Little Wrecks audiobook

fulfilling my 2019 goal to read (at least) one book each month that i bought in hardcover and put off reading long enough that it is now in paperback.What’s the point of flinching? Whatever is coming comes anyway. this is a novel that refuses to be tidy or conclusive or moralistic. it also resists the conventional expectations of novelistic structure. not that it’s experimental or flashy, but it’s hard for me to even define its plot, its message, its ‘whatness.’ technically, i suppose it’s the ‘whyness’ i’m having difficulty pinning down, but that makes it sound like i’m saying “why was this written?,” and that has the implicit weight of criticism attached which is not at all my intention. it’s a novel much more focused on character and atmosphere than on plot. things certainly happen, but the synopsis is a bit misleading, and it’s more concerned with exploring the shifting dynamic between its three main teengirl characters: ruth, magda, and isabel over the course of one summer in their long island hometown of highbone. it's a little muddled at first—the chapters alternate between third-person POVs of the three girls, but the voices aren't wildly differentiated. the characters' experiences become quite distinct and specific, but they are difficult to navigate at the beginning—the early chapters are detail-rich, heavy with backstory and info-dumped specifics before we get to 'know' the personalities, and it's a lot to keep track of right outta the gate. the story takes place just after the vietnam war, and highbone is full of men who have come back with nothing; homeless and shattered from their experiences, roughening up the picturesque town’s beaches and bandstands with their presence: The three of them pass by the weird mix of preppies and homeless people sprinkled around outside Flannagan’s Bar, and walk, singing, past the floating docks by the playground. They pass all the broken men returned from Vietnam, twitching and hallucinating on the benches at the bottom of Main Street. It’s four years since the war really ended, but the human wreckage is still lying around everywhere. It doesn’t match with the Rhode Island types in their sailboats, moored in the harbor, the picture-postcard park and the Victorian shop fronts.DIGRESSION: i myself am from rhode island, and am unsure what “Rhode Island types” are, but the description of this town’s economic disparity reminded me very much of newport; “the dividing lines, the different worlds.” we’re not all fancy folk, and someone’s gotta clean all those mansions and live “away from the beach and the bluffs and the old arts and crafts houses.”END OF DIGRESSION even before the war, even without the presence of these ‘broken men,’ highbone is a town saturated with menace, particularly for its women, its girls. the menace is exaggerated, almost hyperbolic; the girls are exposed to or are themselves victims of rape, assault, beatings, gropings, the expectation of sexual favors, even the local cop ogles isabel’s ‘sixteen-year-old legs.’in short, it's a shitty place for a girl to become a woman, for reasons both individual and bigger-picture:"We have to get out of this town, woman. Think about it. My mom hides behind the couch for days on end and my dad won't even call her a doctor. The one road to opportunity is working for the mob in a topless bar. Every time you go to the bathroom in Dunkin' Donuts, you get felt up by some diseased creep in a napalm jacket. You can't spit in the park without hitting some guy who got his brain put in a blender in Vietnam. Ruth's mom is the coolest parent we have between us, and she has to clean the toilets of a shallow bitch like Mrs. Hancock. Your little brother gets lost in the middle of the night, and you can't even count on your dad not to take it out on you. No, no, no. We do not belong here, and this place will crush us, Magda. Has it escaped your notice that the main road in and out of here is freakin' called the LIE? It's a pit of untruth, you can't climb out without getting some on you."in the absence of suitable maternal figures (one ran away from her abusive husband, one is in and out of institutions, and one is a pot-smoking hippie with a laissez-faire approach to parenting), the girls look for their life lessons elsewhere. there’s vicky, former stripper and prostitute, current dunkin’ donuts employee:Her hair is bleached like Jean Harlow, but with inch-deep roots as dark as FBI shoes. The pink uniform makes her look even paler than she is. She has two scabs on her chin, and you can see the scar on her upper arm from the time she ran away to the city and got cut up by a john in the subway. Vicky still has that deep, dead junkie look in her eyes. That’s what makes every guy that sees her want to touch her, no matter how many other guys have been there before them. Something about that crazy emptiness turns guys on. isabel, for one, envies vicky’s freedom to come and go as she pleases, and considers stripping at the town’s local club to be one of the few places to make enough money to finally escape the stifling confines of her life: "Guys will pay to look at you naked. How nuts is that? They’re always gonna be grabbing us and shoving their hard-ons up against us. There’s no stopping ‘em; we might as well work somewhere with a bouncer and charge them for it.”the other maternal stand-in is doris—the big, blonde badass & brassy girlfriend of a biker, who encounters the girls wandering the streets late one night after a group of jocks have yelled sexually aggressive things and thrown a vodka bottle at them."Let me tell you the secret…Put it right out there…Sex…Men are actually terrified of it. All this crap about libidos and blue balls and frigid housewives—it’s a scam. Trust me. Never been with a guy who wanted to fuck more than I did. Acting like you don’t want it just helps them feel in control. Is that your mission?…So, put it right out there. Wear that shit on the outside. Nobody’ll bother you unless they already feel up for it. They won’t need to cut your feet to get their hard-ons back.” if you think that this doesn’t sound like a YA novel, you’re right. the girls have a world-weary perspective uncommon in actual teens, leading to articulations like: "Show me a woman who doesn’t fantasize about hurting herself,” Ruth says, “and I’ll show you a liar.”scrolling down to see the author fielding a question about reader-age-appropriateness for the book, her answer is very clarifying:Though Little Wrecks is about three teen girls, it's really an adult literary novel that got sold as YA. People who like it tend to be readers who like literary. A warning: there a [sic] drugs, mental health issues and sexual violence.it does not read like YA. not because of the intensity or the subject matter or even the too-adult observations of its characters. it’s more about the shape of it—its build and its resolution and its pretty damn bleak conclusion. it's not an empowering grrrrl novel. there's violence and consequences and bad decisions, and, ultimately, the girls can't even count on each other. it's a coming-of-age novel that focuses on the fracturing that occurs in adolescent relationships as each girl's problems and choices lead her down a different path towards selfhood. i still don't know what the takeaway of the novel is meant to be, other than "life is hard for girls," but i really enjoyed reading it, and it's got a lot of power, although maybe better appreciated by adult readers.come to my blog!

4 stars. Really weird?? But I kind of loved it. First things first: this book has weird prose. I still can't decide whether I liked the writing style. At points, there's almost too much purple prose and the metaphors killed me a bit, but there are also points where the prose personally murdered me and left me near tears. I think the writing style is going to be very divisive between readers. The thing is, the writing style can't bother me, because everything else about this book was so pitch-perfect. Little Wrecks stands out mainly because of the character work. Isabelle is reckless and independent and desperate to get out of this town no matter what. Ruth, my personal favorite, is desperate to avoid her mother's fate. She loves her mother for being kind, but hates her for being more like a best friend and less like a mom. Ruth does some terrible things, lives through the consequences, and comes out stronger. Her character arc is very, very strong. Magda wants to save her brother and her best friends from themselves. She comes off as stern and level-headed compared to her two reckless friends, but she's also desperate to be loved. All three of these characters are developed and relatable.These characters would've almost certainly made me give this book a 4.5, were it not for the unnecessarily sad ending. Keep in mind here that I usually prefer happy endings after dark character studies, and I don't like tragedy as a story format. The ending wasn't an explicit tragedy– it's really only terrible for one character. I just feel like a lot was wasted with that ending. These characters spend 300 pages growing and changing, and yet one of them ends up meeting a tragic end anyway. It doesn't work for me.Still, this book is absolutely recommended.div17: latinx mc

the best book i’ve ever read. it’s been months and yet i still think about this.

(I received an ARC from Harper Collins via Edelweiss.)An achingly familiar coming of age story about the friendship of three teenage girls—Isabel, Ruth, and Magda. The story gives an insight into what each character is experiencing and their reactions to the predominantly patriarchal culture in their town of Highbone. While the main storyline deals with the plot to steal the local drug dealer's marijuana to obtain money to get out of their town, the underlying reflections on what it means to be a girl becoming a women in society both past and present is where the power of this story truly resides. There is something gritty and tragic yet lyrical about how Isabel, Ruth, and Magda view the world around them and the experiences they go through in this book that compels you to keep turning the page. Reminiscent of Midy McGinnis' The Female of the Species through it's brutal honesty and darkly idiosyncratic story telling and writing style—this is a great book to spark conversations on gender politics, sexual identity, and physical/emotional abuse.

What a beautiful book!This novel is beautifully written and the characters so clearly defined and engaging. I love the character Virgil Mackie, the spirit guide! ... and the idea of fire as the cleansing element. Too, how can you not love Lefty? Of the girls, there is something in all of them that resonates with me. I am middle-aged and grew up on the north shore of Long Island. Reading this book was like revisiting my teenage years through the eyes of three girls who were each like a little part of me. Also, the imagery and poetry in the writing grounded the story firmly in place and time for me.I love how Henry is the tether that they all need to keep them grounded. Especially, Magda. But Magda!? I too love how Ruth comes to such a wonderful moment of realization and self-affirmation.I really enjoyed this book and I'm really looking forward the next one from this author.

** spoiler alert ** I feel really strange after finishing this book; is unhinged the right word? I’m not sure but that’s how I feel. I’m also having a reaction to the writing style. I don’t know exactly how to describe it but it’s written with a distinct and structured grammatical style and it sticks out to me because I don’t typically read books written how this one is written. Essentially this book is told during the last seventies and is about three girls in a small town with a plan to escape their crap lives by selling stolen weed and using the money to leave. The parents in this novel are mostly absent. Isabell’s mother is mentally ill and her father refuses to admit it. Magda’s Mom left years ago because her father is abusive (he also abuses her in the novel) and she’s (Magda) trying to take care of her six year old brother Henry. And Ruth’s mother is a hippy who brings in boyfriend after boyfriend after she got knocked up by a rich guy she cleans for an had Ruth. Everyone in this small town knows this and everyone refuses to talk about it and pretends it didn’t happen. There’s a lot of abuse and patriarchal violence in this novel. Charlie sleeps with Isabell and continuously fantasizes about raping her. Jeff hits Magda and actually does rape her at one point. Magda’s father beats her, and all of these girls have essentially had it up to their breaking point. They start to bite back because they are extremely aware of the fact that no one (especially not the useless cops or their parents) is going to do anything about all the shit happening to women in this town. Later in the novel Isabell beats a man over the head with a pipe assaulting him after he tried to feel her up in a Dunkin Donuts and the police catch her and put her in Juvie. Personally I was upset by this because it just shows how once again men can beat the shit out of women and do whatever they want to their bodies but the women are the crazy and the ones that need to be punished and locked up. Ruth then messes with the breaks on her mother’s boyfriend’s car causing an accident. Magda tired her hardest to raise Henry but after the wanders off one time and can’t be found her father finally starts paying attention and blames the whole thing on her. He slaps her in the face in front of the cops who don’t do anything about it and then he tells her he’s going to send her away to live with distant relatives but keep Henry for himself which pushes her to the edge. The book ends with Isabell in juvie, Magda on a water tower contemplating suicide, and Ruth discovering for the first time that she can be a person separate from Magda and maybe just maybe she will be the one to get out of this town and go to college and leave it all behind. Their futures are left uncertain and the ending is ambiguous. The whole book is also heavily filled with metaphor and contemplations of the meaning of life and the constant fear that you won’t be able to break out past the family structure you were born into. 4/5

The ending :(

this was my favorite book in middle school and I finally got around to rereading it. just as good as I remembered

I loved this book about three teenage girls living on Long Island in the seventies. Bored with their lives and tired of the social hypocrisies that surround them, they decide to dole out their own brand of justice to get even with the world. This ignites in them a strong desire for change and for progression in the society in which they are rooted. A love of quirky clothes and books, smoking pot and a strong sense of loyalty binds the girls together in their desire to escape suburbia for an independent life somewhere new. The characters develop depth through their relationships and by how they react to the usually tangled situations that they find themselves in. When the town of Highbone is introduced in the opening chapter of Little Wrecks, we are introduced to a place that hides hypocrisy, corruption and decay through a shiny veneer of middle-class respectability. The girls kick against this society’s norms and plan to commit the perfect crime. I loved Meredith Miller’s imagery, the rhythm of her language and the literary references that pepper her prose. I enjoyed hearing the voices of three protagonists in dialogue. The girls’ fresh attitudes, developed sense of loyalty and feminist outlook on the world contrast sharply with the sad and stagnant lives that are led by some of the other members of the community, particularly the post-Vietnam war vets who wander the town’s streets. Little Wrecks left me with a sense of melancholic nostalgia for the past, for lost innocence and for the little wreck that was my own teenage self.

Mindy McGinnis sums it up spot on as a novel that ‘depicts girls becoming women in a society that devalues both’ Gender politics and the failings/mistakes of people influences every part of the narrative in some way I have to be honest and say it isn’t quite my type of read, but not in a negative way it succeeds in what it attempts to do. It’s intentionally uncomfortable to read at times, which it manages effortlessly pointing out truths and issues surrounding women and how they are treated and viewed. Also, much like How We Learned To Lie, it’s not an enjoyable narrative, or one that leaves you feeling uplifted but it is without a doubt important and needs to be talked about! I personally didn’t identify with any of the main characters but I know there are far too many people that will and so this book should be celebrated for giving a chance to create discussions around many issues.

I have a hard time understanding why this one has such a low rating. I loved this book. It's not YA. Not by any means. The girls live in a world that is set up to break women down, with few positive role models and not much parental supervision, but the 1979 setting really spoke to me and I came to care for these girls. I wanted them to reach beyond the hand that life dealt them. The end kind of gutted me. Beyond that, the writing is gorgeous. This really captured how being an outsider young adult felt when i was one, so long ago.

Strikingly mysterious and devastating

Amidst a market proliferated by similarly plot-driven bildungsroman’s aimed at young readers, Little Wreck's premise may appear typical young adult writing, but Miller’s searingly honest and often abstract prose transcends the stereotypes of YA fiction. Whole chapters are devoted to the post traumatic ramblings of Vietnam veterans who can only fathom the world through poetry, providing a madness the girls accept as an insight into their own reality. ‘“Little mountain man,” Lefty says. He waves back, that lovely little poem of a boy. He belongs to his holy harlot sister. The one who’s carrying things behind her eyes.’ As well as counselling conversations with the fleeting, sage-like Mackie which can rip apart Ruth’s perception of space and time. These forays into conceptual writing do not, however, weaken the starkness and brutality of Miller's plot. With a lack of lingering romance and clear-cut resolutions, Miller does not step away from the difficult topics of sexual assault, murder and violent moral ambiguity. ‘Once Isabel feels full up with fear and power, she takes a long, last breath and time starts up again. One more swing and his head drops.’ The girls contend with mentally ill and violent parents, absent fathers, sexual assault, working-class issues, and mothers who’ve fled the nest in search of solace from this stifling reality. In and amongst this, the girls are left contemplating the absurdity of it all and the double meaning in everything, a double meaning which only they appear to be able to see. By deciding to commit a seemingly unnecessary crime, Magda, Ruth and Isabel attempt to reclaim their existence; for themselves, for their mothers, and in defiance of the absurdity of it all. From young drug dealers and former young carers who’s lack of parental love leaves them searching for mothers in the faces of their customers, to traumatised housewives who hide behind the folds of their furniture at night, in search of meaning and a connection with a world they once thought they understood. Little Wrecks gestures towards the wider implications of what it means to conform to a model of humanity which disregards so many. Miller writes candidly of the darker side of girlhood, and the paradox of both desiring and despising the male gaze as a result. A strong feminist message forms the backdrop to Little Wrecks’, articulating a myriad of experiences which will resonate with girls, women and people of all ages. Consequently, Magda, Ruth and Isabel become echoes of a shared past, whose search for poetic justice is draped in adolescent anarchism, modern gender politics, and an insight into the minds of the marginalised. Little Wrecks reminds its readers that sometimes the world is the problem which needs fixing, not them. This has without a doubt been my favourite read of 2017, enjoy everyone :)

When you pick up a book and it won't let you put it down, it makes you late for class and means that the houseworks is not going to get done! Thank you for giving me a very valid excuse for both of those things, Meredith. This books hurts. It's not teenage angst, it's real. It's about that time when your hormones get out of bed and wake you up to the starting reality that everything around you is just messed up. I'll admit, I struggled to separate the three girls from each other at first. They're all very similar to each other in the way that friends become when one is the leader and the others meld into that leader by copying those traits they admire, whilst trying to work out who they are. It's their fractured family lives that keep you with them at first. But as you move through the book and the girls develop their own sense of self, they start to grow. Their petals reach out towards the new light that they see and the bigger world that they feel they must become a part of if they're to survive. This really works and by the end of it, I was following Magda too. She is an awesome character.They're like all teenagers, making stupid decisions because they're naive and want to experiment with 'What happens if?' There is nothing cliched or predictable here. What they discover is exciting but sometimes terrifying. In their cases, it's the changes in their bodies and minds that they fear. If you don't want to read the truth about life and relationships, maybe go and watch another Disney film. If you're way past the stage where the adults' sugarcoating of your life just doesn't cut it anymore, read this. You will learn what it feels like to love, be loved and unloved for real. Can't wait to read How We Learned To Lie. Thank you for all the time and effort I know you put in to writing this, Meredith, it certainly doesn't read like a first novel and I hope to be reading many many more of your books in the future :)

This story takes place in a small town on Long Island just after the end of the Vietnam war. While broken and haunted vets wander the town, 16-17 year olds Ruth, Isabel and Magda are trying to discover who they are in this world of liars and fakes. This reads like a 3-girls-as-Holden-Caulfield story but written as if it was put through a disco ball or perhaps a kaleidoscope. There's lots of cryptic phrases and lines that make you wonder "Wait; does this mean THIS?" which all end up feeling almost poetic and lyrical. All around a framework of three young teen girls dealing with sexual trauma, violence, and different but all stressful types of home lives, who end up stealing and trying to find a way to deal with a bunch of weed. It's very compelling and will leave book groups a LOT to discuss due to the way many threads don't really tidy up by the end.Anything you didn’t like about it? The author's fragmented writing style could definitely turn some readers off entirely. This is dark, thoughtful, and interesting but a struggle to read if you're hoping for a structured narrative. Also; when the story begins it's hard to like ANY of the three main characters but they are all VERY flawed and fascinating to read about (even if you can't really like them from the start).To whom would you recommend this book? (Read-alikes if you can think of them) This very much made me think of Catcher in the Rye. FTC Disclosure: The Publisher provided me with a copy of this book to provide an honest review. No goody bags, sponsorship, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

I loved this book. I loved Miller's writing style and the intimate and complex world she creates for her characters. She captures the period without fuss or over description but enough telling detail to draw you in. I found my heart in my mouth much of the time reading this. I identified with the girls frustrations, the dangers they put themselves in the ambiguities about the life, the town they want to leave and the options open to them to do so. Set on Long Island in the 70s but many of the attitudes these girls have to endure are not unlike many [Western] girls from similar small towns face today. Isabel, Magda and Ruth are compelling characters, all distinctly drawn and transform in some way during the course of the story. Just what I love to bear witness to, as a reader. I have read a few comments on the writer's style; that it hasn't clicked with some readers, and maybe it is something that will either be loved or not loved. I'm in the latter camp, and without apology. I found this novel visual, poetic, quietly clever, visceral and powerful in its story-telling. Miller has a way with words. I'd like to see Sophia Coppola get her hands on this. It was written for her to film. [Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation in particular spring to mind]. Treat yourself to something a little out of your comfort zone.