What Girls Learn : A novel

Rating:
Summary: Ending...good or unnecessary?
Review: This novel was a different read than I am used to reading. There were some parts that I thought were not really neccessary for getting the point across. Karen Cook could have used other senarios as opposed to molestation, death, and sexual situations. At the end of the book, the author gives the reader a false sense of completion. The last two chapters are not both needed. It should have been one or the other. Procession vs. Memory. I think that Karen Cookm should have just deleted the chapter entitled Processison and ended the book with Memory. In the Memory chapter, we are taken to the characters live three years later, ultimately giving us a good sense of closure, and who they are now. Though it is not at the same time as the previous cha[pter, it tells us the truth about death. This chapter focuses more on Tilden, the main character of the book. She is able to finish her story and tell the reader of her memories of mama. This chapter is much more true to life. We see how things really are now that the characters have been given some time to mourn and get back to real life. Tilden talks about her sister, and the mystivious life she has turned to, and how really different they both are. From the beginnning, it has always been three, mama, Tilden and Elizabeth, but now...its only two.

Rating:
Summary: Decent novel
Review: This was an interesting book. It chronicles the changing lives of two sisters, Tilden and Elizabeth, their journey through adolescence and how they deal with their mom's cancer. There are two endings in the book, but I preferred the second one, Memory, because of the way it detailed the process of losing someone close and each person's reaction to the tragedy.Cook also does a good job of expressing the details of what each character is thinking or feeling at a particular time and presents universal themes in a unique and poignant storyline.