Customer Reviews

Tully

5 star:		(98)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

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.

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.

This is one of my all time favorites that I just picked up again. It's an amazing, heartfelt story that seems to be at once personal and epic in its scope. TULLY is an intense work that has stayed with me through the years and is always a pleasure to revisit. Highly recommended--as is the rest of this author's impressive body of work.

I admit that I read this novel in its entirity within two days, but it was with a sort of morbid fascination - the kind that causes drivers to rubber-neck on the highway around the scene of a deadly car crash. Perhaps this is a slightly harsh analogy, but I found Paullina Simon's prose jolting, the syntax off-kilter, and the overall story exceedingly desolate and far too predictable. I felt emotionally abused by the author, especially in the last fifty pages or so - and yet I couldn't find a plausible explanation in the insufficient characterization for it. I feel the most irritating fault with this novel is the leaping around from perspective to perspective, from tense to tense, with no real reason and with no real finesse. For the majority of the book, the reader is able to easily follow the omniscient narrator's (focusing on the main character Tully) perspective, but inexplicably, in some chapters, the narrator focuses on two peripheral characters and their interation, portraying their thoughts and emotions - I think it's very difficult to sucessfully narrate from an omnicient perspective, and this book is no exception. Though I found the characters and situations to be for the most part realistic, the plot races in the beginning and then stagnates. While I was able to appreciate on some level the characters and their situations in this novel, I found the writing style too distracting to be enjoyable.

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.

I have read this book so many times I have lost count. Yet every time I am still carried away by the life of Tully Makker. I believe there is a part of every one in her, I know there is of me.

I truly loved this book. I cancelled plans to stay home and read this book. I couldn't wait to finish it and devoured it as fast as I could but at the same time, as with all good books, I never wanted it to end! I was totally entranced with the characters. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about the characters throughout my day. I found myself telling the whole story day-by-day to my co-workers. I recommended it to my best friend and she was just as entranced as I. She kept telling me she couldn't get the story out of her head when she wasn't reading it!

I loved Tully. Some other readers stated that she was pathetic and self-pitying and a witch. I loved the character so much because she is so human. She comes off as cold, but if you have any depth at all, you can see beneath that. A truly great novel about friendship and loss...about life and love.

First of all..I have to say that I LOVE Paullina Simons....if you havent yet read "The Bronze Horseman"..I suggest you run out and pick it up..ok..on to "Tully"..this story started out sooo strong, I felt for Tully and her friends..I was rooting for them and loving this book..but then somewhere along the way I got fed up. First of all this book could stand to have about 50 to 100 pages shaved off..but thats not even the main prob that I had with it..I just COULD NOT STAND TULLY!! She was so selfish and so heartless it made me sick to the stomach. My God...I was so sick of her feeling sorry for herself all of the time when all she seemed to do was flit around TREATING EVERYONE IN HER PATH LIKE COMPLETE DIRT. She did not deserve the love of any of those men..Robin especially..she just played with him all of the time.....and she had the gull to be upset that he had another relationship on the side?? What a witch!!! I could write about this forever...all in all..this could have been a great book..it sure started out with promise, but in the end it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth...I woudnt recommend it.

Paullina Simons is one of the most amazing talented authors. Somehow, her books always make me cry. They are beautiful and soppy but also terrifying in the same way. I recommend to ANYONE to read Tully and also The Bronze Horseman as they are the most amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing books you could ever read!! As soon as I borrowed it from my friend, I had to go out and buy it, its the type of book you can reread and still feel the same emotion as you read the first time. I love this book and it deserves a hell of a lot more than 5 stars.

If you feel like reading a book, that leaves you completeley frustrated with the character, than this is it. Tully, is an utter mess. She doesn't know what she wants or who she wants. I enjoyed this book, but at times, I did not like Tully. She was sometimes very unlikable. Over and over, I thought to myself. Tully, make up your mind!