Riding in Cars With Boys: Confessions of a Bad Girl Who Makes Good (Movie tie-in) [Paperback]

Beverly Donofrio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2001

"Trouble began in 1963 . . . the age-old trouble." Unable to attend college, Beverly Ann Donofrio lost interest in everything but riding around in cars, drinking, smoking, and rebelling against authority. After her teenage marriage failed, Donofrio found herself at an elite New England university, books in one arm, child on the other. Then, furnished with ambition, dreams, and five hundred dollars, she took herself and her son to New York City to begin a career and a life.

An outrageous and touching memoir, Riding in Cars with Boys is about becoming middle-class and the compromises made between being your own person and fitting into society. But mostly it's a story of a teenage mother who, as her son grows up, becomes an adult herself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A self-described wild girl travels through the "demolition derby" of her 1960s lifestyle in this rough-hewn account. Born into a working-class Italian-American family in Wallingford, Conn., Donofrio rebelled early, defying her policeman father especially. Consorting with lowlifes, indulging in drugs, promiscuous and aimless, she became pregnant and entered an ill-starred, short-lived marriage. Later, a mother, she studied at Wesleyan University, where she soaked up another kind of culture and another type of liberation. In this humor-flecked, street-side view of her unconventional life, Donofrio, a New York City freelance journalist, writes about a mother and her son coming of age together.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Donofrio's poignant 1960s memoir features the silent majority of teenagers and young people who didn't protest or go to Vietnam or attend the Summer of Love, but who did what teens do no matter how turbulent the times: they have sex, rebel, hang out, drink, smoke, and just generally try to have as good a time as possible. That's what Donofrio did, at least until she got pregnant before graduating from high school, was married (briefly) and divorced, and ended up rearing a small son alone and on welfare. Today she has a master's degree, lives in New York City, has raised a son without visible scars, and is a writer. Donofrio's funny, heartwarming story will especially appeal to every similar child of the 1960s who, despite barriers and a lack of encouragement, safely made the passage to adulthood. Reminiscent in style and content (though covering different eras) of Betsy Israel's Grown-up Fast: A True Story of Teenage Life in Suburban America (Poseidon, 1988). Highly recommended.
- Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Free Lib., Seaside, Cal.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (August 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140296298
• ISBN-13: 978-0140296297
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,165,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Wild Ride..., September 25, 2001

By 

Dianna Johnston "Compulsive Reader" (Joplin, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Riding in Cars With Boys: Confessions of a Bad Girl Who Makes Good (Movie tie-in) (Paperback)

My curiosity was piqued while watching previews for the movie version of Riding In Cars With Boys. I remember thinking it would make a great book. Well, imagine my surprise.... Reading this book started off like a trip down High School Lane. The further I read, however, I realized I was just a mere goody-two-shoes in comparison.

Beverly Donofrio, raised in a typical family home, was a smart girl. But something happened along the way, and before we know it, Beverly is a rebellious boy-crazy teenager getting felt up in the back seats of cars and drinking. With no hopes of going to college in sight, Beverly stops trying in school, trying to please her parents, trying in general. Ending up pregnant, married and divorced by 19, Beverly begins a journey of drugs, sex, alcohol and parties, all with her son in tow.

Riding In Cars With Boys is the story of a girl who craves attention while eluding responsibilities, about growing up while raising a child, about innocence lost too early. May be a triumphant novel in some aspects by book's end, and the long row to hoe in order to get there holds many lessons. Would be an excellent read for a teen on the brink of adulthood -- what better way to tell them how NOT to live than with this book. Excellent writing by Beverly Donofrio, and what guts to tell it like it is.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for everyone!, November 20, 2001

By 

Tara "saltyreader4" (Kutztown, Pa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Riding in Cars With Boys: Confessions of a Bad Girl Who Makes Good (Movie tie-in) (Paperback)

I didn't know what to expect going into this book but once I started I couldn't put it down. I was astonished at Bev's behavior and they way she treated her son as well as herself. There were even many moments when I wanted to reach into the book and shake her silly. In the end I applauded her for who she became and what she overcame.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who has a teenager that thinks they know it all and there are very little consequences to having sex, doing drugs and thinking school is unimportant.

I know my children will be reading this book on day w/my encouragement.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's all about family, July 25, 2001

By 

Saradele (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Riding in Cars with Boys: Confessions of a Bad Girl Who Makes Good (Paperback)

Engrossing autobiography and quick read about a woman who grows up while raising her son. This well-written book is not only about the author's journey as a mother, but also about her maturing relationship with her strict Italian parents. Donofrio writes candidly about her teenage pregnancy and how it impacted her relationships and life goals (such as pursuing a college education). She does not shy away from her mistakes, recalling freely the impact that her self-indulgent hippie days had on her young son. Yet she allows readers to view her story through their own moral lenses. Interesting account of a rugged individual doing her best with the hand she was dealt.