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Summary: A tale of adoption do's and don'ts
Review: Girls in Trouble is amazing in its tale of young love and the consequences of what happens when it goes to far. It also proves that even girls with straight A's can fall into the web of sexually temptation and face the harsh reality of teen preganancy. In my opinion, this story makes the reader think hard on what is right for the teen mother and her baby. In the beginning I was all for open adoption. But now after reading this book; I truly believe that there should be some limitations.
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Summary: A page turner
Review: Caroline Leavitt has produced a wonderful book. The characters are so real - all flawed as real people are. In spite of their flaws, or maybe because of them, I could relate to and empathize with each one. I found myself staying up way past my bedtime to read more. The characters in this book, especially Sarah, will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.
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Summary: Girls in Trouble
Review: Caroline Leavitt is one of my favorite writers, and her latest book soared into my heart. "Girls in Trouble" truly touched me - she writes about real people and real lives. Her writing is lyrical and descriptive, you know these characters, what motivates them but you can't predict where they are headed. I recommend this book to anyone with a love for beautiful prose and an interest in the vagaries of human nature.
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Summary: Caroline does it again!
Review: I was fascinated with this book; I could barely put it down. I was happy that this book was not predictable, I figured that Sara would get her baby back, and that's not the case.
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Summary: Girls In Trouble
Review: I read Caroline Leavitt's poignant story of a teenager's choice to give up her baby. The consequent anguish and reversals of heart that are played out between all those who participate in this "open adoption" are portrayed with subtle skill. Caroline Leavitt can shatter us; she can draw us into a place full of pain but her fictional world is also glowing with an alternate tenderness. With the softest of authorial voices she conveys a collision of moral, psychologial, and human values and keeps us emotionally satisfied by weaving a good story.
This is a special book. And its humility is as real and deep as the characters who move across its pages. A compelling, thoughtful book which manages to engage and entertain as it also informs.
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Summary: Caroline Leavitt Doesn't Disappoint
Review: I've long been a fan of Leavitt's writing and have eagerly awaited her latest novel. GIRLS IN TROUBLE doesn't disappoint.
One of the finest and most challenging elements of writing is honesty. And honesty happens to be just one of the many strengths in Leavitt's novels. She infuses her characters with emotions, passions, actions -- and flaws -- that ring true, and at the same time, Leavitt treats her characters with tenderness and dignity. It makes them real, identifiable and ultimately appealing -- even when we might (perhaps) choose to act differently ourselves.
The writing is engaging. The pages seem to turn on their own, and the subject matter has particular relevance at a time when we all must consider the complex reality of teenage sex and pregnancy; abortion vs. adoption; postponed parenting; infertility; and open adoptions -- and the long-term consequences of our decisions.
Beyond that, like Leavitt's other novels, GIRLS IN TROUBLE skillfully and sharply examines family dynamics, mothers and daughters, self-discovery and love -- both lost and found.
Don't wait another minute to dive into this story.
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Summary: Gripping and beautifully told story
Review: Caroline Leavitt's writing is so full of life and passion that I was swept along on the wave of every sentence. This is a deeply intelligent, heartbreakingly moving novel of family intersections , of growing up, of learning hard lessons, and most of all, the infinite possibilities of love. Leavitt is in top form here.
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Summary: Leavitt explores timeless themes
Review: In her latest novel, "Girls in Trouble", Caroline Leavitt explores the timeless themes of teenage pregnancy, adoption, and first love, in the story of Sara, a pregnant sixteen year old, who offers her unborn child for an open adoption to two middle aged professionals, George and Eva. The arrangement fails, and we follow Sara for the next half of her life in her search for truth and validation.This book will resonate with anyone who remembers their first encounter with love. Caroline Leavitt weaves a dense and lyrical tale of Sara and Danny, latter day 'star crossed lovers', whose love is condemned by both their families. She portrays strong and convincing characters in this fearful interplay between the lovers, their disparaging families, and their daughter and her adoptive parents. The drama continues for the next 16 years. The choices that all the players live out, are relentless in their progress away from that original fusion, the perfect love of two teenagers, that can never be. It's a wonderful read, enjoy! Val Harbolovic
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Summary: A Compulsive Read That is Real and True
Review: GIRLS IN TROUBLE has numerous strengths and some weaknesses, but from the moment I began reading I thought, "This would make a great movie; boy, this would be a terrific movie." Given the fact that Leavitt has had books optioned for the screen before (all the way to the script being written), I don't think she wrote GIRLS IN TROUBLE with the goal of seeing it filmed; I think the movie-ready feel of the book is because her characters are so vivid and fully realized that they practically walk out of the pages. Sixteen-year-old Sara Rothman refuses to acknowledge her pregnancy until she's well past the stage of having any option besides giving birth. Her slightly seedy boyfriend is on the lam, her starchy parents are horrified that their honor-student daughter has strayed from the college path, and the only people who radiate approval are Eva and George Rivers, the would-be birth parents. Before long, Sara has practically relocated to Eva and George's warm, comfortable, open lifestyle, in which she --- the birth mother --- has a starring role. Feted with delicious food, little comforts and plenty of verbal encouragement, Sara seems to be living in a fairy tale for unwed mothers. Leavitt, of course, is too savvy a storyteller to allow the fairy tale to progress much further without a foray into the big, dark scary forest. Stung by rejection when the Rivers become preoccupied with new baby Anne, Sara exercises the kind of bad judgment people make when they're truly lonely (no spoiler here; besides, it isn't hard to guess what Sara might do). Leavitt is a microsurgeon of the choices we make that determine our lives' paths; the adult Sara, older Eva and adolescent Anne all square with the characters we met earlier in the novel. In part, that is due to Leavitt's intimate knowledge of her subject: she wrote an essay for Salon called "Dating the Birth Mother," about her and writer/husband Jeff Tamarkin's forays into open adoption. While the couple ultimately chose to forego adopting a child, Leavitt found herself fascinated by the teenagers she spoke to and created the character of Sara: "And the more I talked to these girls, the more I began to feel that some of them yearned for something more than just a good home for their babies. They yearned for me. They wanted to be a part of my family because here was the one place where they were getting approval, where they could be sixteen and wrest back a bit of that sixteen-year-old life without even a hint of disapproval," she wrote for Powells.com. From that yearning, Leavitt has created a novel that is as compulsively readable as a can of Pringles is snackable --- but unlike the Pringles, filled with substance. In the middle, perhaps, is a bit of airy filler; as in her previous book, COMING BACK TO ME, Leavitt runs into a spot of trouble trying to transcribe the passage of time (in that book it was while the protagonist lay in a hospital bed that the action wavered). Perhaps that's because, like her readers, she is eager to get back to the meat of the story, the back-and-forth, the tug-of-war, the push-me, pull-you of parenting in all its stages and guises. In that eagerness, too many loose ends get tied up too neatly, too quickly. However, no matter what its flaws, this book is real and true. When so many books published now are technically adequate but soulless, that should count for a great deal. Maybe a movie deal? --- Reviewed by Bethanne Kelly Patrick
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Summary: A tremendously satisfying read
Review: I was late for all my appointments, the week I read this book. Within the first few pages I found myself totally absorbed in the characters and their world (though their issue are usually not that interesting to me).
Caroline Leavitt gets into the minds of the characters, especially the heroine, while somehow, at the same time, providing a wonderful perspective for their actions. She also gives us enough plot twists that I had no idea how it would end. Don't worry -- the ending is extremely satisfying. A tremendously rewarding read. Sigh...
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