Tully [Paperback]

Paullina Simons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

Set on the flat plains of Kansas, Paullina Simons's first novel concerns a teenage friendship between three girls, overshadowed by a tragedy that will change their world forever. This is the story of one of those girls, a story of abuse and recovery, despair and redemption, and above all of love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Esteemed editor Bob Wyatt's initial book for his new imprint, this much ballyhooed first novel is not notable for literary merit but for the melodramatic story it tells. Set during the last two decades in Topeka, Kans., and centering on a tough kid named Tully who oddly resembles skater Tonya Harding in looks and deportment, the narrative chronicles Tully's wild struggle against her lower-class origins, circumstances and fate (not to mention her genes) without any redeeming growth or insights achieved by any of the central characters until at the end Tully belatedly realizes the error of her ways. It's an emotionally crude coming-of-age story in which Tully, her two best girlfriends and the two men she loves never seem to rise above adolescent emotions and behavior. The story has the no-holds-barred, cranked-out quality of 19th-century penny novels, with an abundance of cheap thrills and hair-raising scenes. We tag along as Tully endures abandonment, incest, abortion, child and spousal abuse, passion, promiscuity, marriage, motherhood, infidelity, terrible nightmares, midnight graveyard scenes, tortured partings with lovers and more. The most interesting character is the villain, Hedda Makker, Tully's mother, whose chief pleasure in life is beating the living daylights out of Tully. Though billed as "a big Russian novel" about mothers and daughters, much of the narrative has a breathless, awkward oral texture, although long patches of exposition have an evenness and clarity that suggest Simons's potential. Despite all the wailing, sighing and bloodletting--or perhaps because of it--the story is engrossing as tabloid features often are: not believeable or artful, but fascinating in a macabre way. 165,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; BOMC selection .
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In this beautifully written first novel, Simons captures the lives and loves of Tully and her friends Julie and Jennifer in Topeka, Kansas. After her father and brother disappear, Tully's childhood is shaped by an abusive mother. Her wild adolescence culminates when Jennifer commits suicide. Unable to accept the death or admit to grief, Tully seeks consolation at the gravesite, where years later she meets Jack, a former lover of Jennifer. Although married to Robin, she begins an affair with Jack, despite the warnings of her friend Shakee, also one of his former lovers. When Jack wants her to move to California, a lifelong dream of both Jennifer and Tully, this survivor in life must come to grips with past griefs to make a decision. A strong story line with great characterization makes this book hard to put down. A potential best seller, it is highly recommended for public libraries. [BOMC and Quality Paperback selections.]-Heather Blenkinsopp, Mercy Coll. Lib., Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
--Heather Blenkinsopp, Mercy Coll. Lib., Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; First novel by this author edition (September 1, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0007828780
• ISBN-13: 978-0007828784
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gal's best friend on a rainy day., October 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tully (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked up Tully at a book sale on a rainy day off work when I took salvage at my local shopping mall. I am an avid book worm and had come to realise that I couldn't remember the last time I actually sat down to read...and Tully brought me the reminder I needed of why I loved to lose myself in books. I got home from shopping, curled up on the couch with a cup of tea and didn't move for the next 8 hours when incidentally, I was reaching for the Kleenex.

Tully takes you on an emotional rollercoaster of a ride that I think every woman can relate to at some point in her life - an alarmingly unhappy childhood, the loss of a best friend and the heartbreakingly delicacy of being in love with two men at the same time. Beautifully written and pieced together so intricately, I turned the pages and walked beside Tully as she battled with the insanity of trying to decipher life and conquering the lessons that we all have to learn at one point or another.

This debut novel from Paulina Simons had me intrigued from the first line and kept me wrapped around it's little finger right to the closing word. I don't think I have, since reading that book, had my emotions wrung so completely. One minute my insides were screaming for Tully's pain while the next moment saw me positively glowing for the small victories she encountered in her battle to keep her head above water and not drown in the mediocracy of being "that girl" growing up in a small Kansas town. And when it seems that Tully finally has her life on track after such an unforgiving and violent upbringing, Jack comes home and brings with him the unbearable reminder that life was never meant to be easy...

I gave this book to my best friend for Christmas that year and it has a primary position in my personal library for frequent reference. It has been my dream for as long as I can remember to be a writer and although I am only amateur now, I hope that one day I will be able to pen a story that will affect others the way Tully did to me.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very enjoyable novel, May 14, 2000

By 

Maria from London (London UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tully (Mass Market Paperback)

Tully is one of those books that you believe is your own secret discovery, and then you realise that lots of other people have also been reading it and reacting in the same way as you...It's one of those books that you fall in love with, without knowing exactly why, and you return to it again and again. I've read Tully so far at least five times, especially certain parts of it...and I'm certain I'll read it again in the future.

But why such a fuss over a first novel by an unknown american author? (whose two subsequent books, by the way, didn't even come close to Tully).One of the reasons I loved Tully was Tully herself: a one of a kind, special woman who grows up under horrible circumstances, but still learns how to survive, and even how to give and take love. A woman who got to me, for some reason, maybe just because she's tough and at the same time very vulnerable.

Paullina Simmons wrote her heart out in this book. Especially the second part of the novel is exquisite: in it you'll find a powerful love story, not a soap-opera kind of love story, but a true to life description of people and feelings. People who have to make choices and have to live with their choices afterwards. People who learn that love isn't a moment but a whole process, and who learn, in time, to appreciate what's important.

All in all, Tully is one of those books that'll take over your life for a couple of days. So chose a quiet weekend and read it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Recommend, but only marginally, May 19, 1999

By 

Laura K. Nickols (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tully (Mass Market Paperback)

I had very conflicting feelings about this book. The first half of the book seemed to drag; I didn't like the characters; and I almost put it down countless times. On the other hand, I was glued to the second half of the book and couldn't tear myself away from it.

The main premise of the story is a young woman who is very damaged by her childhood, and the struggles she has in coming to terms with her adult life. In essence, the book paints a picture of how childhood scars can continue to wreck havoc in an adult life.

The major problem I had with Tully is that in the first half of the book, all of the characters come across as flat and one-dimensional. It was difficult to like them and it was even more difficult to understand what their connection was to each other. I just didn't feel Tully's great attachment to Jennifer, her best friend, nor I get the sense of any great warmth between her and Robin, one of the major male characters. And, to be quite honest, the way she was involved with two men at once (this happened twice in the book) bothered me; I especially didn't like the way Robin was treated. However, although he is portrayed as a very decent man, I never fully understood his connection to Tully as there didn't seem to be any depth in that relationship.

I think that the second half of the book worked better for me, because the characters were a bit better developed and the story became more interesting. But most important of all, I think that the extent that Tully was hurt in childhood became a lot clearer, and that, I think, helped me to understand the characters. I really wish that the author had done a better job of explaining this in the beginning of the book, and had made the characters more three dimensional.

I liked how the book ended and what will stay with me, after reading it, is the idea that you can like your life, even if it doesn't turn out as it planned, and also how you may not realize how deeply you care for someone, until they leave. In the end, I'm glad I stayed with the book and didn't put it down, although, I think some readers will not be able to get through this book. If someone were to ask me if I recommend it, I would say "yes", but only marginally.