I Cannot Get You Close Enough: Three Novellas [Paperback]

Ellen Gilchrist (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 1991

Home for the summer in Alabama, Rhoda Manning seems blessed: her daddy is very rich, she is newly slim, and all of her friends adore her. But the passionate, independent Rhoda begins to realize that life is more than her comfortable, secure existence would suggest. As Rhoda strains against the confinements of home and family, she becomes reckless, flinging herself on a rebellious course toward destruction.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Readers of Gilchrist's short story collections ( Victory over Japan ; I Cannot Get You Close Enough ) have watched headstrong Rhoda Manning grow into an intelligent, independent yet spoiled and self-destructive adult. In making her the protagonist of this compelling novel, Gilchrist has broadened and deepened her portrayal to create a fascinating portrait of a young woman's difficult coming-of-age in the Deep South of the 1950s. Eschewing the prettified characteristics of a conventional heroine, Gilchrist candidly depicts Rhoda's racial and class prejudices and essential disinterest in civil rights until growing maturity deepens her understanding and involves her in a personal way. Meanwhile, we gain insight into her family's dynamics--her domineering, hot-tempered father and class-obsessed mother--and the influences that make her conform not only to the image of the Southern party girl but also to abuse alcohol and rely on habit-forming drugs. Not surprisingly, Rhoda is drawn to a man who resembles her father; her marriage to Malcolm Martin, an "ice cold Georgia aristocrat with a fierce libido," is disastrous. Gracefully evoking a time and place--with the cruelty of social injustice subsumed beneath the daily routines of a rich life--Gilchrist surrounds Rhoda with other characters of appealing vitality.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Another example of Gilchrist's remarkable ability to create a complex character who stamps her unforgettable persona onto readers. Rhoda is a precocious, intellectual young woman who has just completed her freshman year at Vanderbilt. A southern daddy's girl with an Electra complex, she is constantly protected from want by her family's wealth and power, while she repeatedly rejects their efforts to protect her, cover up her mistakes, and even raise her children when she abdicates this duty. Through Gilchrist's skillful portrait of this insecure, yet enigmatic and fascinating woman, readers understand what it is to repeat destructive patterns because of a basic need to be loved. This need becomes a strangling obsession and an endless cycle of alcoholic binges that bring her to the brink of disaster. Readers will want Rhoda to shake loose her demons, while they know she will not. Although the book deals with subjects that require maturity, adolescents can learn a great deal about family relationships. A sobering and absorbing look at self-destructive behavior that comes from an unhealthy dependency on others and an inability to take responsibility for one's actions.
- Barbette Timperlake, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 391 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (October 2, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316314234
• ISBN-13: 978-0316314237
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,075,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank Heavens for Ellen Gilchrist!, September 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: I Cannot Get You Close Enough: Three Novellas (Paperback)

I loved these novellas. Each one could have been published as a "little" book (the size of HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT or ELLEN FOSTER) and most certainly "passed" for a novel.

"Winter" was a gripping tour-de-force of Anna Hand, the late author, on a madcap trip to Europe, trying to gather evidence on her evil sister-in-law. "Olivia DeHaviland Hand" introduces us to Olivia, the long lost daughter of Daniel Hand, and niece to Anna and Helen. I must say I loved "A Summer In Maine" because all of the characters talk, drink, make love, and stir up mischief.

I just hope Ellen Gilchrist writes as fast as she can. She's a poet, she's a philosopher, she's a genie, she's underrated!!! Some of her characters border on alcoholism, but they are so deftly drawn, they come across as flesh and blood; in lesser hands, these women would have come across as melodramatic vixens. Her work is loud and subtle, wild and innocent. I noticed on Amazon that she has another book coming out in 2000.

1.0 out of 5 stars YUK!, September 12, 2010

By 

Amy A. Monsen "doglover" (Gold Country, Calif.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Cannot Get You Close Enough: Three Novellas (Paperback)

This book stinks. I kept on reading...thinking it would get better. NOT! All 3 stories are not separate. They are one continuous ton of drivel about some of the most self-absorbed rich idiots I have ever wasted my time reading about. This softcover was a discarded library book....now I know why it was discarded.
There was only one interesting character and she was not fully developed. Really....it is a total waste of time. DO NOT BUY!