Customer Reviews

That Archer Girl

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

 

 

Unlike the other review, I think this is Anne Emery's best book.
She was my favorite author as a teenager growing up in the 60s. The rest of her books were right out of "The Brady Bunch"...hardly realistic. But "That Archer Girl" is different, and even though Anne is rich and beautiful, it teaches us that maybe those kind of assets are not enough...one must have character, which Anne lacks. And I loved that fact that Anne got her comeuppance in the end, which she richly deserves.

"That Archer Girl" is a somewhat unsuccessful version of "Gone with the Wind" (although on not such a life-and-death, Civil War scale!) in that it portrays an extremely self-centered, attractive young woman who is so intent on manipulating every man around her that she risks losing the one she could actually care for.

Published in 1959, this book chronicles a few weeks in the life of Anne Archer, bored high school senior in a socially prominant Chicago family who doesn't know what she'll do after her "debut" at the end of her senior year. She is infuriated by any man who doesn't pay her the level of attention she believes she is owed.

The main reason for giving this book such a low rating (I would probably rate it 2 1/2 if halves were allowed) is that Anne just doesn't seem to learn or grow. She's impossible to like, unlike Scarlett O'Hara who at least had real situations to overcome that required some pluck.

Most of Anne Emery's other books are delightful (the Burnaby family, Dinny Gordon, etc.). Anne Archer is unfortunately not one of her endearing heroines.