MoonPies and Movie Stars [Hardcover]

Amy Wallen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2006

A laugh-out-loud romp across America pits a feisty Texas momma against the Hollywood machine

Ruby Kincaid is busy these days—running her late husband’s bowling alley, wrangling her pistol of a sister, and chasing after the two grandchildren her daughter abandoned. When she sees her runaway daughter Violet starring in a TV commercial, there’s only one choice and Ruby knows it—Hollywood or bust. Ruby packs a Winnebago with two friends, two unruly grandkids, and a mondo-size package of MoonPies and hightails it to California to fetch her wayward daughter. In a madcap road trip from the dusty flats of Texas to the glittering aisles of The Price Is Right, Ruby survives with a little pluck and some Texas spunk. Fans of Lorna Landvik and Billie Letts will love this tender and side-splittingly funny story of indomitable spirit and unstoppable force. BACKCOVER: Praise for Amy Wallen and MoonPies and Movie Stars:
“To read MoonPies and Movie Stars is to take a delightful and exhilarating journey, kind of like being on a tour bus guided by Eudora Welty on speed.”
—Mary Gordon, author of Pearl

“With a pitch-perfect ear for comic dialogue and a fine sense of the absurd, Amy Wallen writes herself a place on the porch swing of great Southern writing.”
—Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wallen's charming, homespun debut follows lovable, resilient widow Ruby Kincaid, a Devine, Tex., bowling alley proprietress and mother to restless Violet, who ran away four years ago and left behind her husband and two rambunctious children, Bunny and Bubbie. It's 1976, Violet's husband is remarrying, and a television commercial featuring long-lost Violet sparks a feverish reaction and a spontaneous recovery mission to L.A. for Ruby and her sassy sister, Loralva. Dismissing the townsfolk's warning that, in California, she'll end up "with transvestites licking her ear and stealing her dresses," Violet's outspoken mother-in-law, Imogene, joins the journey, but her focus is more on becoming an audience member on The Price Is Right. Surviving truck stops, tacky motels and minor domestic chaos, the trio begin their hilarious culture clash with the locals on Hollywood Boulevard. The much-anticipated game show appearance becomes a windfall, but will Ruby have the same luck locating Violet? Though the antics feel forced at times, Wallen's bighearted confection rounds itself out with a bittersweet zinger of a conclusion. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Ruby Kincaid can't believe the way her life is going. While running her late husband's bowling alley, she is also taking care of her wayward daughter's two small children. When she sees her daughter, Violet, on television in a Milk Maid commercial, Ruby decides she has no choice but to go to California and bring her daughter back home to Texas. What transpires is a road trip in a metal Winnebago across the desert and four states with Imogene, Violet's starstruck mother-in-law; Loralva, Ruby's sexy, game-show-crazy sister; and Ruby's two rambunctious grandkids. This is no easy journey as they get on each other's last nerve dealing with a broken air conditioner, biker gangs, a trip to the Price Is Right, and a grandson busy dissecting roadkill. Wallen doesn't stereotype her southern characters but rather infuses them with personality and pokes fun at their flaws. Wallen launches a funny, touching, and bittersweet ride in search of family, but what her characters find is bigger than Texas and better than Moon Pies. Carolyn Kubisz
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First Edition edition (December 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670038172
• ISBN-13: 978-0670038176
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,803,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Better Made!, January 20, 2007

By 

Je Sais (Solana Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MoonPies and Movie Stars (Hardcover)

When bowling alley owner Ruby Kincaid of Devine, Texas spots her long lost daughter Violet on the t.v. as the new Buttermaid she heads off to California to find her. Along for the ride is her crazy carousing sister Loralva, Violet's sour puss mother-in-law (who holds the purse strings) and the two kids that were left behind four years earlier. The wacky journey that ensues will make you want to "pack up the old Ford, get out the road map" and eat a Moonpie.

This book is more than just a fun read. This story is driven (in a Winnebago) by great characters with more depth than it appears at first glance and is told by a master storyteller with an ear for dialogue and a eye for detail.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HEY Y'ALL! !!! YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK ~~~~~ YEE HAW!!!, February 18, 2007

By 

Pamela A. Poddany "Book Freak!" (Toledo, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: MoonPies and Movie Stars (Hardcover)

For any fan of reading, this book is a must! What a fun little ride this treasure is! Amy Wallen certainly can spin a yarn!!!!

Meet Ruby Kincaid from Devine, Texas, population under 900!!!! Ruby owns and operates a bowling alley and if that isn't enough, she is raising her two young grandchildren, Bunny and Bubbie. Bunny and Bubbie have been abandoned by their mom, Ruby's daughter, Violet.

Violet has taken off for parts unknown, leaving her family, children, home town. Then, one day, Violet is on TV. She is the actress playing the ButterMaid in a commercial.

Chaos ensues -- Ruby, her fun-loving, rip-roaring, man-loving sister Loralva, Bunny and Bubbie, and Imogene, Violet's mother-in-law, all pack themselves into Imogene's Winnebago and head west. California here they come!!!!!

The road trip and everything that happens to these fun characters is a riot! The writing is excellent and very descriptive. The characters personalities SHINE. Ms. Wallen's artistic gift of writing has you seeing a crystal clear picture of everything -- from the landscape, the weather, the outfits Loralva throws together, to the character's emotions, the slang of the Texas characters -- this is such a good book.

Loralva's dream is to go to California and appear on THE PRICE IS RIGHT and it is almost as if YOU are sitting in the audience also or watching it on TV. Ms. Wallen has it down pat -- COME ON DOWN and read this book.

The plot moves and flows, the characters are life-like and become people you learn to care about. Hopefully, there will be more books with these fun and interesting group of characters in it. The road is bumpy, dreams don't always come true for these people, and the book is fun and entertaining.

Do yourself a favor and read this book. Also, note the jacket cover and artwork! How great, how creative, how the story is told from the jacket cover itself. Hats off to Roseanne Serra and Ross MacDonald for their creativity!

Read this book, hope for more. You will love it and have a good time reading this one!!!!!

Thank you!! Pam

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just a fun ride; Amy Wallen knows how to tell a great story., January 15, 2007

By 

BigEyeDiaz "BigEyeDiaz" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MoonPies and Movie Stars (Hardcover)

Two books down into my vacation, I found myself up against the brick wall that is the first page of Ulysees. My New Year's resolution wavered. Maybe next year. My wife had just read MoonPies and Movie Stars, and raved about it. "Not my kind of book," I said. "It's everybody's kind of book," she said. To prove her wrong, I started to read it, and immediately found myself hooked into the story. Her characters are quirky, but full-bodied - not just goofy stereotypes of Southerners. It was funny, but it was also heartfelt, and I found myself actually caring about people who aspire to be on the Price is Right. A very sharp debut - literary, without the pretention. I can't wait to read more by Wallen.