Customer Reviews

Tell Me If the Lovers Are Losers

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

 

 

Although the beginning was slow, this book was captivating once I got into it. It has so many metaphors for life lessons that it keeps you busy thinking. It did have many typos which I feel could have been prevented. However I do not agree with the other reader who said it's all describing volleyball games, so if you don't like the game, it's not a good book. I'm not a big volleyball person, but I thought the description of their games was great. Furthermore, if all you see in this book is three girls who play volleyball, you didn't read it correctly.

I suspect younger ones will be bored silly, or at least that much of the book will go over their heads. This is one of two books that I can remember (the other was Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451) that my parents requested me to wait until I was older to try to read. I'm glad I listened.

I saw the three roommates as the manifestation of Mind (Ann), Body (Niki) and Spirit (Hildy). Although they are so different that it seems that they won't get along, their differences are complementary rather than necessarily antagonistic.

I read this book in my early 20s and it amazed me, and it continues to do so. I gave copies to all the girls I used to baby-sit for when they reached about 14 or 15.

The introduction tells you that these girls are not contemporary, but from a more innocent time -- during the Kennedy Administration. They are in an all-girls' school, which also allows the focus to be on aspects of growing up female other than boys and dates, although sex is discussed.

Ann, the central character, knows who she is (translating Greek for fun!) but she is very insecure and embarassed about it. Her roommates, Hildy and Niki, are both very secure but very opposite from each other. The thing I like best about the book is that it explores different ways of being a human person, being a woman, having an intellectual life, competing in sports, relating in a group, etc. We follow Ann as she experiences more human variety than ever before and allows herself to choose to change some parts of herself, keep others.

So I love how it models self-discovery, and *thinking* about who are you, and who you might want to be. It's a kind of self-exploration that I have seen very, very rarely in writing for young women.

Tell me if lovers are losers is about three girls that become roommates their freshman year of college at Stanton. The three girls are all very different but are able to bond better than i thought. Niki is brass and vulgar. Ann is secure and sensible. Hildy is self assured and has deep faith. The three girls meet and try to start their normal life as a college student. Volleyball starts up and the three girls decide to try out. Hildy is very smart and expercined in the game. Niki is a very fierce competitor and has an attitude that she has to win.

The ending is the most surpising to me. I would have never thought that they would have ended it like that. I like to volleyball part of the game. I liked the idea of the book, three girls from different cultures come together to become great frends. I didnt like how it was written. The story dragged and has a boring intoduction that made me not want to read the book.

Overall the book was hard to follow and hard to get interested in. I disagree with people that say the book is all about volleyball, it shows that they really didnt read the book.

I can pretty much agree with all the other reviewers on this one, even when they disagree with each other. This book is both very involving AND very flawed. It's an early effort by Voigt, whose later work (like the award-winning 'Tillerman' novels, and especially 'A Solitary Blue') could be downright magical. She's learning her craft here, and her great talent does show even while the book doesn't fully succeed.

Three young women begin their freshman year at a college that seems to be rather small, rather intellectual, and rather ivy-covered, circa 1960. Ann is the keynote character, sensible and middle class. She likes to relax in the tub with her favorite 'Calgon Take Me Away' book - 'The Odyssey'...? Say what?! Ann is very likely based on Voigt herself in about 1960, but let's just say that, if we're supposed to relate to that, Voigt doesn't quite bring it off.

Niki is brassy and uses bad language, and shocks the extremely sheltered and religious Hildy. Niki is the most interesting, and really the most likable because she's so well-drawn and so impatient with dumb social conventions. Hildy is a pretty well-drawn character, but is cooler and more annoyingly self-righteous than, i think, Voigt intended her to be.

The 3 get involved in a volleyball team. The games are described in too much detail for my taste, though an aficionado would like it. But if the reader is not into volleyball, or not into sporting-event descriptions in general, it's not that hard to skim the game scenes and perceive the mindset, the interactions, etc etc, of the characters, which is the sports-metaphor purpose of this part of the story.

A traumatic event at the end is kind of a shocker. It shocks Niki too, her reaction somewhat extreme, and defined by a whole lot of vomiting, even after days of not eating, which is a bit physiologically implausible. But still, you believe in the characters and care about them, and feel like you were there. Voigt's a gifted writer, and she got better.

I really liked this book. It is a good book for teenage girls. I think it is good because these girls are so different but yet have some of they same problems. Ann is predictable most of the times but on a few occasions she gets a little wild and brash. She learns that friends come in many sizes shapes and actions but all make great friends. Niki is very vulgar, but makes her points well even though she is so brash and mean, she loves her sports and would not give the up for a thing in the world. She loses something she can never get back in the book. Hildy is the only girl in her family goes to church all the time and is a great leader but there is one thing that she can never get off her mind the fact that she can only go for one year and then has to go back home to the farm and marry a widower with kids. Don't let the first few pages dicorage you from reading the rest of the book because they are boring. Enjoy the book, because thier are many lessons to be learned about yourself and others!!!

I had read all of the Tillerman series and was looking for another great book by this author, but was quite disappointed by this book. It was okay, but I never really felt real into like I did with "Homecoming" or "A Solitary Blue." I was also distracted by the numerous typos. I wouldn't recommend reading this book if your looking for a book like the ones in the Tillerman series.

I'm sorry to contradict the other reviewer, but I think this book was poorly edited and had a strange storyline. I must've found about 30 typos. Unless you are interested in volleyball, you will be quite bored throughout half the book. From the summary on back, it looks as if it has a little volleyball in it, but the game takes up much of the book. Things come out of nowhere, and for stupid reasons. I read this book vacationing at the beach, and I left it there. I recommend it only for deep thinkers who also enjoy hearing every detail of volleyball games.