Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good book...
Review: I found the myself wanting to shake each one of the characters at different points while reading this book. I think it was well written and the characters were developed enough for me to alternately sympathize with and want to yell at each one of them. I was a little disappointed in the ending. I wanted to know a few more things, such as: Where was Luther? He turned out to be a helpful with Rosie's insecurities about winning, then he was gone. Did Elizabeth ever get a grip?Not a lot of resolution but a good book nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: totally kewl!
Review: This book was just totally kewl! I couldn't believe. It just seemed to draw me into the book. Rosie is a very interesting character. A little bit of everything happens in her life. I loved the book and can't wait to read more.
Rating: 
Summary: Lamott's weakest work
Review: As much as I appreciate Lamott's vivid, character driven fiction, I cannot recommend this book. The narrative lacks focus, the motivations of the characters, especially Elizabeth's, are not convincing -- it is not up to Lamott's standards. There is a character, a girl Rosie plays against in a major match, named Atterbury. I had not forgotten that Mr. Elizabeth's name is James Atterbury. Lamott apparently has. Not paying attention? Sloppy work, Annie. You should have lived with this one a little longer before you called it finished.
Rating:
Summary: Would have made a great short story.
Review: I realize that due to certain anatomical features I do not belong to the 51% of the population that is this book's target audience, however, my equal love of wemon's tennis and coming-of-age narratives drew me in. And I must say that for the most part I truly loved the parts that dealt with Rosie. It reminded me at times of the short-lived ABC series, "My So-Called Life," which also sometimes captured the sensibilty of teen-age life with impressive immediacy. Unfortunately the book is cluttered with several less interesing characters. The worst of these being Elizabeth and Rae, the first of which I found unbelievable and the second alternately pretentious and trite. Ms. Lamott would have been better served to pare this novel down to a tenth of its current length where it might have made a luminous short story with Rosie as its sole focus and all these other peripheral characters either eliminated altogether or marginalized to where they no longer bore or irritate. As it stands the menace of Luther is so diluted that by the time we reach the climactic scene between him and Rosie we feel cheated. A problem that would not occur in short story where the reader doesn't have so much time to predict what will happen next. But, then again, maybe I am just not a member of the target audience.
Rating:
Summary: Unfortunately my first Anne Lamott
Review: Judging by most of the reviews, others found the nonfiction works by Ms. Lamott very entertaining. Perhaps I'll enjoy one of those more, because I thought this book was mediocre. The characters were so whiny, neurotic, and self-obsessed that I didn't really care about any of them.
Rating: 
Summary: I grew to love this book
Review: I had just finished Traveling Mercies when I started this book. At first it was difficult to move from her non-fiction work to fiction. I kept imagining Anne Lamott and what she was thinking when she was writing. However, after about 50 pages I was able to move away from that way of thinking and became attached to the characters. I grew to love the book more and more as I got further along. Anne Lamott, in my opinion, really showed the angst of the teen years in a realistic way. I loved that Elizabeth was able to move on once she faced her grief. I really enjoyed this book.
Rating:
Summary: life isn't perfect and neither are these people...
Review: Nor should they be! These characters will make you angry at them and cheer for them. They won't always be your favorite people, but they will be like actual people. Their lives will be different from yours, but their humanness will be strikingly familiar. This is an excellent book for people who are interested in people and how they tick.
Rating:
Summary: Lamot is inspiring, full of life, insightful, and funny!
Review: What a wonderful portrait of life and relationship between mother and daughter, and especially the stuggles each deal with. Lamott's greatest strength is in making you smile and laugh throughout the story, and in carefully creating believable settings and personalities. There's a newness and vitality throughout, and it's clear that certain words are chosen carefully. I love this book, despite occasional sentimentality.
Rating:
Summary: poetic, poignant & provocative
Review: Well, I loved it! Maybe it was the rainy weekend that I found myself alone with it but mostly I think it was my inquisitive-ness about un-perfect-ness that kept me rivited. I love to explore with other people, their struggles to get through the hard times. This is one way that I affirm life's lessons. I feel a renewed belonging to the world from my own dysfunctional place in this life. I loved that she was some 5yrs away from the unexpected death of first husband but still not over it! Isn't that "perfect"? Her un-perfect-ness? I loved the sharp quips of sarcasism, the unleashed passions of anger & sorrow. I loved that Elizabeth was depressed and did not try to hide it. In fact, she expected her family to rally & take care of her through it. This was her shameless, powerful way of "practicing ressurection" Rosie gave a valuable lesson about honesty, bravery & what happens when you face your mistakes, in fact, claim them as yours and go on with new skin (and hair). This is probably more of a woman's book as the drama between mother, daughter, husband, girlfriend, deceased husband plays out vividly with many details unique to the female species. I felt A Crooked Little Heart was a gift that spoke to me about my human-ness, my woman-ness with all of it's confusion, pain, softly spoken true love & dark passages. I am so glad that Ms. Lamott gives us this along with bright lights of hope and humor and unveils truths so artfully.
Rating: 
Summary: Ann Lamott should stick to non-fiction.
Review: I loved "Bird by Bird" so much that I still quote it to my writing friends. I loved "Operating Instructions" so much I bought it for several new mothers and recommended it to even childless people. "Crooked Little Heart" is as dark as these non-fiction books were light. If you lean toward depressed yourself, don't pick up this book without a bottle of Prozac nearby. LaMott should be applauded for *attempting* to tell the truth about those horrible, early years of teenagehood for any female, but her plot is too thin to carry it, her characters too flat to retain interest, and her style too labourous to wade through. I only finished reading it as one sticks around to watch an accident scene. I wanted, prayed for her to find a way to redeem this work, but closed its cover deriding myself for having wasted my time and money. While critics on the book jacket said it's nice not to have everything sewn up neatly, for a change, it would have been nice to having something, *anything* resolved in this work. I'll look forward to LaMott's next work of non-fiction.
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