Rating: 
Summary: Utterly beguiling and wonderful. Deeper than it appears
Review: This book is proof that each of us has plenty of material in our 'ordinary' lives to use as material for writing a memoir. What most of us DON'T have, however, if Haven Kimmel's ability to write so well that what was really a very simple small-town childhood can be elevated to a 280-page book that utterly captivates. Kimmel achieves what many others have attempted to do and failed: she writes entirely from the child's voice without losing her audience, without becoming cloying, without making us want to smack her and say 'get on with it.' By turns wickedly witty, humorous, poignant, sweet, heart-wrenching, wise, A Girl Named Zippy is simply one of the best books I've read this year, a poem to a happy childhood.
I resisted it for over a year, fearing it was going to be a sappy, feel-good story. Wrong. It's utterly original, utterly uplifting, utterly hilarious, utterly wonderful. Do NOT fail to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A lovely, unforgettable memoir.
Review: This lady can write! A GIRL NAMED ZIPPY is a pure pleasure to read. It's hilariously funny, yet there are also some sobering, disturbing moments. A very American story set in a Midwestern small town, with lots of eccentric characters. Kimmel's use of language is just beautiful. Her descriptions bring an instant picture to mind. Here's the intro to one character: "[She] was short and whippet thin with dark hair bleached platinum and the skin of a career smoker. She was very tanned." Can't you just see her? And Zippy's dogs: "Tiger, who was some sort of beagle-shaped zeppelin with unusual bowel function and tragically short legs" and Kai, who "turned out to be the color of coins falling from a winter sky."This is not so much a story as a series of postcards from the author's youth. I fell in love with Zippy and her book-loving mother and almost-perfect father. It's a book to read again and again. A pure joy!
Rating:
Summary: What a find!
Review: How could anyone not like this book! What a find! With its insightful observations, its wit, its humor, and its full-out love, this charming book will undoubtedly move up quickly on the bestseller list. Like McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood" or Kidd's "Secret Life of Bees," this well-written memoir/novel is unique and enchanting, while at the same time managing to comment on so many issues that we all think about. The observations about Jesus in particular are funny and at the same time brilliant. Also recommended: THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD by McCrae and THE BREATHTAKER
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Summary: Kylie's thoughs on Zippy
Review: Do you remember what it is like to be a child? The crazy thoughts and assumptions that ran through your head? A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana, by Haven Kimmel, has exactly what it takes to remind you of your carefree days of being a kid. With no specific storyline, Kimmel uses pieces of her childhood from the 1960's and 70's to entertain her audience. She vividly describes what it is like to grow up living in the small Indiana town of Mooreland. Throughout the story, many of the townspeople are introduced. The humorous memories take you from Zippy's early childhood into her teenage years. The book reminds you what it is like to be a kid and the never-ending difficulties of growing up. Zippy is by far the most enjoyable book I have ever read. Kimmel's excerpts are laugh-out-loud funny. She does a great job of painting a picture to make you feel you like you are one of the crazy Mooreland people. Zippy is the perfect book to curl up to on a rainy day. This book is for people of all ages who don't mind a good laugh. I most definitely recommend this book to anyone, because I know they will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: What a great book!
Review: I absolutely LOVED reading this book. It was funny, interesting, and well-written. Kimmel successfully shows the world through the eyes of a young girl in a small town. I couldn't help but laugh out loud throughout the book. I have recommended this to all of my friends, sisters, and my mom. What a fun book!
Rating:
Summary: A Haven from Memoir Hell!
Review: Pardon the horrible pun above, but it's too true. I work in a library and the number of memoirs released each month seems to double from the month before. The vast majority of these are of the "Look how horrible my life has been, how can you not admire the strength of my character and stand in stunning disbelief at how I defied all odds to turn out as incredibly as I have?" school of writing. But then came Haven...!
This is a beautiful work of art that bounces you back & forth, almost seamlessly, between belly laughs & teary eyes. You never know what sort of a 180 any given story will take in the course of it's six or seven pages. One sentence is pure slapstick the next heartbreaking pathos. It's amazing how Kimmel can pull this off without giving the reader emotional whiplash.
This book seems to have turned off some people with its seeming contridictions and one-dimensional characters. How can a person dislike religion and still attend seminary school? How can someone say they love animals and still accept the brutal, unpretty truths of rural life? How can an older brother remain such an enigma to his adoring little sister? How can good parents drink, smoke and carry firearms? Simple answer to all the above - life is not a Danielle Steel novel. People & situations are multi-facted and complex. Love, hate and indifference can be surprisingly intertwined at times. We are viewing events through the eyes of a seven year old who doesn't yet have the maturity or insight to see beyond the top layer of a person's character. Haven Kimmel doesn't revisit her childhood through her adult sensibility. She records what she saw, what she heard, when a child and wisely leaves it up to the intelligence of the reader to see any further.
There were times while I was reading this book that Ms. Kimmel's younger self sounded like a slightly off-kilter Scout Finch. "A Girl Named Zippy" may never be the classic work that "To Kill A Mockingbird" is, but both share the same love & understanding of the blissfulness of a not always idyllic childhood.
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Summary: My new favorite book!
Review: I love this book! A Girl Named Zippy is such a funny view of growing up in Indiana which is exactly what I did. The short chapter style has made it a choice for me to read to a group of nursing home residents. They are enjoying Kimmel's sense of humor just as much as I. Rarely do I take the time to read a book twice; but Zippy is a pure delight even the second time around!
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, quirky characters
Review: I enjoyed ZIPPY. There are some reviewers who think it's not an honest memoir, but so what? (...) There were moments of verisimilitude that were so dead-on, like Zippy's marvelling over Dana's ability to not only do the dishes but wipe down the counters, even behind the cannisters. Another instance is how the father snaps the butt of his cigarette away. I've seen my father do that. I love the conversations between Zippy and her father. My favorite characters were the parents. The father had an interesting sort of charm, both in the fiction and in the accompanying photographs. The mother was my kind of gal, nestled into the couch reading endlessly. Like other reviewers, I'd love to know what happened in the gap after ZIPPY ended and I found the article about her in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY last month. I noticed in reading the acknowledgments that her mother has a different last name. Did her father die and her mother remarry, or did they divorce?
Rating: 
Summary: Lukewarm
Review: With such a title and the promise of fun times from the jacket copy, you'd think you'd be in for a laugh-o-rama. Unfortunately, this book falls very short on promise and seems to only have been carried aloft by its hype. I am amazed at the number of memoirs that have been coming out in the past year; memoirs written by people who have previously been strangers to us. They reveal in-depth stories of their life, but in the end, I wonder why they chose to share. What about their life was so fascinating that they got a book contract? The answer still eludes me. Kimmel's tries so hard to be entertaining that truth is sacrificed. The tales she tells are as elastic as sans-a-belt pants. The cute little details of how overly precocious she was are to add pepper to a bland Midwestern meal. If this is all she really has to share with us, what is to stop anybody else from being able to write a book about our own unremarkable families. The narrative as a whole jumps around and never gives any feeling of cohesiveness or linear structure. This is fine - were this Faulkner or Joyce. Some of the more intriguing characters, such as Kimmel's inwardly angry brother, are never developed and remain enigmas. But the main focus of this book is Kimmel's "wasn't I just the most precocious thing!" younger self. It doesn't really work. One thing that seesm to rankle many people who have reviewed this book is the treatment of animals. Give me a break. Kimmel grew up in a rather rural area, and animals are not given the bourgeois status we now assign to them. What was her friend supposed to do with the dead pig? Stuff and mount it? Really, the description of the animals in this book is matter of fact and Kimmel's reactions to them as a country girl seemed to be one of the most authentic things about the book.
Rating:
Summary: A great memoir...
Review: I thought this was an adorable book. Very funny. Haven Kimmel describes her childhood beautifully. Zippy is such an energetic little thing, it was nice reading about a childhood that was enjoyed (I just finished Running With Scissors not to long ago...wow). Some of the animal scenes wern't the most pleasant to read about, but then again life isn't perfect, and animals do meet unfortunate ends. If you can't handle it, don't read it. I highly recommend this book, it really was a great read, and I'm looking forward to her newest novel, Something Rising.
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