Customer Reviews

What Girls Learn: A Novel

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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!

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!

Karin Cook's debut novel, What Girls Learn, exposes the inner workings of sisterhood, mother/daughter relationships and adolescence.

The storys begins as twelve year-old Tilden, along with her eleven year-old sister Elizabeth, are uprooted from their home when their mother annouces they are moving to New York with her new boyfriend. For Tilden, this causes resentment from the start. However, as much as Tilden doesn't want to see it, she realizes her mother's boyfriend, Nick, isn't so bad after all and really does care for her mother, sister and herself.

The girls begin a new life in a new home, new school and with a new set of friends. For Elizabeth, this has always come easy, which causes more agression and resentment for Tilden. At this part of the book, the girls' bodies begin to blossom and the author does a good job creating the intimacies of adolescence.

The sisters' lives then take another turn as their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. It is during this time that the girls learn about the bond sisters share and how strong it can be, although not always visible.

This book is so beautifully written and has stayed with me. Simple yet highly emotional...a MUST READ!

This novel, by first time author Karin Cook, was an excellent read that I would personally recommend to almost anyone. The book deals with love, laughter, and loss, and will almost surely leave you in tears over the plight of a mother and her two daughters, faced with a devestating case of breast cancer. Tilden, the 12-year old narrator of the book, is mistrustful and shy. However, like most quiet adolescents, she is extremely observant, and nothing about her life is left in the dark for the reader. Elizbeth, Tilden's sister, is physically and socially more mature, although she is a year younger. She and Tilden bicker, but are always drawn together in sisterly love when faced with a problem. Frances, the girl's mother, is a bright southern girl at heart, and loves her daughters dearly. She tries hard to give them everything, including a good set of morals and manners. She wants the best for her girls. The family moves quite often, and when Frances finds a boyfriend in New Jersey (far from the family's residence in Atlanta), it is not alien to the girls to pack up and move once again. This time, however, things are serious, and the new family settles in New Jersey. A few months later, Frances discovers a lump in her breast, and what follows is a true lesson in courage, and a fierce love for another that is only found within family ties...

This book was oustanding! You can definitely learn from this book. Below is just a little bit about it.

The year Tilden turns twelve, her mother, Frances, falls in love and moves the family north. Soon the watchful, wise Tilden and her rebellious younger sister, Elizabeth, are navigating a new household amidst the awkward and alluring terrain of adolescence.

But when Frances suddenly discovers a lump in her breast, her daughters must confront the unpredictablility of her illness. With heartbreak and humor, these characters exposes a world of secrets and learn to survive in the face of life's contradictions. Funny, haunting, and unflinchingly truthful on every page, What Girls Learn is a book that will be read--and cherished-- for years to come.

..albeit a well-written one. You have the absent dad, the "Anywhere But Here" bonding, the tragic illness, the burgeoning sexuality. All the right ingredients for a coming of age story. (Maybe it's harder than I think to expand the blueprint.) The main characters managed to be more than just the stereotypes expected in this kind of book, and there were some great scenes, but overall, I would give it three stars. The TV-movie made a few years ago is worth catching, though.

Karin Cook's "What Girls Learn" is one of those novels that pulls you into its story instantly. From the first page, you are intrigued by its protagonist and supporting cast, and you want to read on and on to know what's going to become of them - preferably all in one sitting.

The story's protagonist and narrator is Tilden, an intelligent and insightful girl. Upon first reading the book I missed Tilden's age at first and was sure we were hearing the narration of a seventeen (or so) year old - or even an adult in a flashback, perhaps - but the more I read, the more references I saw to the fact that she was much younger (i.e. the fact that all the girls in her class have to watch a movie about menstruation, etc.). Tilden and her younger (by a year) sister, Elizabeth - also a memorable character - are two of the four main characters in the book. The others are their mother, Frances (a.k.a. "Mama"), and her new boyfriend and eventual husband, Nick, to whose home she moves the girls at the beginning of the story.

The well-written story is often wrenchingly painful and even a bit disturbing to read, as it deals not only with the girls' mother's battle with cancer but also with other unhappy issues (i.e. preteen sex; a predatory uncle) throughout. Still, it is such a gripping story that it makes reading it all worthwhile.

This book is the best book I have read in forever! It is sad but touching and keep me intrested. It never had a dull moment and i would buy this book if you were intrested in a good book to read and not put down till you were finshed..