Ferris Beach: A Novel [Hardcover]

Jill McCorkle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1990

Katie Tennyson Burns is caught at the stage of life when everything is both wonderful and terrible. She is caught, as well, in a struggle for her spirit--in a contest between a prim and sensible mother and a beautiful and reckless cousin. A riveting novel about the conflict between manners and freedom, between those who live by the rules and those who bend and twist them.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set, like her previous novels, in a small Southern town, this coming-of-age story demonstrates McCorkle's ( Tending to Virginia ) deepening maturity as a writer and a new subtlety of prose and theme. Nine-year-old Kate Burns is acutely aware of the port-wine mark on her face. Chafing under her mother's straitlaced supervision, she yearns to resemble her mysterious, racy older cousin Angela. She envies her best friend, Misty, whose mother, flamboyant, reckless Mo Rhodes, brings an exotic dimension to the neighborhood. During the course of the narrative, which carries Kate through her high school years, McCorkle conveys a child's perceptions of family friction and community tensions, her growing awareness of vulnerability and sadness in adult lives, and her introduction to sexual cruelty and death. Yet McCorkle controls her story with dextrous skill; these events unfold gradually and inevitably from the stream of daily life. Whether portraying the love/hate relationship of best friends, the pangs of an ungainly girl during adolescence or the insult-laden repartee of teenagers attracted to one another, McCorkle illuminates character with ironic humor and empathic insight.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- Ferris Beach is where excitement and glamour start--at least that's what Kate thinks as she hears about her cousin Angela who lives there. Kate has had a humdrum, "normal" childhood; her conservative mother and humorous father have brought her up "properly," while Angela has had freedom and romance. But even freedom has its dark side, as Kate finds out. This coming-of-age novel is special. The humor, tenderness, sharply defined characters, and a feeling of "being there" make the 1970s come alive in the small Southern community depicted.
- Diana C. Hirsch, Prince George's County Memorial Library System,
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 343 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition (October 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945575394
• ISBN-13: 978-0945575399
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,192,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book Review of Ferris beach by Jill McCorkle, April 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Ferris Beach (Mass Market Paperback)

Book Review of Ferris Beach by Jill McCorkle

Ferris Beach is a book that is filled with many details of the characteristics of a small-town. It gives an intimate portrait of each character and their personality. The novel takes place in the south in the 1970's during a time of change. The young girl in the book reveals several details about her family and friends whom she is very close to. The reader can easily become attached to the characters by using a vivid imagination, which allows them to relate personally from their own experiences. The author, Jill McCorkle, touched on every subject that could possibly affect any person who reads it. Kate, whom some would call the heroine of the novel, was at an age where everything in her life could have a lasting effect. She was very impressionable. Her immediate family and her distant relatives could be considered opposites, but Kate loved them all. She was cought in a tug-of-war between what her gut feelings compelled her to do, and doing what she knew would be the right thing. That is something very hard to deal with. There are also friends and neighbor's who contribute the uneasy atmosphere of the community. There are a few twists and turns in the story which capture the reader even more intensely. This story can make the reader sad, or be cheery at the same time. Jill McCorkle has a way with words which allows the reader to feel those emotions. Many have said that she is the finest writer, not just in the south, but anywhere. She is real and authentic with her writing. She expresses real situations, real emotions, and real human nature. The characterizations in Ferris Beach are very well developed and may sometimes resemble someone we know. All of these aspects summarize why this is a great book to read and recommend to others.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one of those books you re-read all the time!!, May 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ferris Beach (Mass Market Paperback)

The first time I read this book I was still young, but I loved it. The way Jill McCorkle potrays each character so realisticly is amazing and wonderful at the same time. This is my tenth time reading it and each time I read it it gets better and better. I recommened this book to anyone who loves realistic fiction storys that make you feel like you see the characters to the supermarket tomarrow. I was touched the way I could relate to the main character (Kate). Please take time to read this book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book worth reading, July 11, 2000

By 

Ashley Moseley (Franklin, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ferris Beach (Mass Market Paperback)

Reviewer- Ashley from Franklin, TN nited States This book focuses on the life of a girl in Southern North Carolina. Her mother, a well-cultured woman from Boston, tries to make the girl Kate have the kind of lifestyle that she had. Her father, a layed-back easy-going man, lets Kate choose whichever lifestyle she wishes to have. This book is full of pain and sadness; heartache and happiness. I recommend this book to teenagers, as a teenager, I feel I can relate to it and hope that others who read this book will also like it and relate to it.