Customer Reviews

Chloe Doe

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

 

 

Suzanne Phillips is a wonderful writer. This book is filled with honest, true and riveting details. You really feel for Chloe. I couldn't put it down. The writing is stunning. A book that stays with you long after you've finished. You should definately read this one!

This is an interesting, workman-like addition to young adult literature. It has elements of mystery and family that make it more than just another gloomy look at a grim character in bleak circumstances. Like E.R. Frank's "America," "Chloe Doe" reveals the ache of its title character. Teen prostitution will make some readers uneasy, as will the appropriately realistic language, and such readers will seek out other material. The book is a quick read, even for people who don't normally enjoy reading. I can easily see teen readers of "A Child Called It" looking to this title.

CHLOE DOE is a wrenching, unflinching portrayal of a girl on the fringes of society. On and off the street since the age of eleven, having worked as a prostitute for most of that time, seventeen-year-old Chloe has little patience for the attempts of The Madeline Parker Institute for Girls to reform her. However, as she speaks with the institute's "shrink" and starts to bond with the other girls, she realizes there may be more to life than what she's assumed is her lot.

Chloe, who narrates the story in chapters set in the institute and flashbacks to her life before she ran away from home, has a sharp, engaging voice that will grip readers quickly and bring them into her world. As her story unfolds, those shocked by her situation will come to understand it. Despite her untouchable front, Chloe slowly reveals all the pain and fear that lie underneath, making her sympathetic even though her outlook is so different from that of most teens. Her love for her older sister in particular makes her human and achingly believable.

The novel doesn't shy away from the harsh details of Chloe's life. Thankfully, it manages to relate her awful and sometimes tragic experiences without falling into melodrama or playing up for shock value. Everything is stated simply and directly. While the narrative rarely goes into graphic detail, enough is shown and the rest is skillfully implied to make it clear that Chloe's path has been far from an easy one. This makes her attempts to open up and escape her narrow, hopeless world-view all the more poignant and heroic. As the scenes in the present and the past lead up to the final revelation of what drove her from her home, the reader will be glued to the page. The ending, when it comes, is hopeful without being maudlin or unrealistic.

That realism, ultimately, is what makes CHLOE DOE worthwhile. It acknowledges both the good and the bad, letting readers make their own judgments about Chloe and her life. Many will find themselves wondering, how would they have reacted, if things had gone a similar way for them? Could they have done better? Could they, in the end, rise above it? Chloe's story will inspire them with the idea that no matter how far one falls, there is always hope.

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

Title: Chloe Doe

Author: Suzanne Phillips

Paperback Reprint Edition

Amount of Pages:188 pages

Release Date: October 1, 2008

Publisher: Little, Brown

Meant For: Young Adults

From: Amazon

Summary:

I'm still two girls living inside one skin...
My soft center is the Chloe I was born to be;
the outer shell, as thick as armor, is the girl
I was forced to become.

The place they send seventeen-year-old Chloe Doe is better than where she was. Better than the streets, or so she's told. The Madeline Parker Institute for Girls is the place that can change her-- that is, if she can let go of the past that has nearly destroyed her.

Inspiring in her ability to overcome, Chloe Doe is poised to show the power of perseverance and, above all, hope.
chasinghoneybees' Review:

Let me start out saying, I just finished this book about an hour ago, and when I put it down, I just couldn't believe what I had just read. It was a quick read, and I read it here and there in the past couple of hours.

The writing style is very easy, it flows nicely from paragraph to paragraph, and page to page, which I really like. The book also serperates which parts are past memories, and what is the actual present, with bold or regular print.

I really loved this book, and it will be cared for. :)

Relationships:

The relationship between Chloe, and her sister, Camille, really hit me hard. While everything was explained in little bits here and there, I just kept on wondering what happened that Chloe kept referring to, as she hadn't referred to Camille in the present.

I loved the way Camille, as her being older, knew reality, and taught Chloe that everything she imagined wasn't true. I feel Camille suffered alot, and I was very anger for what happened to her.

Also, Chloe, and her doctor, Dr. Dearborn's relationship, really had me going. I really appreciated the fact that he made Chloe realize that in order to get better, she had to accept the fact that she was angry at people in her life, and that had turned into them.

If you do, read this book, Tammy also is very important, and I found myself smiling at the fact that she wanted to be close to Chloe by giving her something of hers.

Other Characters:

Chloe's mother, I'll put it bluntly, is just a horrible person. She could not accept the fact that she was ignoring the signs of her daughter's being mistreated, because she thought she was in love, and the person she loved, wouldn't ever do anything like that. Plain ignorance.

In the end, I just, really wanted to hurt her. She pushed her children away, and I find that just unacceptable, especially for a man. I mean, really? Grow a damn backbone.

Camille, I loved Camille, even done to her lipstick obsession.

Walt, he can just go die. Really, along with Chloe's mother. He damaged Camille, Chloe, and altered their lives forever.

Ramblings:

Would I read another Suzanna Phillips books? Yes, I would. I would go out and buy it in a heartbeat. Loved the way she did not show any graphicness, but still pulled you in to such a sad story.

I felt like the way she developed Chloe's character, was very realistic. I mean, when you're a prositute, and have to go to an institute, you really don't want to open up. But you have all that time on your hands, of course you're going to think of everything that contributed to getting you to this time and place in your life.

End Thought:

I give Chloe Doe a 4/5 stars. Go out and read it, seriously. I'm stroking the cover, it's that amazing

I was impressed with the writing style. The characters drew me in instantly, and seemed so realistic. Such a sad story of child abuse, and timely, as more and more people are beginning to realize the epidemic. Chloe seemed so heartbroken, and yet, she just wanted to feel okay, but didn't believe she ever would, or that she could ever place trust in anyone. I appreciated the hopeful ending.

This is a fast read, but the topic is a heavy one. I didn't really like the writing style becuase I couldn't tell if there was a conversation going on, Chloe was thinking, or if there was a conversation going on who was talking. It made my head hurt becuase I kept having to slow down so I could figure this it out.
The premise was excellent and could have made this a tear jerker, but again becuase of the writing style I wasn't able to get into it that deeply.

This book was deliciously excellent. It truly is a page turner that grips you from the beginning to the last word on the last page. I couldn't put this down! I love how Chloe transforms herself and finds peacefulness in her crazy, lost life. This book was excellent and it is sure staying in my book case for years to come! ;)

Chloe Doe is a very difficult book to read - because it truly portrays and reflects how difficult life can be for some people. As we open this YA novel, we get to hear the voice of Chloe who is now at The Madeleine Parker Institute for Girls. Chloe is 17 years old, but has lived enough heartache and horrors for many lifetimes.

On the surface, Chloe appears to be just another girl gone wild, but as she is encouraged to open up, by her therapist, we slowly come to understand many of the reasons behind Chloe's actions. Why she left her home and how she has come to resent her mother who decided to stand by an abusive stepfather who has been accused of horrible things.

In a frank, unflinching voice, Chloe tells us what it is like to be an unwanted person in this world, especially when you are not permitted to rely on the people who are supposed to care for you and make you safe.

As Chloe opens up - you feel her emotions - dread, fear, resentment, but most of all you feel her sadness - and although she never says it, I asked myself "why?" how was it that I was lucky enough to be born to a mother who was there for me and she was not? While this is a novel, this story could be about any number of teenagers who are out there on the street right now.

I loved this YA book and recommend it to everyone. This is a clear voice that needs to be heard.

Following her arrest for prostitution, seventeen-year-old Chloe lands in the Madeline Parker Institute for Girls. She's cut off from her family, but mostly from herself. Phillips tells the story of Chloe's disjointed life in a disjointed fashion: fragments revealed through slow therapy, emo-laced and poems, and flashbacks. Chloe's mind is cluttered, thus so is her story, which is loaded with the Spanish slang learned in her neighborhood. Similar in some ways to America by E. R. Frank (as well as my own Chasing Tail Lights), Chloe Doe is about a teen with too much experience too soon in life, trying to recapture an innocence.