Grosse Pointe Girl: Tales from a Suburban Adolescence

by Sarah Grace McCandless

Welcome to Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where social rank is determined by the age of your money and the dryness of your martini.
The new girl in town, Emma Harris, must prove herself hip to the rigid rules of adolescent conformity. The quest for cool, she discovers, is one long final exam. To pass she must be cruel to be kind (ditching her best friend for the popular crowd), dress to impress (trading her favorite Esprit shirt for three plastic bracelets), and master the art of seduction (puckering up with Mulberry Stain or Peaches 'n' Cream lip gloss). Life is all about making choices -- the right ones.
Will Emma's social acrobatics put her on the short list for that coveted country club membership? Will the digits of her zip code pass muster? If her parents split up, will the gossip help or hurt her in the rankings? Grosse Pointe Girl serves as an indispensable road map through the dysfunction privilege brings. So put on your Guess? jeans and your jelly shoes and come along for the ride to the adolescent days that time forgot, but you never will.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Teen

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2001

About the author

Sarah Grace McCandless is the author of two fiction novels, Grosse Pointe Girl: Tales from a Suburban Adolescence and The Girl I Wanted to Be, both published by Simon & Schuster. A flash memoir edition of Grosse Pointe Girl was previously published by Future Tense Books. Her work has also appeared in numerous collections and journals, including Drawing Lines: An Anthology of Women Cartoonists (Dark Horse Comics), Cassette From My Ex: Stories and Soundtracks of Lost Loves (St. Martin’s Press), and the Past Ten journal.

A Writing by Writers Mill House Residency recipient, Sarah Grace has facilitated creative writing, fiction, and memoir classes at Gotham Writers, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and the Cape Cod Writers’ Workshop. She has adapted her second novel for the screen and is currently working on several new projects, including a scripted series and a memoir.

Sarah Grace is also the producer of #1 New York Times best-selling author and Emmy® Award-winning producer Kwame Alexander’s podcast Why Fathers Cry, inspired by his memoir, Why Fathers Cry at Night. She has previously served as both a producer and storyteller for Mortified and Backfence live stage events. Sarah Grace currently resides just outside of Portland, Oregon, with her Corgi-Terrier mix, Gilda Radner. More info at SarahGraciously.com.

Reviews

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book.

Growing up on the eastside of Detroit I was privy to the life that was "The Grosse Pointe Girl's"...I admired it from afar, always aware that my Detroit zip code made us different. Well, that and the fact that GP kids had money and we didn't. (Or else we'd be in GP too, duh!)

It surprised me how much everything is the same - despite taking place in the 80's.

I was also reminded that school, navigating social waters and self discovery are the same - no matter where you grow up.

Detroit natives will appreciate the local cultural references. While all readers will understand such references, only residents of the surrounding areas will have an even more vivid picture that makes it feel as if the story were told by a friend.

It's a good book, read it.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and easy read, an intriguing insight into a coming of age story.

[Helena Grobel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reread out of nostalgia because I remember finding this at my grandma's house when I was way too little and thinking that a "bj" was a type of drug. Anyway, who cares, this is just not a good book.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the more realistic young adult novels I've read, in the sense that no one has supernatural powers and daily life is both tedious and melodramatic. The story follows Emma Harris from 6th grade through high school graduation, as she gains then loses a best friend, serves as the obligatory non-cool friend to the cool crowd for a while, then finds her own clique based on being a slow runner. Like most non-vampiric high school kids, everyone is affecting a bit of jadedness that they haven't earned, there's a lot of beer-drinking and hanging out doing nothing, and the loss of one's virginity is mostly a non-event. It reminds me of my own misspent youth, which is why I can only give it three stars.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an entertaining and very quick read. This novel details the smoking, drinking and social climbing of "the new girl" in an upscale Detroit neighborhood's high school. The book has a strange lack of emotion, as if the teenage girl who is the narrator is watching from outside herself. I get frustrated reading about bad adolescent choices, not that mine were any better (they were bad in different ways). At the same time, I can appreciate how well-constructed this memoir-esque piece of fiction is.

[Marnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I'd really like this bookbut it wasnt that great. It's about a girl who was a teenager in the 80s & there was some good pop culture stuff but the girl pretty much messes up her life by dumping her best friend for the popular kids who arent nice to her & pressure her into making bad choices, & her parents get divorced. I liked that it had pictures, but the pictures could have been better.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hard book to categorize. it's classified as fiction, although it has a very autobiographical tone to it. there are great graphic illustrations throughout, however it's not a comic. and while it's meant to be young adult lit, it felt more geared at adults who wanted a nice nostalgic read. i really did love this book. it's written simply, however in every chapter there were moments from my own childhood that i could relate too.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick read...finished it in under 3 hours.

Fun coming of age story; some portions reminded me (a little too much!) of my own life.
While fiction, it's obvious that it's got an autobiographical tone.
If you want to relive your adolescence (or, at least remember what it could have been like...) then it's a book to pick up.

The graphic pictures were fun--although I did find them to be a little unnecessary.

[Ruby Dragon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book contains snippets of memories of a lady who grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the late 80's to early 90's. I had a hard time getting into this book because there was no character development or plot development. The author would be telling an interesting story, in the form of a recollection and then she would skip to something else. I prefer traditional plots and I like characters to have more depth.

[Gato Negro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since adolescence was such a magical time for me, I gravitate toward any writer that hits that time period on the head, and this author has nailed it flat. Every detail, from the clothing to the cigarettes, to the makeup, to the neighborhoods, the parties, the friendships won and lost, the popularity contests, the angst, the boy/girl flings and the true love that keeps missing its mark...it's all there. An awesome read, brilliant detail, accurate down to the last punctuation mark. Loved it!!!

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, esp since it was so close to home, literally! The reference to Spinners bar in Canada where Bill and I used to go had both of us laughing! Not really a story to it, but it reminded me of my own childhood a lot.

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I wanted something quick, and this fit the bill, and I guess it was entertaining enough. But it had a big "who cares?" factor for me. The whole thing was emotionally detached, and without the emotion, why should I care about these very typical, privileged kids? Cool cartoons, though, I guess.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book seven years ago and, by the time it came to adding this book to GoodReads, I can remember liking it, but I have no idea what the book was about. I can't even remember if it's a graphic novel (like the cover seems to suggest) or an actual novel. Hmmm.

[Blake Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the zine version of her first Simon and Schuster book. Loved it when I got it. thought: this is too good to get published. But it got published anyway!

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A- Read this quick coming-of-age novel in a day. You watch Emma grow up from an awkward copycat 12 yo to an adult.

[Juli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute. I love the easy style of narration, and it was given to me by my dear friend who is from GP, so it reminds me of her, but also, it's kind of like every girl growing up during that time.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

every reference felt like the author plucked from my very own adolescence. which made it that much more enjoyable to read. deeeetroitttt, yeahhhhh!

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Allright. Wanted it to be better.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I'm too old to relate to this and too young to be nostalgic about it.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little amateurish, but captures the time period well. An enjoyable read.

[Brandi Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This caught my eye at the library; since I live in MI I thought this YA coming of age story would be something I'd relate to. It was actually pretty terrible.

[Blake Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorites.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I probably would have loved this as a graphic novel. It's a quick, true to life, funny read.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it - couldn't put it down. Did a great job of showing the friendship between a girl and a guy in high school.

[Angie]

loved the understatedness of The Girl I Wanted to Be and would like more of that, please.

[Ruth]

Sometimes entertaining, but the writing isn't great.