Rating: 
Summary: Potent
Review: In a word--and there are quite a few that can describe this novel--stunning. I was simply floored by the power of Rebecca Godfrey's words and her control over them. The story of Sara Shaw is at once universal and singular. She could be anyone but she can't help but be completely herself. I was immediately drawn into the vivid, alternately fantastical and gritty world of The Torn Skirt. When forced to put this book down in order to sleep or work, I continued to wonder of Sara and her life. Until the very last lines, I had no clue what would come of Sara Shaw and even then, the possibilities are many. Godfrey's use of language borders on the poetic but it's never flowery. She is a bright and economical writer. The descriptions are sometimes sparse in length but the images and feelings they evoke are rich and authentic. This is the book I want to write.
Rating:
Summary: obsessed
Review: my friend sandrine and i are rather obsessed with sara shaw. we're not quite sure why. we saw a girl who looked like her on the bus with red hair and the same kind of reverie. we asked her her name and where she was going and followed her for a while. i guess that doesn't make sense. there is a community for this book on live journal so go there if you get it.
Rating:
Summary: Takes Big Risks -- and Pulls You In!
Review: Sara - who, I should point out, is incredibly naïve, although she aggressively and repeatedly insists she's not - begins her search at the Day and Night, a.k.a. the Get Laid and Fight, the local hookers' hangout. There, she's accosted by a sleazy photographer who, attracted to her fresh-faced innocence, tries to get her to pose nude for him. Ignoring his advances, Sara makes friends with China, a trashy, perfume-drinking hooker who lives and works at the King's Hotel. China ropes Sara into a wallet-stealing scheme on a john so China can raise the cash to start anew in another town; the outraged john threatens revenge as they flee, and Sara has a premonition that this will mean trouble for her down the road. As Sara's dad has taken off for a logging gig somewhere, Sara's on her own, and decides that she's done with school. She doesn't want to go home, because she doesn't want to deal with her dad's crystal-wearing hippie girlfriend, so she wanders around town in China's hooker clothes, making all kinds of unsavory friends. Crashing a junkies' party in the slums, Sara stumbles upon the elusive Justine once again, though she may wish she hadn't; a violent post-party encounter leaves Sara holding the bag for a crime she didn't commit, without a friend in the world. And no one could protect her. This a daring, intense exploration into the life of a young woman and her quest for life experience. Beautifully written and easy to read -- along with THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez -- I recommend it highly!
Rating: 
Summary: A look into the stress, and torture of coming to age
Review: Sara Shaw is a normal sixteen year old girl with normal problems that teens go through. Thoughts of sex, drugs, and life to come. But these thoughts to Sara take a step out of her mind and into reality.
"The Torn Skirt" is a look into the world of a girl that is deep down inside a normal girl, that is disturbed easily, letting the reality of being a teen tear her live in two.
When her loving "sex-addict hippie" father finds Sara masterbating he loses all he thought he had for her. After deciding that he cant handle the stress of her "growing up", he leaves her on her own and moves away. Now with Sara own her own, she falls into the allys and rooftops of her town with the whores and heroin addicts in the search for the girl in the torn skirt, the girl Sara thinks is wonderful and free.
Saras search put her all over her town as if it was huge city. Places shes never been and never known.
This book is so vivid and real. Sara is the character that we all could have been as teens. We all though bad thoughts and hate thoughts at times, only she turns these thoughts into reality, which will eventually bring trouble and a downfall.
Don't miss this incredible coming of age read.
Rating:
Summary: Twisted and Sad, Terrific and Slick
Review: Sara Shaw was born with a fever, but it didn't reappear until she turned sixteen. Bored with school, she spends her time in the bushes with the bad boys and tries to be friends with Heather Hale, a promiscuous girl at school. Abandoned at a young age by her mother and living with her gentle, yet permenently stoned father, Sara yearns to be tough, free, and rebellious. When her father catches her--shall we say--pleasuring herself in the garden one afternoon, he promptly moves out of their house, unable to handle her emerging womanhood. On her own, Sara leaves school and plunges into the underground world of 1984 British Columbia Canada. She meets China, a young prostitute who convinces her to help rob a 40-year-old man. From that moment on, life is not the same for Sara. She spends her time on the run, obsessed with finding Justine, an intriguing girl wearing a torn red skirt she first caught glimpse of in a local restaurant. Sara encounters various junkies, prostitutes, thieves, skater boys, and bounces in and out of runaway shelters. Just when she finally finds and is able to talk to Justine, the man Sara previously helped rob catches up to her and tragedy ensues. "The Torn Skirt" is vastly different from the books I normally read. Godfrey's writing style and prose are extremely unique: sinister, heartbreaking, raw, and yet elegantly descriptive, she makes the tone of the book one of despair, depression, searching, and angst. Sara is a richly developed, highly complex character, yet none of the other characters stand out in this manner, which is a little disappointing (I would have liked to have learned more about Heather, China, and Amber). In addition, Sara seemingly never struggles with her decision to become a runaway and never questions the decisions she makes, which detracts a bit from her character development at times. While I enjoyed reading this book and taking a trip into the underworld, there were times when it was a little too depressing and realistic, almost as if a black cloud were hanging over the book, or my head, while I was reading. This is not a kick-back-and-relax read, but more of a harrowing journey through a teenage girl's mind and world, which, admittedly, isn't always pretty. I do recommend this book, however, because the style and content are very unique and thought-provoking, making it stand out amongst the rest. "The Torn Skirt" is a coming of age book I won't soon forget. . . .
Rating: 
Summary: What's so shocking about this?
Review: Supposedly this book is incredibly shocking and disturbing---nah. I've read worse. I got through half of it and stopped reading it, it disappointed me so much. I was building myself up because every review raves about it, but frankly, it ain't that great. Perhaps it's Godfrey's style that did it for me. I believe it's called stream of consciousness...? Anywho, it didn't sit well with me. When the narrarator has abstract thoughts floating in and out of her lines, the reader starts to feel as wasted as the main characters. ...Although maybe I'm being too harsh. I should have given it a fair chance by at least finishing it, but it was too much of a let-down. I expected more stomach-churching, gut-wrenching, gritty events...and it was more like a shrug-your-shoulders kind of deal. Plus, if the author has the character(s) use the f-word that much, it just shows they're trying too hard to come off as tough guys. It achieves the opposite effect.
Rating:
Summary: Not what you might expect
Review: The reviews I've seen of this book talk about drugs and wild nights--but believe me, folks, this ain't no ANIMAL HOUSE, nor Bret Easton Ellis neither. Sara Shaw is amazing, completely un-self-aware; you want to wrap her up tight till the storm passes, or shake her (a little) in hopes that maybe, just maybe, she could see about herself what YOU see in her; but you also know she wouldn't allow it.....This here's a literary gem, all the more powerful because it's not afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve.
Rating:
Summary: Like a crazy dream
Review: The Torn Skirt. Ah. I read this and it left a lasting impression on me. The story is a poetic puzzle that fits perfectly. It is a lot like a dream really.
Rating:
Summary: Fresh? Brutally Honest? No.
Review: The writing is incredibly unsophisticated, which indicates one of two things: the writer is simply an unsophisticated writer or the writer was shooting for the "voice" of a teen, in which case she failed because no teen talks with that mixture of bad poetry and dimwittedness the writer attempts in this book. The fragments really put me off: lots of empty words, no substance. The whole opening fragment, for example, should have been cut from day one. Sex and drugs and masturbation are issues not often covered in a "fresh" or "brutally honest" way. This author is neither fresh, nor brutally honest. She's self-absorbed and artless. So is her character. This is one of those books that everyone would freak out over if a sixteen year-old had written it one crazy summer between sophomore and junior year. This proud holder of an MFA from Sarah Lawrence would do better as a staff reporter for the National Inquirer.
Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: This book is def dark and filled with teenage angst. It is entertaining in it's own right but I wouldn't buy it if you're not prepared for the gloomy cloud that will hang over your head afterwards....unles you're into that kind of stuff :)
The book was well written and had a good flow of the story, but the subject just wasn't my cup of tea.
|
