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Further Out Than You Thought
Combining the eloquence and raw sensuality of Jeanette Winterson with the romantic, renegade spirit of Patti Smith, Further Out Than You Thought is a taut and erotically charged literary debut, set against the chaos of the 1992 L.A. riots, about three people searching for identity and meaning from award-winning poet and indie bookshop co-founder Michaela Carter.
In the Neverland that is Los Angeles, where make-believe seems real, three dreamers find themselves on the verge of transformation. Twenty-five-year-old poet Gwendolyn Griffin works as a stripper to put herself through graduate school. Her perpetually stoned boyfriend Leo dresses in period costume to hawk his music downtown, and seems to be losing his already tenuous grip on reality. And their flamboyant best friend and neighbor, nightclub crooner Count Valiant, is slowly withering away.
When the city explodes in violence after the Rodney King verdict, the chaos becomes a catalyst for change. Valiant is invigorated, Leo plans a new stunt—walking into east L.A., naked, holding a white flag—and Gwen, discovering she is pregnant, is confronted by troubling questions. Can Leo become a good, dependable father? Can she leave the club life behind, or will the city’s spell prove too seductive?
Combining poetry and sensuality with an edgy urban sensibility, Further Out Than You Thought is a celebration of life and a haunting story of love, friendship, and one woman’s quest for redemption.
In the Neverland that is Los Angeles, where make-believe seems real, three dreamers find themselves on the verge of transformation. Twenty-five-year-old poet Gwendolyn Griffin works as a stripper to put herself through graduate school. Her perpetually stoned boyfriend Leo dresses in period costume to hawk his music downtown, and seems to be losing his already tenuous grip on reality. And their flamboyant best friend and neighbor, nightclub crooner Count Valiant, is slowly withering away.
When the city explodes in violence after the Rodney King verdict, the chaos becomes a catalyst for change. Valiant is invigorated, Leo plans a new stunt—walking into east L.A., naked, holding a white flag—and Gwen, discovering she is pregnant, is confronted by troubling questions. Can Leo become a good, dependable father? Can she leave the club life behind, or will the city’s spell prove too seductive?
Combining poetry and sensuality with an edgy urban sensibility, Further Out Than You Thought is a celebration of life and a haunting story of love, friendship, and one woman’s quest for redemption.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 5, 2014
7 people are currently reading
480 people want to read
About the author
Michaela Carter
3 books96 followersMichaela Carter is an award-winning poet and writer. She studied theater at UCLA and holds an MFA in creative writing, and her poetry has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, won the Poetry Society of America Los Angeles New Poets Contest, and appeared in numerous journals. Recently she cofounded the Peregrine Book Company, an independent bookstore in Prescott, Arizona, where she works as a book buyer and storyteller. She lives in Prescott with her two inscrutable children and teaches creative writing at Yavapai College.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
September 13, 2014
"Further Out Than You Thought" creates a time and a place. The anarchy of Los Angeles, post Rodney King, mixes with a young woman's circumstances and life choices. I won't say much more... other than Ms. Carter offers an interesting blend: some erotic heat, sordid night life, the ambitions of some individuals that are trying to sort out what it means to have a creative lifestyle, uniquely written passages that come off as the sincere voice of a sophisticated protagonist. (Confession: I wish she was the narrator, I wonder how this title would feel from first person, we think we know her so well.) The book reminded me of a mix between Samuel Delany's "Dhalgren" (because the author does make Los Angeles and other locales feel other worldly) with a taste of Virginia Woolf (particularly towards the end). Do you think I'm off on this?
Warning: if you've ever been in a relationship with a Don Quixote like character that holds a high level of arrogance yet is incapable of wiping his ass and you know you need to dump said ass, much of the emotional content in this story may resonate for you, quite clearly, for better or for worse.
Carter's poetry background comes out clearly. She's great at capturing "moments in time." Definitely a unique read.
Warning: if you've ever been in a relationship with a Don Quixote like character that holds a high level of arrogance yet is incapable of wiping his ass and you know you need to dump said ass, much of the emotional content in this story may resonate for you, quite clearly, for better or for worse.
Carter's poetry background comes out clearly. She's great at capturing "moments in time." Definitely a unique read.
August 26, 2014
It is obvious that Michaela Carter is a poet, since so many of her images and phrasing capture the essence of good poetry. This story has moments of sheer beauty in spite of it being told in a far-from-beautiful setting. At times I found it difficult to believe, especially the question of if Gwen should leave Leo, because it seemed obvious that she should... but that being said, perhaps the author was trying to convey that we do not get to choose who we love and why we love, despite logic and will. I would have liked to see more of Count Valiant. Overall, a very enticing read and I look forward to more from this author.
August 9, 2014
Ms Carter's first novel is a beautifully written expose of three young adults during a vulnerable and pivotal time in their lives. It was a page turner for me, I couldn't get enough. Her exquisite use of language flowed effortlessly throughout the story. I highly recommend this heart wrenching, beautiful, funny and sensuous story seen through a young women's eyes. It has it all!
May 23, 2014
“Further Out Than You Thought” promises a road trip, but renders the mapping of young woman's evolving soul instead.
This story takes place during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles and examines the way they impacted three artnicks who are closing a life-cycle as the mayhem erupts.
The narrator is a young woman in her mid-20s who works as a stripper for money, but has made concrete, if tentative, steps towards being a poet. Gwen's boyfriend Leo is a musician and free spirit who shares an apartment with her. Their relationship benefits from the chemistry added by an AIDS-stricken gay friend, Count Valiant, in whom each has invested an emotional stake.
The riots themselves make a short appearance. Each of the three friends finds something cathartic in the idea of the city being aflame, something liberating in the suspension of societal rules that oppress them.
After introducing readers to the girls at the Century Lounge, as well as to the thoughts about the power of desire working there inspires, Gwen is almost caught in the violence of the riots. The same for Leo who makes a living playing a flute at a freeway off-ramp, dressed as an American colonial.
The first evening of the riots our anti-heroes get drunk and go over the backgrounds to their relationships, blowing bong hits while watching the city burn from the rooftops.
Gwen has just found out she's pregnant. Valiant is dying and drowning himself in booze to ease the pain. Leo is living in the revolutionary artist's fantasyland, sustained by the efforts of his slightly more grounded paramour.
The troika decide upon a trip to Tijuana, Mexico as the proper response to the riots and the suspension of business-as-usual. Not too much happens. They stop at mini-marts and gas stations for donuts and dance around the subject of the baby that will end their bohemian idyll.
In Tijuana they do what most young Californians do. They get stabbed, acquire massive tequila hangovers and re-cross the border with a new found appreciation for their suburban pedigrees.
Each character's trajectory gets resolution in “Further Out...” but there's not much actual story. The riots serve merely as a launch platform, Tijuana as an uneasy chapter that will begin the separation of these constant friends, but the smaller episodes amount to little more than urban hipster hijinks.
The real action takes place inside of Gwen. With a thin storyline to work with, author Michaela Carter opts to write the heck out of her narrator's inner life to the point where, good as the prose are, they are overwritten.
Gwen has a short biography and limited pedigree, so there's not much to pump up the urgency of her situation, nothing universal or extraordinary, just the usual family tensions back home.
She's a young woman debating what to do with her baby and its father, calculating the next act in what she clearly views as the movie of her life.
Which is to say, like many artists, Gwen is very self-involved; perhaps suffering from delusions of grandeur when it comes to the signals she picks up throughout the story's meandering course.
Gwen's telling makes one wish somebody would give her a real writing job so she'd stop screwing up her life with overtly literary considerations. Gwen lacks an ability to select what's truly worthy of attention in the vast world swirling around here.
A bottle cap on the sidewalk is enough to spark reveries of her departed mom, her beloved grandmother, the girl at the club she has a crush on. The exotic dancer never stops talking/thinking about herself and how surrounding events relate or inform her own path. Even drowning, Gwen is not immune to a quick shot of wax poetics.
Metaphor follows metaphor, simile tops simile, symbol tracks symbol as Gwen works her way through the gods and goddesses and princes proffered by the road.
Her very relationship to Leo has the story of “Peter Pan” for a blueprint. The ending is different, but that doesn't mean the story didn't influence her decisions about Leo.
Gwen's journey through “Further Out” is supposed to take her to the next and proper level, but her literary inclinations fog her ability to reason. A string of green traffic lights on the way out of town is not a sign the fates want you to go to Mexico in the middle of an urban riot. It just means you got on the road at the right time, driving the right speed.
Milking her intuitive faculties like there's no tomorrow, Gwen makes the moves she perceives the world is telling her to make, outwardly guided, if inwardly directed, trying to get wherever she's going.
The protagonist's decisions lead to a road less-traveled and more complications, but each life is to be lived according to the whims of its owner, no matter how tortured, and it is that spirit which drives the novel.
This story takes place during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles and examines the way they impacted three artnicks who are closing a life-cycle as the mayhem erupts.
The narrator is a young woman in her mid-20s who works as a stripper for money, but has made concrete, if tentative, steps towards being a poet. Gwen's boyfriend Leo is a musician and free spirit who shares an apartment with her. Their relationship benefits from the chemistry added by an AIDS-stricken gay friend, Count Valiant, in whom each has invested an emotional stake.
The riots themselves make a short appearance. Each of the three friends finds something cathartic in the idea of the city being aflame, something liberating in the suspension of societal rules that oppress them.
After introducing readers to the girls at the Century Lounge, as well as to the thoughts about the power of desire working there inspires, Gwen is almost caught in the violence of the riots. The same for Leo who makes a living playing a flute at a freeway off-ramp, dressed as an American colonial.
The first evening of the riots our anti-heroes get drunk and go over the backgrounds to their relationships, blowing bong hits while watching the city burn from the rooftops.
Gwen has just found out she's pregnant. Valiant is dying and drowning himself in booze to ease the pain. Leo is living in the revolutionary artist's fantasyland, sustained by the efforts of his slightly more grounded paramour.
The troika decide upon a trip to Tijuana, Mexico as the proper response to the riots and the suspension of business-as-usual. Not too much happens. They stop at mini-marts and gas stations for donuts and dance around the subject of the baby that will end their bohemian idyll.
In Tijuana they do what most young Californians do. They get stabbed, acquire massive tequila hangovers and re-cross the border with a new found appreciation for their suburban pedigrees.
Each character's trajectory gets resolution in “Further Out...” but there's not much actual story. The riots serve merely as a launch platform, Tijuana as an uneasy chapter that will begin the separation of these constant friends, but the smaller episodes amount to little more than urban hipster hijinks.
The real action takes place inside of Gwen. With a thin storyline to work with, author Michaela Carter opts to write the heck out of her narrator's inner life to the point where, good as the prose are, they are overwritten.
Gwen has a short biography and limited pedigree, so there's not much to pump up the urgency of her situation, nothing universal or extraordinary, just the usual family tensions back home.
She's a young woman debating what to do with her baby and its father, calculating the next act in what she clearly views as the movie of her life.
Which is to say, like many artists, Gwen is very self-involved; perhaps suffering from delusions of grandeur when it comes to the signals she picks up throughout the story's meandering course.
Gwen's telling makes one wish somebody would give her a real writing job so she'd stop screwing up her life with overtly literary considerations. Gwen lacks an ability to select what's truly worthy of attention in the vast world swirling around here.
A bottle cap on the sidewalk is enough to spark reveries of her departed mom, her beloved grandmother, the girl at the club she has a crush on. The exotic dancer never stops talking/thinking about herself and how surrounding events relate or inform her own path. Even drowning, Gwen is not immune to a quick shot of wax poetics.
Metaphor follows metaphor, simile tops simile, symbol tracks symbol as Gwen works her way through the gods and goddesses and princes proffered by the road.
Her very relationship to Leo has the story of “Peter Pan” for a blueprint. The ending is different, but that doesn't mean the story didn't influence her decisions about Leo.
Gwen's journey through “Further Out” is supposed to take her to the next and proper level, but her literary inclinations fog her ability to reason. A string of green traffic lights on the way out of town is not a sign the fates want you to go to Mexico in the middle of an urban riot. It just means you got on the road at the right time, driving the right speed.
Milking her intuitive faculties like there's no tomorrow, Gwen makes the moves she perceives the world is telling her to make, outwardly guided, if inwardly directed, trying to get wherever she's going.
The protagonist's decisions lead to a road less-traveled and more complications, but each life is to be lived according to the whims of its owner, no matter how tortured, and it is that spirit which drives the novel.
August 18, 2014
Gwen, Valiant, Leo. Diverse futures spread before them. But, in the present, does that future matter?
For Gwen, the future includes the complication of an unborn child and all the unanswered questions growing alongside it. Should she stay with Leo? How long will she be able to continue her lucrative career in stripping? For Valentine, the future appears bleak, inebriated and short-lived. Suffering from AIDS and alcoholism, his future could end that day for all he knows. For Leo, the future depends solely on the next idea to pop in his freewheeling head. Leo himself rarely knows what that idea may be.
Set in the fires of riot-torn 1992 Los Angeles, Michaela Carter’s memorable first novel “Further Out Than You Thought” explores the lives of three very different individuals who are inexorably intertwined by the inescapable bonds of friendship and love.
The L.A. Riots, spurned by the Rodney King verdict so many years ago, and so very fresh in the minds of readers now exposed to the fiery racial confrontations in Ferguson, MO, plays a key role in the trio’s life journey.
But the smoke of conflict and social injustice cannot be called a simple villain, nor is it something to be feared and dissected by sociology majors. Here the riots are an encouraging breath of fresh air, an impetus to action. The riots keep the chairs too hot to sit on, forcing the characters to stay on their feet, to remain active and vibrant throughout the novel.
Poetic descriptions add an endless well of emotion to this fast-paced, compelling novel of self-discovery. The book carries heartfelt, yet street-wise, musings on the questions we all face at one point in our largely disappointing lives.
As told from Gwen’s perspective, the Further Out Than You Thought nods to the hard knocks life can provide with an accurate, and acute, sense of detail, not to mention a rather Irish trait of longing for a life that might have been.
Feminine empowerment, which can cross an invisible border into female supremacy if not checked, is touched on briefly within the pages of the book, but largely cast aside in favor of a more human experience – something relatable to both men and women. And the strength of the feminine experience, which Carter draws from, never goes for lofty when it can remain equal. It isn’t in Gwen’s nature, or in the author’s perhaps, to think herself better. Smarter, perhaps, but not better.
Fictional explorations of the famed Rodney King riots, while not new, carry their own unique sense of historical awareness. Novels such as “The Tattooed Soldier” by Hector Tobar and “The Metaphysical Touch” by Sylvia Brownrigg offer their own reality to the surreal chain of events. Carter, however, brings a sensual edginess, a melancholy Generation-X attitude, to her work –and spins what could very well be a modern cultural classic.
For Gwen, the future includes the complication of an unborn child and all the unanswered questions growing alongside it. Should she stay with Leo? How long will she be able to continue her lucrative career in stripping? For Valentine, the future appears bleak, inebriated and short-lived. Suffering from AIDS and alcoholism, his future could end that day for all he knows. For Leo, the future depends solely on the next idea to pop in his freewheeling head. Leo himself rarely knows what that idea may be.
Set in the fires of riot-torn 1992 Los Angeles, Michaela Carter’s memorable first novel “Further Out Than You Thought” explores the lives of three very different individuals who are inexorably intertwined by the inescapable bonds of friendship and love.
The L.A. Riots, spurned by the Rodney King verdict so many years ago, and so very fresh in the minds of readers now exposed to the fiery racial confrontations in Ferguson, MO, plays a key role in the trio’s life journey.
But the smoke of conflict and social injustice cannot be called a simple villain, nor is it something to be feared and dissected by sociology majors. Here the riots are an encouraging breath of fresh air, an impetus to action. The riots keep the chairs too hot to sit on, forcing the characters to stay on their feet, to remain active and vibrant throughout the novel.
Poetic descriptions add an endless well of emotion to this fast-paced, compelling novel of self-discovery. The book carries heartfelt, yet street-wise, musings on the questions we all face at one point in our largely disappointing lives.
As told from Gwen’s perspective, the Further Out Than You Thought nods to the hard knocks life can provide with an accurate, and acute, sense of detail, not to mention a rather Irish trait of longing for a life that might have been.
Feminine empowerment, which can cross an invisible border into female supremacy if not checked, is touched on briefly within the pages of the book, but largely cast aside in favor of a more human experience – something relatable to both men and women. And the strength of the feminine experience, which Carter draws from, never goes for lofty when it can remain equal. It isn’t in Gwen’s nature, or in the author’s perhaps, to think herself better. Smarter, perhaps, but not better.
Fictional explorations of the famed Rodney King riots, while not new, carry their own unique sense of historical awareness. Novels such as “The Tattooed Soldier” by Hector Tobar and “The Metaphysical Touch” by Sylvia Brownrigg offer their own reality to the surreal chain of events. Carter, however, brings a sensual edginess, a melancholy Generation-X attitude, to her work –and spins what could very well be a modern cultural classic.
July 30, 2014
Further Out Than You Thought, the debut novel from August Indie Next Pick author, Michaela Carter, burns as vividly and savagely as the rioting Los Angeles it describes, blazing with light- and life-filled characters, acrid with smoke and sweet as orange blossoms.
Lyrical and illuminating, Carter’s novel takes the reader on a sensual, visceral, empathetic journey into the whole wide world of Gwen, a young woman working in a seedy strip club near the airport, caught in the crossroads between a substandard relationship with her stoned, daydreaming musician of a boyfriend, Leo, her newly discovered and unexpected pregnancy, and her choice to either remain head-deep in the present, or to let the currents of her life sweep her into the future.
Gwen and Leo share an apartment filled with marijuana smoke, dirty dishes, roaches, and the disheveled papers of Gwen’s haphazard attempts at becoming a poet. Joined by their neighbor and mutual friend, Count Valiant, a proud and beautiful queer man ravaged by AIDS and drowning in alcohol, the trio of anti-heroes becomes witness to decay, disappointment, destruction, and transformation, both within the confines of the city, and within themselves. When the Rodney King riots strike Los Angeles, the three find themselves in a burning city, explosive with too-long-contained rage. Each yearns for liberation in the flames, a cleansing and a rebirth. Surrounded by gasoline and car fires, cigarettes, marijuana, and booze, the stench and mystery of Tijuana, the sweetness of strawberries, the unsympathetic, unyielding waves of the Pacific, and the promise of life born young and new, each character will find their resolution.
Carter is stunning in her debut, charging the atmosphere with the raw and beautiful, revealing transformation on every page. Her words are poetry, bringing forth layers of meaning, heavy with symbolism and genuine in their examination of humanity. She’s a literary voice to be celebrated, her work enjoyed as a physical experience. The book will leave grit beneath your fingernails and smoke in your hair, but you’ll walk away from it refreshed, remembering the salt-tang of the ocean and the perfume of citrus.
Lyrical and illuminating, Carter’s novel takes the reader on a sensual, visceral, empathetic journey into the whole wide world of Gwen, a young woman working in a seedy strip club near the airport, caught in the crossroads between a substandard relationship with her stoned, daydreaming musician of a boyfriend, Leo, her newly discovered and unexpected pregnancy, and her choice to either remain head-deep in the present, or to let the currents of her life sweep her into the future.
Gwen and Leo share an apartment filled with marijuana smoke, dirty dishes, roaches, and the disheveled papers of Gwen’s haphazard attempts at becoming a poet. Joined by their neighbor and mutual friend, Count Valiant, a proud and beautiful queer man ravaged by AIDS and drowning in alcohol, the trio of anti-heroes becomes witness to decay, disappointment, destruction, and transformation, both within the confines of the city, and within themselves. When the Rodney King riots strike Los Angeles, the three find themselves in a burning city, explosive with too-long-contained rage. Each yearns for liberation in the flames, a cleansing and a rebirth. Surrounded by gasoline and car fires, cigarettes, marijuana, and booze, the stench and mystery of Tijuana, the sweetness of strawberries, the unsympathetic, unyielding waves of the Pacific, and the promise of life born young and new, each character will find their resolution.
Carter is stunning in her debut, charging the atmosphere with the raw and beautiful, revealing transformation on every page. Her words are poetry, bringing forth layers of meaning, heavy with symbolism and genuine in their examination of humanity. She’s a literary voice to be celebrated, her work enjoyed as a physical experience. The book will leave grit beneath your fingernails and smoke in your hair, but you’ll walk away from it refreshed, remembering the salt-tang of the ocean and the perfume of citrus.
May 22, 2015
This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic
Further Out Than You Thought is the story of twenty-five year old Gwendolyn Griffin. Life has not been easy for her recently. In order to put herself through grad school she started stripping. It was only supposed to be temporary, but with her boyfriend out of work and bills piling up it’s gone on longer than expected. To make matters worse she’s just found out she’s pregnant and the LA riots have broken out. It’s a tumultuous time and Gwen isn’t entirely sure how she’s going to make it through it all.
There are three main characters of significance throughout this novel, Gwen (or Stevie Smith when she’s on stage), Leo her boyfriend and their depressed, gay best friend Count Valiant. Though they are all important to the story, the real focus is Gwen herself. In addition to being a grad student, she’s an aspiring poet, and it shows. She will take every opportunity to wax poetic, whether she’s watching the other strippers, fighting the roaches in her apartment, or witnessing the city aflame. At first I really enjoyed the lyrical writing style, it was an interesting perspective to view Gwen’s world through. But after awhile the overuse of metaphors grew tiresome.
There also wasn’t as much about the riots as I expected. Though they are taking place over the course of the novel. and though they influence Gwen, Leo and Valiant, they are not the focus. At first I was a little disappointed. I was pretty young when the riots actually happened and I was curious to learn more about them. But as the book went on I was so wrapped up in the drama of the characters I didn’t mind as much. Further Out Than You Thought is a character driven novel. It is about the trials and obstacles they face and the growth they experience along the way. If you’re a fan of character-driven stories you’ll really enjoy it, there is plenty to dissect and examine.
Further Out Than You Thought is a gritty, emotionally raw novel that explores the intertwined lives of three troubled people. It’s a fascinating read, if not a little verbose, and one that I would recommend to more adventurous book clubs. It’s dark but it will leave you will a lot to talk about.
Further Out Than You Thought is the story of twenty-five year old Gwendolyn Griffin. Life has not been easy for her recently. In order to put herself through grad school she started stripping. It was only supposed to be temporary, but with her boyfriend out of work and bills piling up it’s gone on longer than expected. To make matters worse she’s just found out she’s pregnant and the LA riots have broken out. It’s a tumultuous time and Gwen isn’t entirely sure how she’s going to make it through it all.
There are three main characters of significance throughout this novel, Gwen (or Stevie Smith when she’s on stage), Leo her boyfriend and their depressed, gay best friend Count Valiant. Though they are all important to the story, the real focus is Gwen herself. In addition to being a grad student, she’s an aspiring poet, and it shows. She will take every opportunity to wax poetic, whether she’s watching the other strippers, fighting the roaches in her apartment, or witnessing the city aflame. At first I really enjoyed the lyrical writing style, it was an interesting perspective to view Gwen’s world through. But after awhile the overuse of metaphors grew tiresome.
There also wasn’t as much about the riots as I expected. Though they are taking place over the course of the novel. and though they influence Gwen, Leo and Valiant, they are not the focus. At first I was a little disappointed. I was pretty young when the riots actually happened and I was curious to learn more about them. But as the book went on I was so wrapped up in the drama of the characters I didn’t mind as much. Further Out Than You Thought is a character driven novel. It is about the trials and obstacles they face and the growth they experience along the way. If you’re a fan of character-driven stories you’ll really enjoy it, there is plenty to dissect and examine.
Further Out Than You Thought is a gritty, emotionally raw novel that explores the intertwined lives of three troubled people. It’s a fascinating read, if not a little verbose, and one that I would recommend to more adventurous book clubs. It’s dark but it will leave you will a lot to talk about.
August 13, 2014
3.5 stars. In "Further Out Than You Thought," Gwen wants to become a poet. She knows that it is going to require a lot of work and she has started taking steps towards her dream. Meanwhile, she is stripping to make a living. The book takes place in Los Angeles in the 1990s right around the time of the famous riots that would change the city and its citizens.
This is definitely a story of growth and change. Gwen wants so badly to change her life and to live the life of her dreams but there seem to be a lot of stumbling blocks, as we see in this story. The story also centers on Leo, Gwen's boyfriend as well as Leo and Gwen's friend who just happens to go by the name Count Valiant. They are all struggling in different ways and they want to leave everything that is going on around them behind. In a lot of ways, they all want to escape from their own lives. They take a trip that they hope will give perspective or at least allow them to get out of their heads.
This book is gritty and raw and it definitely pulled me in! The book does take a little while to get going but once we get to know all of the major characters in the book, the story really begins to change and flow.
I was quite young when the Los Angeles riots happened and I actually don't really remember them all that well so it was interesting to see how Gwen and those around her saw the riots and how they affected and changed their lives. We get to see this rapidly changing landscape through Gwen's eyes and we see why she thinks she needs to get away. This is a fascinating look at characters who just want something else!
This is definitely a story of growth and change. Gwen wants so badly to change her life and to live the life of her dreams but there seem to be a lot of stumbling blocks, as we see in this story. The story also centers on Leo, Gwen's boyfriend as well as Leo and Gwen's friend who just happens to go by the name Count Valiant. They are all struggling in different ways and they want to leave everything that is going on around them behind. In a lot of ways, they all want to escape from their own lives. They take a trip that they hope will give perspective or at least allow them to get out of their heads.
This book is gritty and raw and it definitely pulled me in! The book does take a little while to get going but once we get to know all of the major characters in the book, the story really begins to change and flow.
I was quite young when the Los Angeles riots happened and I actually don't really remember them all that well so it was interesting to see how Gwen and those around her saw the riots and how they affected and changed their lives. We get to see this rapidly changing landscape through Gwen's eyes and we see why she thinks she needs to get away. This is a fascinating look at characters who just want something else!
January 31, 2016
This is post-apocalypse LA, if the apocalypse were the 1992 LA riots, post-Rodney King. Three dreamers are at the center of this world: an actress-turned stripper-turned poet, a lounge lizard struck by AIDS, and a drugged-out singer who dresses daily in a Revolutionary War outfit to hawk his CDs to music executives driving by. All seem to have lost their way, when the political event of the moment -- the burning of LA -- seems to put everything into perspective, enabling them to make transformative decisions about their lives.
The story is told from the poet/stripper's point of view. Gwen (aka Stevie) is putting herself through graduate school, as well as supporting her talented but lost boyfriend Leo, by working in a local strip club. Gwen and Leo love each other, but is love enough to build a future together?
Meanwhile, their closest friend, Count Valiant, is struggling with his own mortality. Once a successful nightclub act, he's now fading away from AIDS. As events unfurl, the trio manage to escape the city the day after the riots begin, and their trip south of the border will enable all of them to see things differently.
This novel embodies a gritty, challenging landscape, both internal and external. The characters, while unusual, are no less compelling for their oddity. Readers who embrace this novel will find a brave new voice has entered the literary fray, with something interesting to say about the emotional landscape of dreams.
The story is told from the poet/stripper's point of view. Gwen (aka Stevie) is putting herself through graduate school, as well as supporting her talented but lost boyfriend Leo, by working in a local strip club. Gwen and Leo love each other, but is love enough to build a future together?
Meanwhile, their closest friend, Count Valiant, is struggling with his own mortality. Once a successful nightclub act, he's now fading away from AIDS. As events unfurl, the trio manage to escape the city the day after the riots begin, and their trip south of the border will enable all of them to see things differently.
This novel embodies a gritty, challenging landscape, both internal and external. The characters, while unusual, are no less compelling for their oddity. Readers who embrace this novel will find a brave new voice has entered the literary fray, with something interesting to say about the emotional landscape of dreams.
April 7, 2015
It was a long, hard slog for me to get through this one.
The characters absolutely bored me to tears. I could empathize with Stevie/Gwen sometimes and I was interested in her story every so often, but more than not, I found her tedious and tiresome. And the people around her also did not interest me. In fact, I thought they were kind of pathetic--just lazy and uninterested in engaging with life in a meaningful way. I wasn't able to connect with any of them.
Moreover, Carter's writing style didn't click with me. It all felt overdone, like every single one of Stevie's thoughts had to be crammed into these pages. There was no breathing room, no ease or flow. The novel felt dense. It took EFFORT to get from word to word, page to page, chapter to chapter. I suppose it didn't help that I just finished a book, Troika, that covers similar subject matter but tells a more interesting story in a more beautiful way. It's worth checking out.
At any rate, I wish I liked this book more. I had high hopes, but, ultimately, Further Out Than You Thought was disappointing.
The characters absolutely bored me to tears. I could empathize with Stevie/Gwen sometimes and I was interested in her story every so often, but more than not, I found her tedious and tiresome. And the people around her also did not interest me. In fact, I thought they were kind of pathetic--just lazy and uninterested in engaging with life in a meaningful way. I wasn't able to connect with any of them.
Moreover, Carter's writing style didn't click with me. It all felt overdone, like every single one of Stevie's thoughts had to be crammed into these pages. There was no breathing room, no ease or flow. The novel felt dense. It took EFFORT to get from word to word, page to page, chapter to chapter. I suppose it didn't help that I just finished a book, Troika, that covers similar subject matter but tells a more interesting story in a more beautiful way. It's worth checking out.
At any rate, I wish I liked this book more. I had high hopes, but, ultimately, Further Out Than You Thought was disappointing.
June 2, 2014
Like tasting a fruit for the very first time, reading Michaela Carter's
Further Out Than You Thought
is an experience both bracing and sumptuous, a challenge and a treat. We follow Gwen, who strips at a seedy bar near the airport (under the pseudonym Stevie, a nod to the poet Stevie Smith), and her boyfriend Leo, an artist propelled by impulse and oblivious to his obligations. We meet Count Valiant, an AIDS-afflicted lounge singer whose body ails as the Rodney King riots rend LA unrecognizable. Like Whitman said, these characters contain multitudes. Through Carter's lyrical, sensuous, and empathetic prose, we see how their identities as women, men, drifters, artists, and friends coalesce. As the burned city reawakens and the trio returns from a trip south of the border, the reader is there for the reckoning, better for having ridden alongside this group of lost souls. Their humanity is the heart of this story, the constant pulse that gives the book its prodigious heart.
November 10, 2014
What draws me to a book and keeps me going are the moments that stop me in my tracks. Much like in real life when something grabs my attention and jolts me from the stories playing in my head, something understood better with the senses than the mind. Further out Than You Thought offers up a generous dose of such moments. Gwen, the protagonist takes us on an inner journey as she navigates a life unraveling under the glare of a city on fire. Lyrical, intense and sensual this book delivers on all levels. I looked forward to reading it every night, I looked forward to the moments when I would put it down, take a deep breath and let my mind linger over a startling line of prose.
September 6, 2014
Michaela Carter’s first novel is like eating a bar of dark chocolate with Mexican chilies and raspberries within - you never know if you're going to get the seductive sweet erotica on your tongue or the painful hot burn to scorch your senses. It’s languid poetry in motion. The story of main character Gwen/Stevie is about feeling the cold ocean mist, the mesmerizing death grip of rip tides, and the steady pace of the rhythmic waves licking your senses alive. Readers will come to understand the provocative dilemmas women face for love −then and now.
February 28, 2014
This is everything I could have wanted in a novel. Lush prose unwinds a queer friendly tale of love and loss in a historical semi post apocalyptic setting with a strong female lead.
I'm not very good at reviewing, but I wanted to get this out there. This book is great, it's exactly what I wanted out of a female narrator. She's a realistic woman who follows the hero's journey without lowering any of her vivacity.
I'm not very good at reviewing, but I wanted to get this out there. This book is great, it's exactly what I wanted out of a female narrator. She's a realistic woman who follows the hero's journey without lowering any of her vivacity.
September 14, 2014
This was a new genre for me, not something I would have picked off the shelf in the bookstore but was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the story and how wonderfully written it was. I didn't know exactly where this story was going and it just pulled me along on the journey that the main character was going on. Carter writes scenes that are rich, visual, and full of feeling. In one word...impressive.
August 27, 2014
I couldn't wait to receive my copy of Michaela Carter's - Further Out Than You Thought and was not disappointed. Her first novel was such a vivid journey of three people during such a tumultuous time. I often felt i was apart of the novel feeling the crisp descriptions given it was easy to fall into anyone of the characters in the creative flow of this book. A pleasant and good read! Highly recommend and can't wait for her next one!
January 21, 2015
Beautifully written and lyrical. This book made me glad I'm not 25 anymore -- in any era -- although the characters' mid-twenties were identifiable for me in particular, as I share their generation and remember those days. My lifestyle back then wasn't as unpredictable as Gwen/Stevie's, but I certainly remember the feelings of uncertainty that seem almost universal at that time in one's life. A satisfying book by a talented author.
November 19, 2014
Beautifully written with some moments I truly connected with that I have not read in other books. Her poetry background informs the writing of this book. A great literary fiction book for anyone who likes to take their time with moments.
August 17, 2014
With prose that could only have come from the mind of a poet, this story catapults almost immediately. This book was finely honed over a couple of years to make it the pearl it is today. From one of the nicest people you will ever meet comes a story so real you will find it hard to put down.
September 30, 2014
Lush gritty language. Carter’s images take you into the harsh reality the strip clubs and streets of 1992 Los Angeles. As young Gwen takes side roads on the path you hold the hope that she’ll choose well and write the poetry in her heart.
November 2, 2014
I think in the history of literature only Hamlet took more time to make up his mind; of the last six chapters any one of them could have ended the book, but it just kept going past the point of my caring. A tad overwritten.
August 16, 2014
Great book. Really liked it; very lyrical and poetic. So happy for Michaela!
February 19, 2015
I really enjoyed it. It was real and gritty and good. More from this author please.
January 1, 2020
The book was a bit raw. A great first novel for the author. I was sucked into that insecure period of young adulthood the characters were experiencing during the uncomfortable tension of the LA Riots.
October 13, 2016
Set in the midst of the LA Riots a young Gwendolyn try's to navigate her future trying to decide if she stays with her fly by the seat of his pants boyfriend, or move on due to her pregnancy. It is an interesting story of self discovery. There are some parts where it lags a but I feel like the ending saves it.
October 24, 2014
They had come to Los Angeles as dreamers, eager to imbue their lives with the magic of Neverland, and hoping to fulfill those dreams.
Gwendolyn Griffin, 25, has been putting herself through graduate school, and her job as a stripper was her way of paying for it. Living with Leo, the boyish man she had fallen in love with a few years before, she is now beginning to question her choice, as his perpetually stoned state leaves him no closer to his dreams as a musician and has put her in charge of paying the bills and keeping a tenuous grip on reality. A neighbor, a former nightclub crooner named Count Valiant, is slowly disappearing before their eyes as death marches toward him.
In "Further Out Than You Thought: A Novel," we watch the slow crumbling of their dreams as they try to move forward, even while sliding backward. Then, on one explosive day as riots break out throughout the city after the Rodney King verdicts, we see events become a catalyst for change.
Poised to make a big decision about their futures, they take drastic actions. Will fleeing the city for an idyllic journey to Mexico help them find a new perspective? What will happen to them there that will put Gwendolyn's choices in sharper focus? How will the trip clarify things between them all?
A dark, gritty story with poetic language that softens the harsh glare of their lives, I was totally engaged with what would happen to them, but mostly I connected with Gwendolyn, whose persona at the strip club is "Stevie." Her narrative revealed much about her and her challenges and even as I questioned her choices, I could also understand how life sometimes throws curves that make logic and rational thought go out the window. By the end, I was rooting for her, even as I suspected that none of her future choices would be easy. This is not a book for those turned off by explicit sex and the harsh realities of lives gone wrong, but for those who do take it on, there is an opportunity to see how the downside of life can have rooting value. For me, this one earned four stars.
Gwendolyn Griffin, 25, has been putting herself through graduate school, and her job as a stripper was her way of paying for it. Living with Leo, the boyish man she had fallen in love with a few years before, she is now beginning to question her choice, as his perpetually stoned state leaves him no closer to his dreams as a musician and has put her in charge of paying the bills and keeping a tenuous grip on reality. A neighbor, a former nightclub crooner named Count Valiant, is slowly disappearing before their eyes as death marches toward him.
In "Further Out Than You Thought: A Novel," we watch the slow crumbling of their dreams as they try to move forward, even while sliding backward. Then, on one explosive day as riots break out throughout the city after the Rodney King verdicts, we see events become a catalyst for change.
Poised to make a big decision about their futures, they take drastic actions. Will fleeing the city for an idyllic journey to Mexico help them find a new perspective? What will happen to them there that will put Gwendolyn's choices in sharper focus? How will the trip clarify things between them all?
A dark, gritty story with poetic language that softens the harsh glare of their lives, I was totally engaged with what would happen to them, but mostly I connected with Gwendolyn, whose persona at the strip club is "Stevie." Her narrative revealed much about her and her challenges and even as I questioned her choices, I could also understand how life sometimes throws curves that make logic and rational thought go out the window. By the end, I was rooting for her, even as I suspected that none of her future choices would be easy. This is not a book for those turned off by explicit sex and the harsh realities of lives gone wrong, but for those who do take it on, there is an opportunity to see how the downside of life can have rooting value. For me, this one earned four stars.
November 26, 2014
At the beginning of this book I thought I may have chosen the wrong book. Reading about strippers is unusual for me. Soon I realized that this book was about so much more.
Set against the Rodney King riots of 1992 in Los Angeles, Gwendolyn is wondering how this became her life. She is living with her musician boyfriend who spends his days dressed as a Revolutionary War veteran, trying to sell copies of his music on the street. He's constantly high, preferring to spend what little money he has on pot rather than on all the back rent that is due. Gwen is attending graduate school, writing poetry, and stripping earn enough money to take care of the two of them. Upstairs lives their best friend, the Count, who is dying of AIDS.
When Leo decides that he is going to help put a stop to the riots by walking into them naked, holding a white flag, Gwen and the Count make a plan to get him out of L.A. before he gets himself killed. They take him to Mexico. On the trip, Gwen admits to Leo that she's pregnant. She'd not sure she wants the baby and she's not sure she wants Leo and her trip to Mexico and back help her decide. On the way back to L.A., Leo and Gwen say goodbye to the Count, leaving him with his mother to care for him in his last days,
I liked they poetic nature of this book. I liked that Gwen is a strong woman who realizes that it isn't always for the best for a baby's father to be in the picture, to have the courage to strike out on her own, and that it isn't her job to save a man that won't save himself.
Set against the Rodney King riots of 1992 in Los Angeles, Gwendolyn is wondering how this became her life. She is living with her musician boyfriend who spends his days dressed as a Revolutionary War veteran, trying to sell copies of his music on the street. He's constantly high, preferring to spend what little money he has on pot rather than on all the back rent that is due. Gwen is attending graduate school, writing poetry, and stripping earn enough money to take care of the two of them. Upstairs lives their best friend, the Count, who is dying of AIDS.
When Leo decides that he is going to help put a stop to the riots by walking into them naked, holding a white flag, Gwen and the Count make a plan to get him out of L.A. before he gets himself killed. They take him to Mexico. On the trip, Gwen admits to Leo that she's pregnant. She'd not sure she wants the baby and she's not sure she wants Leo and her trip to Mexico and back help her decide. On the way back to L.A., Leo and Gwen say goodbye to the Count, leaving him with his mother to care for him in his last days,
I liked they poetic nature of this book. I liked that Gwen is a strong woman who realizes that it isn't always for the best for a baby's father to be in the picture, to have the courage to strike out on her own, and that it isn't her job to save a man that won't save himself.
November 15, 2014
I wanted to like this book more than I did. I think the author shows promise and it wasn't so bad that I wouldn't read any of her future efforts. But despite the backdrop of the L.A. Riots (which I remember well, living in California at the time), I kept thinking there would be more to this book than there was. The book was basically filled with characters that I didn't like very much, didn't understand their motivations and dreams, and really didn't understand why they were together.
And I'm generally not one to complain about graphic sex scenes in books: I have read the 50 Shades trilogy after all. But here there was something about them that made them gratuitous and icky (again, not something that I usually have a problem with). If we were supposed to believe that Gwen wasn't really a sex worker at heart, and it really was just temporarily paying the bills, then you probably don't make your case by describing her actions with such lurid detachment.
And I'm generally not one to complain about graphic sex scenes in books: I have read the 50 Shades trilogy after all. But here there was something about them that made them gratuitous and icky (again, not something that I usually have a problem with). If we were supposed to believe that Gwen wasn't really a sex worker at heart, and it really was just temporarily paying the bills, then you probably don't make your case by describing her actions with such lurid detachment.
March 31, 2015
This novel tells the story of a young woman who was living in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots following the savage Rodney King beating. She is going to college but is also stripping for a living; she has a druggie artist for a boyfriend and their best friend is gay nightclub singer who is dying of AIDS.
This is an unusual book, part poetic, imaginative prose and part erotic interludes, and there are some literary references thrown in for good measure. In the end, it just didn't seem very cohesive in my opinion. It wasn't deep enough to be literary and it wasn't wanton enough to be a sexy 'beach read'. Perhaps it's just a peek into the LA times of that year. By the end, I was ready for the main character to just get on with her life already. At least she made some good choices by the close of the novel.
This is an unusual book, part poetic, imaginative prose and part erotic interludes, and there are some literary references thrown in for good measure. In the end, it just didn't seem very cohesive in my opinion. It wasn't deep enough to be literary and it wasn't wanton enough to be a sexy 'beach read'. Perhaps it's just a peek into the LA times of that year. By the end, I was ready for the main character to just get on with her life already. At least she made some good choices by the close of the novel.
September 10, 2014
This book is set against the backdrop of the 1992 LA riots; even though it has a very contemporary feel to it. Gwen is paying her way through college as a stripper. With the discovery of her pregnancy, she is at a pivotal point in her life with her boyfriend Leo who is in a drug induced stupor much of the time. She must decide if her relationship with him can continue now that they are to become parents.
Michaela Carter's writing is lovely and she captures the emotions of the people living in this community more so than any facts surrounding the riots themselves. I felt Gwen's indecision dragged on in length and in detail causing me to become impatient with the plot but overall, I enjoyed her writing style and was invested in Gwen and her situation.
Michaela Carter's writing is lovely and she captures the emotions of the people living in this community more so than any facts surrounding the riots themselves. I felt Gwen's indecision dragged on in length and in detail causing me to become impatient with the plot but overall, I enjoyed her writing style and was invested in Gwen and her situation.
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