Customer Reviews

Inside Out Girl

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this book! It is a beautiful story with wonderful characters. I loved Olivia, a quirky and adorable mix of innocence and heart breaking vulnerability. I loved the relationship between Len and his daughter Olivia. A moving story and a great read from cover to cover.

Len Bean and Rachel Berman are two attractive single parents, doing their best to balance high-powered careers and the needs of their children when they meet in the breakdown lane of the highway. (For once, it's the woman who plays hero, since Len has no idea how to change a tire.) What follows is an old fashioned love story--but not the one I expected. Though I was utterly charmed by Len's devotion to his daughter and Rachel's tendency to apologize for things that aren't her fault, it was the children who stole my heart. Olivia, who loves rodents and her father beyond reason is one of those unforgettable child characters whose triumphs and heartbreaks will sear you forever.

"Your inside is out, and your outside is in." -- Beatles, 1968 from "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me & My Monkey

Olivia Bean 10, whose name is as deliciously appealing as her very quirky character dances to her own tune. She lives with her widowed father Len and her paternal grandparents are part of her life.

Len is clearly a good father trying his best with Olivia who, at 5 was diagnosed with a Nonverbal Learning Disorder or NLD. A condition that has closely overlapping behaviors with autism, the distinguishing factor of NLD is an indiscrimate display of affection. Author Tish Cohen defines Asperger's Syndrome, which is the spectrum partner to autism as a condition wherein people are content to remain in their own worlds. That is not true. Many if not most people AS crave social interaction and social acceptance but have trouble navigating social terrain with their neurotypical (NT) counterparts.

Olivia's behavior is very bizarre. She hugs everyone without question; she does not even know when her own birthday is and she wears her clothing inside out. She plays with Barbie dolls in a very unusual way and has an encyclopediac knowledge about rodents. In fact, readers are introduced to Len and Olivia when her rodent dies and she refuses to bury him.

A chance encounter with magazine editor Rachel Berman bring two families together. A divorcee with 2 children, Janie 14, and Dustin, 12 Rachel has all she can manage with the magazine and her children's issues. Unknown to her, Janie is gay and Dustin is a typical pre-teen interested in skating and heckling his sister. He is very funny and the typical brother.

Len and Rachel plainly need each other, even if their kids don't hit it off right off the bat. Olivia likes bubblegum pop while Janie prefers "pure punk" from the 1970s and 1980s. She fancies herself a "punk purist" and idolizes the Dead Kennedys, Sex Pistols and their punk peers. In one very funny moment, Janie tells Olivia that her sugary pop tunes are "mainstream BS" and Olivia repeats that to all and sundry. Olivia also has very rigid routines about food and Rachel learns to work within the boundaries of Olivia's very specialized needs.

As it turns out, Olivia and the Berman kids attend the same school. Janie's life parallels with Olivia's wherein she is rebuffed by a neighbor girl and classmate on whom she has a crush. This in turn leads to a huge dent in her reputation among her peers. Olivia, never able to figure her peers out, takes everything they say seriously even when they set her up for cruelty and ridicule. Toward the latter part of the book, some of her worst bullies trick her into accepting an invitation with devastating results.

Len has his own very serious concerns to think about as well. He has to make some very major decisions concerning his only child and that is where Rachel comes in. Each help the other make connections they thought were forever lost. The Beatles' 1965 "In My Life" could easily be the soundtrack of Len and Rachel's courtship.

This is a book that readers of any age would enjoy. Phil Collins' "Inside Out" could very well be the soundtrack of this book as well. Readers get a good understanding of the social hierchy of middle school; coming to terms with one's sexual orientation and peer pressure and peer trickery and bullying in general. This is a wonderful book that gives an excellent look at raising a child with special needs and decoding the social perplexities that so many face.

I really enjoyed this book and quickly went out to buy the other Tish Cohen publications. I will continue to read her books in the future. I'd rate her right up there with the NY Times bestsellers.

Olivia, a girl with a learning disorder shines out as life unfolds around her. Len, her father was left a widow when his wife was bringing a doll to school for Oliva. We see Len, her father holding on to life as best as he can. He is bringing up a daughter with special needs, and he gives himself completely to his daugher. Tish Cohen writes about real characters that you would see in everyday life. She does so in a way that you feel you are in the room with them as events unfold.

Len meets Rachel a successful single woman with two teenagers of her own. Her teenagers are going through the troubled teenage years as we all go through. Rachel is a divorced woman whose children finds it difficult to see their mother dating. Tish Cohen writes about each character you encounter uniquely, and in such a way you want to sit down and learn more about them. Len and Rachel engage in their own relationship trying to get the children to meld together, with it being more complicated by Olivia's disability.

Some may critize the writing as being too well packaged, and too predictable. I found the characters to be endearing, and for the book to flow in such a way it was difficult for me to put down. If you are looking for a book to curl up with and for you to simply fall into the story, this is a fantastic book for this. Engaging characters going through life, as it is, and not how we hope it will be makes this a book to pick up and savor.

Rachel Berman is publisher of Perfect Parent magazine. She's also an extremely overprotective single mother of two: Janie, a rebellious teen still searching for her identity, and twelve-year old Dustin. Len Bean is the single father of ten-year old Olivia, who has a non-verbal learning disorder. Rachel and Len meet when Rachel offers to help Len change a flat tire. Eventually, they begin dating. This is to the chagrin of Janie and Dustin, who know Olivia from school as "The Inside Out Girl", the girl that wears her clothes wrong-side-out. Olivia is extremely intelligent, but due to her learning disorder, she is unable to pick up on facial and verbal cues, which often results in socially inappropriate behavior. Rachel and Len's world is suddenly upended and Rachel is forced to deal with hidden secrets from her past. Will she be able to be the perfect parent that she aspires to be, or is this level of perfection unattainable? It is impossible not to fall in love with Cohen's characters. My personal favorite was Olivia. Olivia's combination of innocence and vulnerability tugs at your heartstrings. She alone is the individual responsible for joining together two very unlikely families into one.

I love when I am so taken by a book's characters and plot that despite my better efforts to put it down I find my mind keeps drifting back to the book and my desire to find out what will happen. This book easily did it to me.

When the book opens Len and Rachel are single parents brought together over a flat tire. Each is dealing with his or her own challenge. For Len it's a child with a learning ability who requires his constant attention and protection. For Rachel it's managing a struggling magazine once run by her father while parenting two children. What follows is not a typical love story, but one with a very real quality that forces them to confront a secret from the past as well as the uncertainty of the future. The story of single parents finding love again is not new, but Cohen tells it in such a way that it is fresh and compelling at every turn.

Overall I could not recommend this book more highly. It is one of the most compelling I have read in a long time. Much of this is due to the characters that Cohen creates. She does a beautiful job of bringing them to life with realistic dialogue, emotional inner feelings, and interesting scenes. By the end of it I had really fallen in love with each character. She manages to make them seem as complex as real people and in this you cannot help but root for each one of them. She also succeeds at throwing in enough twists and turns to keep the book interesting while doing a great job of wrapping up various story lines. In reading her book I found myself reminded of My Sister's Keeper: A Novel because she deals with emotional issues in a way that is thought provoking.

Overall this is an excellent read and will be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates well developed characters and an emotional story with interesting twists and turns. I highly recommend it.

Character collectors are going to want to look into this novel which has character and realism that made it one of my more satisfying reads of late.

With humor and heart, Cohen fleshes out her characters into people you've run into or shared an elevator or dorm room with. In the weaving together of the satisfying story of Olivia Bean, the cast of inside out girl yanked on my hope and pulled at my compassion. Cohen writes with impressive skill. This novel is so multifaceted that could have gone sappy or morose but didn't despite a slightly too neat or maybe slightly rushed ending.

The subject matter is hard, life, death, illness, change and emotional challenges. Each character is presented as a lost person, sometimes barely functioning throughout overwhelming circumstances. The will to live and continue on resonates in Cohen's characters. I appreciated that though the themes are heavy and difficult I didn't feel jerked around emotionally. Cohen is no lightweight with prose either. Creative, strong, writing made the book a pleasure to read.

A sexual sub-plot goes to the edge of R-rated but doesn't quite get there. A smattering of F-Bombs are realistic in their usage rather than thrown in for lack of creativity. Unless you are offended by the above, I recommend this novel as a gratifying way to spend a few hours.

Another great novel by Tish Cohen.

Cohen does a masterful job creating wonderfully complex characters. In Inside Out Girl, Cohen tackles a tough, mostly unheard of disorder, and she does so with dignity and respect, while shedding light on what it's like to live with NLD.

As always, Cohen includes her wonderful, quirky humor as she creates a world of complex yet real people and relationships, with real struggles in real life.

Inside Out Girl is the story of Len and Rachel, two single parents struggling to balance work, parenting as well as managing a trauma that occurs unexpectedly. Soon after they meet, they begin dating and find their lives quickly intertwined as a couple in relation to their children, especially Len's daughter Olivia who has NLD (non-verbal learning disorder). The plot and writing were a trite at times but what I really enjoyed was the characters. They feel authentic and well drawn. I kept reading in large chunks just to find out what happened to these folks. This is what seems to be a light read at first but as it progresses, has much more depth because of the character development and subject matter.