A Girl Named Charlie Lester by Carissa Halston

A Girl Named Charlie Lester

Carissa Halston

Kirkus Reviews: The razory hip Charlie sallies forth from a hateful adolescence to find sex, self-awareness and then, in its many guises, the thing called love.

Early in Halston’s tale, Charlie has a black sheep tattooed on her back, but that’s more a wish than a reality. Living with an abusive aunt after the death of her parents, she is a smart, reflective creature–post-Goth, baleful and brooding with a long streak of bookish bohemianism–though she displays little smarts when she falls for the tattoo artist. The emotional pain that Charlie experiences is beveled as Halston see-saws the chapters, touching down at the aunt’s house, then eight years later when Charlie has her own bookstore, and between, the now charged, now dolorous years. The author keeps the scale intimate so readers see the events of Charlie’s life up close, from the slap of her aunt reddening her cheek to raw, yet fruitful, discussions with her friends regarding her sexual orientation: ‘What a gentlemanly feminist you’ve become,’ chides one, as Charlie explores her lesbian leanings. The air of the book is sweet but not saccharine, emotionally generous, allowing Charlie to be uncompromising and independent and then tyrannized by her love life, idiosyncratic in her brainy verve, then willing to step back and look at the effluvia of her suburban existence. Halston lets the characters’ actions speak for them and, as a result, well-rounded personalities emerge. Charlie is a gem–a hard-bitten gem for sure–if calculatingly available.

A lovely piece of female confessional.


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Details

ISBN 061516546X
Genre Fiction
Publication Date Nov-07
Publisher Lulu.com
Format Trade Paperback
No. of Pages 224
Language English
Rating NotRated
BookID 4760

Author: LFWBooks