stir up while living the quintessential teen school year: cheerleading, popular girl best friend, drugs, booze, sex. Taylor, Anissa's best friend and eventually romantic interest, is perhaps the most relatable character, but even she despises her mother for not being deemed desirable by her father.
The lesbian "romance" is discussed in the most boring terms; it's not interesting or even titillating; I started a separate story about a same-sex teen friendship that veered towards romance a few days after giving up on this one, and the contrast was striking.
This one was very much Not For Me, and honestly, wasn't even written very well. The characters were almost interchangeable, as was the dialogue. Great premise, not great execution. YMMV
March 11, 2025
Excellent, propulsive novel that keeps you turning the pages, constantly leading up to some serious wtf? moments that make the story that much more juicy.
This book sort of gives me Euphoria vibes...the HBO show...but not that much. I just mean there’s tons of high school drama—teens messing with one another, making bad (but entertaining) decisions, gossiping, escalating things; along with adults getting involved too, doing lots of shit they shouldn’t be, which has you wanting to get out the popcorn.
On a sentence to sentence level: it’s filled with bold stuff, messed up comments and disses.
As far as ideas go—same thing. Oftentimes opposing viewpoints will be tackled, and the reader has to decide which side they agree with. Politically it’s all over the place. I’m not even sure what place it’s supposed to make me feel like we’re at. Maybe nowhere specifically.
This could be a cool film!
I love the themes of fame and celebrity also.... Love all the pop culture references.
Initially I was worried about reading so many different first person POVs, but it ends up working completely, as we see things happen from one person’s perspective and then experience it from someone else’s, which is a nice dynamic. You get the tea from someone, and then it's delivered to you again by someone else, but a different flavor.
This book sort of gives me Euphoria vibes...the HBO show...but not that much. I just mean there’s tons of high school drama—teens messing with one another, making bad (but entertaining) decisions, gossiping, escalating things; along with adults getting involved too, doing lots of shit they shouldn’t be, which has you wanting to get out the popcorn.
On a sentence to sentence level: it’s filled with bold stuff, messed up comments and disses.
As far as ideas go—same thing. Oftentimes opposing viewpoints will be tackled, and the reader has to decide which side they agree with. Politically it’s all over the place. I’m not even sure what place it’s supposed to make me feel like we’re at. Maybe nowhere specifically.
This could be a cool film!
I love the themes of fame and celebrity also.... Love all the pop culture references.
Initially I was worried about reading so many different first person POVs, but it ends up working completely, as we see things happen from one person’s perspective and then experience it from someone else’s, which is a nice dynamic. You get the tea from someone, and then it's delivered to you again by someone else, but a different flavor.
September 30, 2025
i liked this? i liked this. i don't know if i would recommend this to anyone though. i think you just have to stumble across and decide if it's for you, and you'll probably be totally wrong because i feel like this went in a kind of unexpected direction, but that's on you baybee.
there's uh. a lot of gratuitous statutory rape content here, my dudes. and it's maybe not really condemned hard enough, or sewn up with a definitive end enough for comfort, but like. i'll be danged if it's not like that in real life too.
there's a lot of big feelings and ideas here. it's honestly kind of yet another Neurotic Millennial Woman Novel about a neurotic millennial woman suffering from some damage from some lack of something in her early life, whose refusal to like, deal with her problems or talk to people about things goes off in a real gonzo direction. very perfume and pain or supper club or nobody, somebody, anybody, or literally anything Ottessa Moshfegh has every written. but somehow more charming? there was something about this book that both razzled and dazzled me. maybe it was that it was set just a year or two after my own time in high school and is enmeshed in a (mostly) real pantheon of past and then-present celebrities. maybe i'm projecting my own experiences on it. maybe it's maybelline. either way, i don't regret the time i spent on it.
there's uh. a lot of gratuitous statutory rape content here, my dudes. and it's maybe not really condemned hard enough, or sewn up with a definitive end enough for comfort, but like. i'll be danged if it's not like that in real life too.
there's a lot of big feelings and ideas here. it's honestly kind of yet another Neurotic Millennial Woman Novel about a neurotic millennial woman suffering from some damage from some lack of something in her early life, whose refusal to like, deal with her problems or talk to people about things goes off in a real gonzo direction. very perfume and pain or supper club or nobody, somebody, anybody, or literally anything Ottessa Moshfegh has every written. but somehow more charming? there was something about this book that both razzled and dazzled me. maybe it was that it was set just a year or two after my own time in high school and is enmeshed in a (mostly) real pantheon of past and then-present celebrities. maybe i'm projecting my own experiences on it. maybe it's maybelline. either way, i don't regret the time i spent on it.
June 10, 2025
Goodreads, allow this to count towards next year's Rainbow Reads challenge, if there is one.
Anissa undergoes a transformation by taking her daughter's ID and fleeing from Los Angeles to Elkheart, Indiana. There, she pretends to be a sophomore in high school and befriends the popular girl, Taylor, with some more bad decisions thrown in. Anissa was a child actor, and now, she wants a normal childhood because she never had one. So she lies and lies, and then it catches up to her.
Told from multiple perspectives, this book is a lot to keep up with, though I mean this in a positive way. But I do get how this makes it not everyone's cup of tea. I've read books told in two or three points of view. But seven +, that is a first.
All the drama was great to read. It felt mostly realistic. But then again, I went to a bigger high school, with different kinds of drama, I guess.
I mostly like all the characters. Some I despised. I think it's easy to tell who falls into what category. Even the characters I really didn't like were well-written, layered, well-formed, oh-so-flawed. I like flawed characters.
My first time reading this book was a delight. I'll probably pick this up again.
Anissa undergoes a transformation by taking her daughter's ID and fleeing from Los Angeles to Elkheart, Indiana. There, she pretends to be a sophomore in high school and befriends the popular girl, Taylor, with some more bad decisions thrown in. Anissa was a child actor, and now, she wants a normal childhood because she never had one. So she lies and lies, and then it catches up to her.
Told from multiple perspectives, this book is a lot to keep up with, though I mean this in a positive way. But I do get how this makes it not everyone's cup of tea. I've read books told in two or three points of view. But seven +, that is a first.
All the drama was great to read. It felt mostly realistic. But then again, I went to a bigger high school, with different kinds of drama, I guess.
I mostly like all the characters. Some I despised. I think it's easy to tell who falls into what category. Even the characters I really didn't like were well-written, layered, well-formed, oh-so-flawed. I like flawed characters.
My first time reading this book was a delight. I'll probably pick this up again.
August 2, 2025
Elizabeth Ellen is one of my most favorite writers— EVER. Few writers dare to tread as far out beyond the edge as she does: with compassion in her narrative and an insight that comes from a depth of heart. Her writing is clear-cut: crystalline and gutting to the core. She writes with urgency and love. Her voice is singular, spectacular and sparkling.
My deepest admiration. From “FAST MACHINE” to “AMERICAN THIGHS,” she’s DYNAMITE!!! …Everything in-between. A playlist of poems, stories, truths— every word is rich with experience and illumination. This novel is no exception— just exceptional!
XO,
My deepest admiration. From “FAST MACHINE” to “AMERICAN THIGHS,” she’s DYNAMITE!!! …Everything in-between. A playlist of poems, stories, truths— every word is rich with experience and illumination. This novel is no exception— just exceptional!
XO,
January 17, 2025
Anissa/Tatum leaves her mother and daughter behind and poses as a teen to enroll in high school. American Thighs' structure is unique--it's written in the style of an oral history. Unfortunately, that's one of the few good things about this novel. It's predictable, overlong, and occasionally troubling. I felt dragged along throughout. I don't need the themes and/or messages spoon-fed to me, but so much is left to the reader to connect.
Thank you, CLASH and Netgalley, for an advance ebook in exchange for a fair review.
Thank you, CLASH and Netgalley, for an advance ebook in exchange for a fair review.
July 25, 2025
Really really unique book that kept you hooked. I have never read anything like it. Reading this felt like binging reality tv/real housewives.
It was daisy jones-esque in the fact that the story was narrated through interview/character blurbs. I think this made you like the characters more despite their moral flaws and made the book fly by.
I could see this being a mini series
Only reason for not giving 5 stars is there were some typos with character headings/switching of last names - just made me question the professionalism of the book
It was daisy jones-esque in the fact that the story was narrated through interview/character blurbs. I think this made you like the characters more despite their moral flaws and made the book fly by.
I could see this being a mini series
Only reason for not giving 5 stars is there were some typos with character headings/switching of last names - just made me question the professionalism of the book
July 27, 2025
this book manages to be propulsive and comic even as it mines thorny moral territory - with a fabulously light touch, and a deeply human lens.
elizabeth ellen is a national treasure from the midwest. there is no fiction being released that better captures the crush of doomed love, the yearning uncertainty of american life.
the people who reject this book because of the characters' obvious moral flaws, legal infractions, and the uncomfortable gray areas ellen sees in life, are moralistic prigs who want you watching cartoons. you should ignore them and buy this book.
elizabeth ellen is a national treasure from the midwest. there is no fiction being released that better captures the crush of doomed love, the yearning uncertainty of american life.
the people who reject this book because of the characters' obvious moral flaws, legal infractions, and the uncomfortable gray areas ellen sees in life, are moralistic prigs who want you watching cartoons. you should ignore them and buy this book.
August 28, 2024
Would have been 5 stars but farrrr too long
July 27, 2025
obviously this is good
August 28, 2025
I really need to do more research sometimes,this was just not good and followed some very dubious paths in terms of relationships and consent.
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