Customer Reviews

American Pie: A Novel

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

American Pie, was a selection all 14 members of our Reading Club enjoyed. Not only does that not happen often, it made for a short discussion! This was the first novel of West that I had ever read and I did indeed enjoy her writing style. I enjoyed the writing in the first person, however the switching back and forth from sister to sister did have me checking to see who was speaking at times. I completely related to the tale of threee sisters and how amazingly different each of them were. The author captured the family dynamics also as to how people who have struggled with real family issues and losses turn out when they reach adulthood. Specifically seen with the different lives that Freddie, Eleanor, and Jo-Nell took. Unfortunately if it is "discussion" you are looking for by selecting this book, think again....it is more for personal enjoyment than comparison or debate. Our discussion I think lasted 10 minutes! I look forward to reading more of West's selections in the near future.

If it wasn't for bad luck, the McBroom family wouldn't have any luck at all. This is the first lesson Michael Lee West teaches as you begin reading American Pie. This family has been through a lot...sickness, death, suicide, depression, desertion...The story begins as Freddie, a marine biologist, who escaped life in Tallulah and moved to California, is called home. Her baby sister and town slut, Jo-Nell has been hit by a train, trying to balance a tequila sunrise on her lap while driving and is in critical condition. As Freddie comes home to help out her Grandma Minerva and sister Eleanor, the revelations of the McBroom family begin to pour out. This is a story of love, loss and adversity, narrated by each of the different family members, as they look back on the events of their lives and what brought them to this point. Wonderful characters with strong voices and great writing pull you into the lives of these people and keep you turning pages to the satsifying end of the book. A perceptive story about small town, southern life, that is both poignant and uplifting and told with great humor, wisdom and insight.

The three McBroom sisters get more thrown their way than most people can handle. They think they are cursed and tragedy doesn't just strike in threes for them, it occurs in 6's. While this book focuses a lot on the tragedies that befall this southern family, there are a lot of funny things that happen also. These three girls are as different as different can be. Freddie is a genius marine biologist, Eleanor is a recluse who barely leaves the house except in the company of old widows, and Jo-Nell is the black sheep of the family sleeping her way through all the men in the small town of Tallulah (including the ones with wives). When Jo-Nell is in an accident involving a train Freddie leaves the west coast and travels once again to the town of her childhood.
The things that happen as the sisters are reunited again are funny and sad. They all three make life changing discoveries about themselves and realize who they really are. This book by West draws out the Southern small town setting and every woman can relate in some way to at least one of the sisters.
I love books by West and she has yet again made a charming read with this one!

American Pie is the story of 3 sisters from Tennessee who have suffered a painful childhood. After losing their parents, the girls are raised by their grandmother, Minerva. The story begins when one of the sisters, Jo-Nell, is in an accident, and Freddie and Eleanor, come to her side to help her recover. The characters and their relationships with one another seemed a little under-developed. The novel takes an interesting look at how 3 individuals cope differently given many of the same obstacles to over come, and how they try to free themselves from their current obstacles. I think overall, this novel was just ok. For other great southern writing, try Big Stone Gap by Adrianna Trigiani or Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells.

I read this book after Rebecca Wells' Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Patty Jane's House of Curl by Lorna landvik. American Pie is a story about three wild Southern women who are searching for the American dream. They keep getting disappointed yet they bounce back each time. Eleanor, who is agoraphobic, Freddie, who is a genius marine biologist (but is married to a man who can't keep his zipper zipped), and Jonell, who is a bar hopping, man crazy belle. They all come together in a little Tennessee town after the slut gets hit by a train. One thing after the next happens. Deaths, impetetous love affairs, family secrets revealed.

Wells, Landvik, and West excell at female buddy books. I highly recommend their novels read back to back.

I love the south. I love key lime pie and barbequed chicken and cole slaw and old ladies who wear funny hats and sitting out back under the old oak tree, sweat running down my neck dreaming of the northern Indiana winters of my youth. Okay. You caught me. But I do love southern fiction and Michael Lee West does it as well as it can be done. She's got the touch. Eleanor, Freddie, and JoNell have seen their share of death and disappointment and are now at a turning point in each of their lives. You'll love all three of them, as well as Minerva, the grandmother who raised them. I am definitely a Michael Lee West fan after reading AMERICAN PIE and CRAZY LADIES. She takes a story and twists it neatly into a comfortable read, one that was more interesting for me than watching people in an airport or eating lunch. Just plain good!!

This one was hard to put down! The book is so well written, with in-depth depictions of three very different sisters and the adoring grandmother who helped to raise them. Although tragedy seems to follow the family like the plague, the sisters cope in their individual styles, which will leave you, at times, in stitches. If you enjoyed any of West's other novels, or other stories such as Rebecca Wells' "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and "Little Altars Everywhere," I would recommend this one as a must-read!

I might have rated this book 5 stars if I hadn't read WHAT LOOKS CRAZY ON AN ORDINARY DAY right after it. I liked American Pie-- it kept me reading until the end and was much like the "crazy" book in terms of the story revolving around a woman coming home. I had somewhat of a hard time dealing with each chapter being written in the voice of one of the characters. At times I had to look back and see who was talking -- JoNell? Minerva? Freddie? Jackson? AND . . . . I wanted Sam to put in his two cents worth, even though he wasn't present. It made me think back to my first high school love and what it might be like to see him again. Overall, I enjoyed the book, the characters, and the setting. Kind of made me glad I'm a northern girl -- no offense to the South. If you're missing "home" as I am all the time, read AMERICAN PIE and don't miss WHAT LOOKS CRAZY ON AN ORDINARY DAY.

This novel is quite different from the books I'm used to reading. It envelopes you into the lives of the McBroom sisters and their grandmother as they deal with love, life, and death. It's serious, but also, hilarious.

I found myself finishing this tome within 2 days because I genuinely cared about the characters and their so-called 'family curse'. Bad things kept happening to the sisters and their grandmother because of the curse and I felt the need to see if any resolutions were provided.

The author's writing style is laid-back and free flowing. Very easy to follow....

American Pie is tasty and easy to digest, check it out. Trust me, you'll be satisfied!

to embrace West's remarkable characters and claim them for friends. American Pie's humor, dialogue, and women characters weave themselves into our lives. Too different to be sisters, but isn't that the way it works in real life? I believe West finds a way to sprinkle a little bit of all of us into her heroines. Like the sisters of Crimes of the Heart, these characters learn to grow together regardless of their differences. Great southern novel!