Customer Reviews

Confessions of a Recovering Slut : And Other Love Stories

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I agree with the Miami Herald Tribune when they said, "Hollis Gillespie deserves the Pulitzer Prize." I bought this book after reading that review, and while reading the book I must say I never laughed out loud so many times in one sitting. Gillespie will have you cracking up one minute and crying the next, and it's a roller coaster you'll gladly ride again and again. I found her pieces on the corrupt conditions in her neighborhood particularly poignant, and her humorous accounts of her efforts to protect her daughter from the criminal elements to be masterfully honed hilarity tinged with heartbreak. It left me wanting more, so I'm definitely buying her first book and hoping she'll write many others.

I loved this book so much after I borrowed it from the library, that when I couldn't find her first book at any of my state interlibrary lenders, I bought it (from Amazon!). I love Hollis' writing style; she is hilarious and original but all of her tales end with a poignant thought. I'd never heard of her before I read a review of her books on Amazon and I'm so glad I found her. I love that each chapter in her books is a short, mostly true story and I wish I had wacky friends like hers. I hope she keeps writing more novels because I will be reading every last one of them, possibly more than once, and I don't usually re-read books. (Another author I just discovered who is just like Hollis, is Laurie Notaro...I'll be reviewing her books next!)

You know a great book when you turn the last page and close the cover, and you're actually sad--bereft, even--that it's over. It's like one of those short-term, highly intense relationships in high school or college, where you discover a soul mate, spend all your time together, quickly learn all there is to know--and you still want more. I'm already missing my new BFF (even is she has no idea)(and this might make me a stalker?), after spending time almost every day for the last two weeks with Hollis Gillespie in her wild, wacky, wonderful world with Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch and the sequel, Confessions of a Recovering Slut.

In Bleachy-Haired, Hollis finally found her place in the world after an itinerant childhood, created a new family out of a very eccentric cast of characters, and bought her first house--in a dangerous crack neighborhood in South Atlanta. And then she got pregnant, which is the basis of Confessions: pregnancy, single parenting, facing fears and the future, more dysfunctional family & friendships, and finding a new house in a safer neighborhood.

Hollis is hysterical--I can hardly wait for the third book in her "Bitch/Slut/Whore" series. You GO, Girl--again.

Sherri Caldwell, co-author, The Rebel Housewife Rules: To Heck With Domestic Bliss!

Hollis Gillespie's second book might just be even better than her first one, if that's even possible. Her sassy way of words leaves me wanting MORE..Her characters Lary, Daniel & Grant are all certifiably crazy but with the best intentions. Hollywood needs to turn this book into a sitcom for HBO or Showtime. I love Hollis Gillespie, I love her style of writing and I have a feeling there will be more books to follow and if we are all lucky maybe we'll see Hollis's book turned into a Golden Globe award winning show for tv . Keep writing Miss. Gillespie.

I now am down to my last $100 and I ordered her book because she is the best writer I have ever read. So I spent 20% of all my net worth to read this book. It is that good. Really. When I live out of my car in a month from now you will see me reading her book and the tears coming from my eyes. Her last book was that good. It touched my heart and this one will also. It is pure magic!

This book was painfully boring. It seemed like the same story over and over again in each chapter. I could only read half the book before I came to my senses and wondered why I was wasting my time. If you are faced with the choice of reading this book or watching grass grow, choose the grass!

OK, I admit I bought this book on a whim, and purely from the cover illustration (I know, I know...), but I don't regret it for a minute! I can't tell you how many people I've reccomended this book to. This is not the kind of book you should read out in public alone. I laughed so hard at her writing that I'm sure people thought I was some nutjob. It was well written, dryly funny, and great for picking up and putting down so you can read it on a break at work. It speaks to the 30 something woman that I am without being the dreaded Chick Lit fluff.
I loved it and can't wait to get Bleachy Haired Honky Bitch!

This book has a great and quite honest (brutally honest) opinion upon life. She tells a story about a young girls life and all the drama that goes on in it. She also elaborates on other aspects; like, the place she lives the neighborhood and so on. Great book and I am sure the other one she has written will be great as well. Bleachy hair white honky bitch, can wait to tackle that one! ENJOY!

This book reminded me of the old Frank Sinatra song about having to be a father to a girl. Ms. Gillespie is pregnant ("I feel like a walking trash bag full of pig fat.") and has a little girl. All of a sudden the neighborhood of crack houses, whores and gunfights is no longer as much fun as when she was a Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch. I tell ya, it's a bitch to have to grow up.

And while most of us have to do that sooner or later (it's the short phase you go through before you realize you're old). Most of us don't have as good a way with words or a particular twist of mind to see quite as much humor in it as she does. Hard as it is to imagine, she's now a homeowner.

This book is a reprint of articles that she wrote while going through this change. This adds a timeliness to her writing. And also a randomness as this week she is thinking of this problem and next week something else. Besides few of us read her normal publication, 'Creative Loafing.'

Her next book will have to deal with the PTA, the school system, all the joys of home ownership (plumbing, electric, paint), and of course the other mothers at the soccer games. You'll just have to read this one while you wait.

Lots of folks have funny lives, interesting lives. Lots of folks have funny, interesting friends. But lots of folks (in fact, hardly any) can tell a story that has a reader laughing out loud AND weeping all within the span of a three page tale. Hollis has a way of tying together the surreal with the all-too-real, the hilarious with the poignant, the sweet with the profane.

Ms. Gillespie is that rare humorist (like Sedaris at his best) whose tales are as heart-wrenching as they are knee-slapping. Sure she has fascinating adventures with fascinating friends (including a new tiny comrade, her daughter Milly), but more importantly Hollis has a unique voice, a unique perspective, and a rare gift to bring all these things to life on the page. She deserves her interesting life because she's got the talent to exploit it for all of us to enjoy.