All These Girls [Hardcover]

Ellen Slezak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 2004

andy Golden is in trouble. Her mother has died. And she's quit her team after being falsely accused of having sex with her Detroit high school basketball coach. Her aunts are hurting too: Grandaunt Gloria's husband had a fatal stroke nine months ago, and Aunt Elizabeth and her husband have just divorced. Still, Glo and Elizabeth travel to Candy from their homes in Chicago and LA to set the girl straight and get her back on the basketball court. Glo plans the weeklong road trip to Northern Michigan-her idea is to save Candy with a combination of tough love and religious dogma. Elizabeth trails along at Glo's command. But Glo, Elizabeth, and Candy end up not at the Cross in the Woods shrine as Glo intended but in the economically depressed, fictional Northern Michigan town of Lovely, where they encounter a host of characters who cause them to rethink their commitment to each other. What emerges in this unlikely place is a ferocious game of emotional basketball, which ultimately leads these three women to face each other and the choices they've made.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this rather glum first novel, Slezak (Last Year's Jesus) tells the story of three women recovering from personal crisis at various stages in their lives. There's Candy Golden, the sophomore captain of the high school basketball team, orphaned after the sudden death of her mother, a recovering alcoholic. She's living with a friend's family, wondering what to do with her athletic talent and her future and feeling sullen and angry. Her grandaunt, the devoutly Catholic Gloria "Glo" Dreslinski, has lost her husband and is evaluating her marriage and her paltry romantic past. And finally, there is Candy's depressed aunt, Elizabeth Brannigan, recently divorced for the third time and unable to move on. Neither Elizabeth nor Glo want responsibility for Candy, but when Candy quits the basketball team and rumors start flying about her relationship with her coach, they move into action. And thus begins a path to redemption, as the women head on a pilgrimage to a northern Michigan shrine, the Cross in the Woods. The pace is slow and the resolution—a healing game of basketball in Lovely, Mich.—feels too tidy. There are bright moments here, and Slezak is a fine chronicler of angst, but because many of the characters' actions are based on hearsay, misunderstandings and gossip, the truths gained in the final chapters feel like a somewhat hollow victory.
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From Booklist

Three women grapple with grade-B lives in Slezak's first novel following her short story collection, Last Year's Jesus (2002). Forced to pay the consequences of bad choices and unfortunate circumstances, these characters never get a break, rendering the novel relentlessly realistic and sometimes uncomfortably resonant. Candy Golden, at 17, is a talented basketball player who is in trouble at school and whose alcoholic mother has just died. After years of noninvolvement, Candy's divorced and depressed aunt, Elizabeth, and her widowed great-aunt, Gloria, carry Candy off on a trip to the Cross in the Woods in northern Michigan, hoping to "straighten her out." When their hotel reservations are lost, they end up at the Mar-Jo Motel in the nearby town of Lovely (which unfortunately isn't), where small-town life challenges their coping skills. As all three maneuver for control in a complex tangle of family ties and emotional minefields, they learn hard lessons about self-awareness and family responsibility. This will appeal to readers fascinated by the psychological inner workings of women. Jennifer Baker
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (August 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786867426
• ISBN-13: 978-0786867424
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,168,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A story of emotional transformation, hope, and forgiveness, October 7, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All These Girls (Hardcover)

All These Girls by Ellen Slezak is the story of a bond between a young woman and aunts. Candy Golden has lost her mother, and quit her high school basketball team in the wake of accusations of having sex with her coach. Her Grandaunt Gloria struggles to help Candy straighten out and reclaim the energy to return to the basketball court, while her other, more distant aunt Elizabeth reluctantly comes along in what is meant to be a rejuvenating trip. Yet the travel goes off-course, and places the three of them in a remote locale, confronted by characters that will make them re-examine who they all are and what they are striving for in life. A story of emotional transformation, hope, and forgiveness in troubled times.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, moving work, August 11, 2004

By 

A reader (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All These Girls (Hardcover)

What a superb book this is! Slezak skillfully braids the lives of three women incompatible in every way--age, aptitude, beliefs--who are nevertheless held together by the stubborness of affection and the long guilt of family ties. Affecting without ever being remotely maudlin, the characters grope through their long-cherished anger and resentment to arrive at a new balance of compassion. Written with wit and often gorgeous power, the book will linger long with its readers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rich portrait of choice, September 20, 2004

By 

A Reader (Washington State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All These Girls (Hardcover)

All These Girls is that rare multi-generational novel about real women and girls that doesn't pander to its characters. In this rich, engrossing novel, the author presents three principled women as they are -- without condescension or excuses or undue praise. The story of their journey together isn't just that of a family coming together despite their differences, it's a celebration of those differences. As Glo's staunch Catholicism, Elizabeth's driving (but not always welcome) need for autonomy, and Candy's stubborn desire to confound expectations collide, they all find themselves not so much changed as enriched. This would be a terrific book group book, I think, because it's not only a great read -- lots of unexpected humor and intelligent insight here -- it raises a good many questions on how women and girls choose -- or must choose -- their way in life. The central narrative in this novel is a reluctant pilgrimmage, and I couldn't imagine a more apt metaphor for the journey many women make alongside their mothers, aunts, daughters, and nieces as their lives take shape. Highly recommended.