What Girls Learn: A novel [Hardcover]

Karin Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 1997

radiant debut novel, What Girls Learn takes readers on an intimate and haunting journey into the landscape of girlhood and the complex terrain of the family. Wise, bittersweet, and above all intensely human, this astonishingly powerful novel enchants readers with its humor and insight even as it breaks their hearts.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In her debut novel, What Girls Learn, author Karin Cook takes familiar--and familial--territory and turns it neatly on its head. Tilden, the 12-year-old narrator of Cook's tale, and her 11-year-old sister Elizabeth are suddenly uprooted from a hardscrabble life in Atlanta and moved to Long Island when their mother falls in love with a man they've never met. Fortunately, Nick turns out to be a kind man, and the girls' enjoy a temporary stability. Then Frances, their mother, discovers a lump in her breast. While she is hospitalized, her predatory brother arrives, and the sisters are thrown back upon a bond that, although stretched by sibling rivalry, can never be broken.

Karin Cook depicts the inner lives of girls on the verge of adolescence with tremendous insight, and in Tilden, she has found a narrator both eloquent and observant. What Girls Learn explores notions of family and femininity and the transcendence of love, even in the face of loss.

From School Library Journal

YA. Teens will need a box full of tissues when they dive into this emotionally involving debut novel. Teetering on the brink of adolescence, narrator Tilden and her slightly younger sister Elizabeth are initially wary when their mother, a hopelessly romantic optimist, moves the small family from Atlanta to suburban Long Island to be with her new beau, Nick. Tilden has some difficulties adjusting to the changes in her life, but Elizabeth jumps right in with her new, fast crowd and never looks back. Tilden is finally beginning to feel more comfortable when she is faced with the unconquerable?her mother finds a lump in her breast and fails quickly despite aggressive treatment. Cook has a deft touch in capturing the domestic dialogue of family life, the alternating innocence and wiseass cynicism of preteens, and the ache of a mother who tried to do the best for her girls. Tilden is a delightful character as she lurches through the uncertainty of constantly shifting friendships and venomous sibling spats just like any typical adolescent. Mature readers will detect the glimmer of humor under the sadness of this grieving family.?Susan R. Farber, Ardsley Public Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; 1st edition (February 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679448284
• ISBN-13: 978-0679448280
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,932,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poingnant look at the complexity of relationships, June 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: What Girls Learn: A Novel (Paperback)

What a gloriously sad novel "What Girls Learn" is! At once humorous, insightful, satisfying, and, above all, REAL, Karin Cook's first novel explores the complexity of mother-daughter and sister-sister relationships. But even if you have neither a mother nor a sister, this book is a great read. It is a book to be literally devoured, and be sure to leave yourself some time to cry and reflect when you finish it. Believe me, you will need to. The second I shut the book, I ran to my mom's room, crawled into bed with her, and simply breathed in her scent and aura. If you don't live with your mom, this book will definitely make you run to the phone and call her. I HIGHLY recommend buying a copy for yourself, and one for a good friend.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful story! Couldn't out it down!, December 16, 2002

By 

Tiffany Ann Rogers "tiffytutu" (Dyersburg, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Girls Learn: A Novel (Paperback)

I found this book tucked on a shelf in my library and thought I would try it. I had never heard the title or the author so I decided to take a risk and see if I liked it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really, really enjoyed the book.
Karin Cook weaves a poignant story told by Tilden (who at the beginning is 12). Tilden also has a younger sister, Elizabeth, who is just one year younger than her. As with any siblings, there is a lot of jealousy and competition between the two of them. When Tilden and Elizabeth's mother decides to move the family up to New York, their whole lives change. Not only does the rift between the two sisters widen, but the closeness they once shared with their mother must now be shared with Nick (their Mom's new boyfriend). When their mom finds a lump in her breast their lives go downhill and things really begin to change.
With the main characters going through the age when puberty is happening and their lives have been turned upside down, you really begin to feel that you know the two girls. I was hooked once I started and wanted to know how things turned out. I sympathized with them, laughed with them, and cried with them. Karin Cook's writing debut is wonderful and will gladly read her next book and hope I won't be disappointed!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring first novel by amazing author, November 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: What Girls Learn: A Novel (Paperback)

This is a book to be read, cherished, and gifted to all of your friends and family. An excellent, evocative, touching, sad, funny and compelling novel -- not only will it bring comfort and feelings of recognition to anyone whose life has been touched by breast cancer, it is a beautifully crafted story in general. I recently had the pleasure of discovering that Ms. Cook would be reading from this novel at a local bookstore in Milwaukee -- and realized that she was the same Karin Cook who'd been my favourite writing teacher in college. Both she and her novel were inspiring teachers to me then and now, particularly since my mother survived breast cancer last year. Thanks, Karin!