Tiny Ladies

by Adam Klein

Carrie hasn't always made the best decisions in her life. But her affair with Victor, one of her clients when she worked as a caseworker in San Francisco, had disastrous results. Years later, handling cases in the midst of the frozen winters of the Mid-West, Carrie is assigned Hannah as a client. Carrie recognises in her a kindred spirit also trying to escape a troubled past. Both Carrie and Hannah know what it is to be surrounded by violence. They know the mental scars can last longer than any physical mark. As they try to work through their respective traumas, Carrie becomes increasingly aware that her past has, literally, come back to haunt her. Could that shadowy figure she?s seen be Victor, returning to claim her, and drag her back to her old life of addiction and crime? Or has he come back for revenge? Tiny Ladies is a stark and suspenseful novel about remorse, the ironies of intervention and the terrible courage it sometimes takes to start again.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Larry H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd rate this 4.5 stars.

Full disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Carrie is a caseworker in Iowa doing her best to help her clients overcome their struggles and make a fresh start of their lives. She's trying to do the same thing—her previous tenure in the same role while living in San Francisco ended disastrously, with her having an affair with Victor, a dangerous client, and resuming a drug addiction that has had her in its grips since her teenage years. She's desperate to keep her life together, but she can't keep herself from caring too much about her clients.

"Caring about people is wounding. That's why so many people are reluctant to care. It hurts."

When Carrie meets Hannah, a troubled young woman with more than her own share of problems, Carrie feels like helping Hannah might be what she needs to finally move her life forward. But as she realizes Hannah is a more complicated person than she first thought, Carrie finds herself having to confront someone from her past, someone she hoped would never find her, and it sets her on a dangerous path.

Tiny Ladies is a brutal, beautifully written novel about the toll addiction takes on a person's life and those around them, and how hard it is to break the cycle of addiction when it's in your blood. It's a story about struggling to do what is right while your life is spiraling out of control, and you wonder if the effort it takes every day is truly worth it. The book shifts in time throughout Carrie's life, from her childhood growing up poor near the Florida Everglades, the daughter of two drug addicts, to the start of her own addictions, and her relationship with Victor, which has disastrous consequences for more than just her career.

I had never heard of Adam Klein before but the description of this book intrigued me tremendously. Klein is tremendously talented, and he so perfectly captured Carrie's voice and her soul, which isn't always a strong suit of male authors. This isn't a happy book by any means, and at times the storyline seems a little disjointed, but it is so powerful, and you find yourself urging Carrie not to make the same mistakes again, to try and pull her life together. This was an excellent read I'm glad I stumbled upon.

[Chin-Sun Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a completely bonkers and compelling book about obsession, identity, and escape. The overall mood is one of heightened suspense and doom—but I have to say, there are unexpected moments of hilarity too. Especially at the climactic scene toward the end...I cannot give away spoilers but it is just INSANE. Psychological noir with a touch of black humor. Loved it.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one has been on my shelves for years, finally started reading it and finished it in a day!
If you like unusual authors and ever see a random book published by serpents tail I'd advise you pick it up no matter what book it is.

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It’s the rooms inside us, how we manage their emptiness."

Tiny Ladies takes you into the world of not just addiction and the myriad of ways it infects everyone in it's path, but it proves that fixing people often means hurting yourself. As she says "People are fragile; once they’re broken you can’t piece them back." Living with the remains of a traumatic childhood herself, one full of poverty, addicts for parents and sexual abuse she is plagued by her own inner demons. This novel is harsh and blunt, but honest. It is addiction exposed, and for Carrie the reader understands why she turned to drugs to cope. After an ill fated affair with her client Victor in sunny San Francisco, we find her in the winter of the mid west, maybe even the winter of her soul. As a reader, that change wasn't lost on me.
Slipping yet again into a relationship with her new Client Hannah, she digs through the muck of her own past as Hannah reaches into hers. The two women search to heal themselves and each other by shedding light inside the dark. While this novel is disturbing, it is necessary in order to dissect why Carrie made the choices that allowed someone like Victor to infect her life. Because some people are a plague. Exploring the past is often the only way to the future.
Adam Klein writes beautifully and conjuring lovely prose when writing about a dark subject is no simple gift. I look forward to reading other stories by this talented author.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. Adam Klein creates some absolutely breathtaking sentences. I liked the sense of foreboding that lasted through quite a lot of the story, but I felt somewhat unsatisfied with the book's conclusion.

[Brooke, · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tiny Ladies is an uncomfortable and uncompromising read...
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