The Perfect Age: A Novel [Hardcover]

Heather Skyler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2004

HELEN IS JUST FIFTEEN, lanky and striking. She is a lifeguard at the pool at The Dunes hotel this summer--her first job, a step toward independence in a world beginning to treat her as an adult and a woman. Her mother, Kathy, watching Helen grow up, suddenly finds herself in a place equally uncertain: her children getting older, her stable marriage perhaps too stable, the slow days of summer leaving her adrift. When she meets Helen's boss, the manager at the pool, she chooses an affair that opens her to the idea of a different sort of life. Following Helen and Kathy through three summers, this novel is an intimate picture of two sexual awakenings under one roof and their aftershocks on a family. Heather Skyler shows us that the validity of life's deepest experiences--love, betrayal, acceptance--is never compromised by age.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Perpetually sunny Las Vegas is the setting for three summers of tangled love affairs in this sultry, reflective debut novel. Helen Larkin is 15 the summer she starts working as a lifeguard at the Dunes Hotel pool, brooding over her drummer boyfriend, Leo, and wondering whether her mother, Kathy, could possibly be having an affair with Helen's boss, the "over-forty walnut-colored" head lifeguard, Gerard. The question of betrayal is constantly on her mind, whether she is cheating on Leo with another lifeguard or spying on her mother eating chocolate chip ice cream in Gerard's kitchen. On a rebellious illicit date, she wonders, "If no one is hurt, is it actually wrong? Helen knows, somewhere inside her water-cooled limbs, that it is, but she floats on the other possibility for a while." Among those who might be hurt are Edward, Helen's buttoned-up father, a professor of Russian history, and Leo, who worries that he can't offer cosseted, beautiful Helen enough. Skyler takes the time and space to capture the natural emotional arc of relationships, adding nuance with some lovely descriptive writing ("Past this they dip into neighborhoods scarred by yellow lawns, each one leading to a house so cheap and thin it would never withstand a winter in Ohio"). The novel's conclusion is perhaps too neatly engineered, but Skyler perfectly captures the languid heat of long Las Vegas summers and the irresistible temptations of love at any age.
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About the Author

Heather Skyler lives in Madison, Wisconsin. This is her first book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393058700
• ISBN-13: 978-0393058703
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,235,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Heather Skyler was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and has known she wanted to be a writer since age nine when she wrote her autobiography, which luckily remains unpublished. She attended college at Miami University in Ohio, then earned her M.F.A. at the University of Washington in Seattle.

After completing this degree, she waitressed at several Greek restaurants, wandered the city, taught technical writing and worked on a novel that was never published. After marrying one of her students and moving to Madison, Wisconsin, she got her big break with the publication of her first novel, The Perfect Age.

Since then, she has written pieces for the New York Times, Newsweek, GOOD magazine and other publications. She now lives in Long Beach, California with her husband John, son Malcolm, age nine, and daughter Lux, age seven. (Yes, her daughter is named after a character from The Virgin Suicides). When she isn't drinking gin and tonics by the pool or walking her Pomeranian, Paco, she is hard at work finishing up her next novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!, June 24, 2004

By 

kbt "kbt117" (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Perfect Age: A Novel (Hardcover)

I loved this book! It had great character development. I liked the way the story unfolded. The twists and turns with the characters and storyline would make it an excellent choice for a book club discussion. It was well-written, and I'm looking forward to her next book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written novel., July 16, 2006

By 

Gianna Justine (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Perfect Age: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book is a very beautifully written coming of age novel. I would recommend it to every teenager as a very good perspective on growing up, having a serious boyfriend, and adultery, among other themes.

The Perfect Age ranks in the top five on my list of favourite young adult fiction. After I closed the book, I thought, "Helen isn't real. These characters aren't real." It was the first time the thought had occurred to me, and it struck me as wrong somehow. These characters were so real to me that it struck me as bizarre that they weren't actually living in Las Vegas, working at the Dunes.

I read this almost straight through. Everything was so beautiful and lyrical that I just couldn't put it down. It was unique, mostly. Amazing book, every teen should read it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not sure why others aren't feeling this book..., April 27, 2006

By 

joanna..saved my life (pittsburgh, pa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Perfect Age: A Novel (Paperback)

i thought that this book was both a beautifully written coming of age tale and also provided a very true to life picture of a house wife frustrated in her marriage where there REALLY wasn't much to complain about. i don't think that the story was too slow, i though it was paced steadily...the ending is a bit abrupt, and is in some ways unexpected. if there is one theme in this books that's recurring and paralelled in both the mother and daughter's separate lives it's sexual frustration. overall, it's an emotional and enjoyable read for both teens and adults...definitely worth your time.