Pretty Is As Pretty Does: A Novel [Paperback]

Alison Clement (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 2003

Lucy Fooshee has just married Bob Bybee, the second-richest farmer in the county if you don't count the Winklejohns -- and who'd want a name like Winklejohn anyway? Add her enviable hubby to the local beauty queen titles she's won on account of her slim figure, full lips, and all-around good looks, and Lucy's the most envied young woman in Palmyra, Illinois. The most admired by men, too. Funny thing, though: now that she's married, no one even seems to notice anymore, and Lucy's feeling irritable. So when Billy Lee -- a stranger with no prospects -- comes to town and sees her in a whole new way, he upsets Lucy's applecart. Sure, she's got everything anyone in Palmyra could want, but maybe that's just not enough.

With her striking humor and picture-perfect observations about life in a small town, Alison Clement tells the hilarious, lusty, and ultimately touching story of a fiercely independent woman trapped in the body of a small-town beauty queen.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her first novel, Clement sets herself a sticky challenge: she saddles herself with a heroine who is vain, selfish, sharp-tongued and obtuse, and who indulges in egotistical behavior hurtful to others, until, through suffering and regret, she emerges sadder, wiser and ready to fulfill her destiny. The trouble is that 22-year-old Lucy Fooshee, who narrates this initially amusing and then confusing tale, is so annoying that some readers will not stay around to see her triumph over her own bad nature. Lucy has been married only two weeks to farmer Bob Bybee when she catches sight of the new counterman at the town diner in Palmyra, Ill., and becomes totally besotted with handsome Bill Lee. The winner of several local beauty contests, and smugly accustomed to thinking of herself as God's gift to men, sexpot Lucy immediately comes on to the bewildered Billy, who eventually succumbs to her advances. Meanwhile Bob, whom Lucy selected as husband material merely because he comes from the second-richest family in the community, is left in the dark about his bride's change of heart, until even he becomes aware of her flagrant adultery. Though Lucy pays the price for her unconscionable behavior, Clement seems to condone Lucy's actions because she's caught in the grip of passion; the damage Lucy does to others is beside the point. It's true that everyone in Bob's uppity family, and in Lucy's poor white-trash clan, is ill-bred, ugly and racially bigoted. But in despising them all, Lucy herself does not become more appealing. West Coast author tour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

Small-town, Midwestern beauty queen Lucy Fooshee begins a charming, surprising romance just two weeks after her marriage to dull Bob Bybee, a farmer from the second-richest family in the county. Lucy's unself-conscious appreciation of her own good looks and good fortune in her marriage are endearing, as is her precipitous fall from grace when she falls madly for the nephew of Aunt Babe, a local restaurateur. Billy Lee, as the locals hiss with delight, is not altogether white, and this racist indignation over his mixed Native American heritage helps bring Lucy and Billy's shocking affair to a swift end. Lucy's realization that her perfect life is boring is the chief plot development, but she's a fresh, spunky heroine who lights up this first novel. Recommended for all fiction collections.Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., VA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Washington Square Press (April 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743453522
• ISBN-13: 978-0743453523
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,601,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alison Clement's first book, Pretty is As Pretty Does (MacAdam Cage, 2001), was a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection and a Book Sense choice. Her second, Twenty Questions (Washington Square Press, 2006), won the Oregon Book Award for Best Novel. Her work has appeared in The Alaska Quarterly Review, The Sun Magazine, and High Country News. Raised in South Carolina and Georgia, she now lives with her family in western Oregon.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insight & Understanding, September 7, 2001

By 

Sara Backer (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretty Is As Pretty Does (Paperback)

What happens when you fall in love--two weeks after you've married the man you're supposed to marry?

Lucy Fooshee, the local beauty newly hitched to farmer Bob Bybee, has dreams and yearnings unacceptable to the unspoken but rigid social rules of Palmyra, Illinois. She can't even get the color thread she wants due to the lack of choices in her small town. In Lucy's words, "What you do in Palmyra is you make a compromise. You take green and not turquoise. You take something else, instead of what you want."

While Lucy is spoiled and self-centered, we relate to her wanting what she can't have. And as we get deeper into the story, Alison Clement shows us how Palmyra made Lucy who she is. Clement demonstrates impressive technical skill by telling the story in Lucy's voice, yet giving the reader insight beyond Lucy's scope of insight. The characters--Lucy, Bob, Billy Lee, Evaline, Mama, Mother Bybee, Aunt Babe, and a cast of eccentric extras--are vivid and human.

I love novels that make me change my mind about the characters as I read along. We may not like Lucy, but Clement's fine writing helps us understand her. I highly recommend this original book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty is as Pretty Does, October 10, 2001

By 

sandra stroo (Dallas, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretty Is As Pretty Does (Paperback)

Having grown up in a small close-knit community in Illinois, I identified with many of the issues confronting Lucy, the main character in *Pretty is as Pretty Does.* I especially appreciated the author's way of capturing the narrowness and naivite of such small Midwestern towns and especially of the plight of the young people raised in that environment. Lucy fell right into the role expected of her, and her prettiness opened the door to the maximum opportunity offered in such a setting: marriage. Only after meeting Billy did she understand passion. Her unbridled passion was what seemed so uncharacteristically Midwestern to me. Clement's book captured a lot of that smalltown sentiment, and her images of not only the town activities but also the characters rang true. I like the fact that a person from such a background can break the mold. Doing it with humor like Lucy is even more entertaining.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Voice: Alison Clement, September 21, 2001

By 

Matthew Roudane', Editor, *South Atlantic Review* (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pretty Is As Pretty Does (Paperback)

Alison Clement's *Pretty Is As Pretty Does* is a deceptively simple novel. Its plot revolves around Lucy Fooshee, a beauty queen living in a small Illinois town whose culture of propriety and conservative values jar with her free spirit. The simplicity of the novel, however, dissolves into a tale of subtle complexity as Clement calls into question most of the prescribed notions of how Lucy's life "should" go within a town inhabited by too many bigoted individuals. The ego-centered Lucy of the first chapter transforms herself, by the novel's end, into an independent woman who finally has grown to understand the transformative powers of sharing and love. Clement's unique voice, her keen sense of place, and her wonderful humor animate her debut novel. Clement displays a creative intelligence and wit that make this an engaging and refreshing novel. Hers is a fresh and new voice, one deserving of much praise.