Monday, February 27, 2017

Review ~ The Girls from Corona del Mar by Rufi Thorpe

Title: The Girls from Corona del Mar
Author: Rufi Thorpe
Copyright: 2014
Type; fiction
Page: 256
Series: No

Reason for Reading: Was the book for my bookclub last month.

Summary:
A fiercely beautiful debut blazing with emotion: a major first novel about friendships made in youth and how these bonds, challenged by loss, illness, parenthood, and distance, either break or sustain. 
Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann. While Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at fifteen, and younger brothers she loves but can't quite be good to, Lorrie Ann is luminous, surrounded by her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend's life. Until a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy: things fall apart, and then fall apart further-and there is nothing Mia can do to help. And as good, kind, brave Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this woman is and what that question means about them both. A staggeringly arresting, honest novel of love, motherhood, loyalty, and the myth of the perfect friendship that moves us to ask ourselves just how well we know those we love, what we owe our children, and who we are without our friends.


Thoughts: 
Man where to go with this one... man such a hard story to read at times and yet at other times such an easy story to relate to. There were times I felt bad for Mia and then I felt bad for Lorrie Ann. There were times I wanted to smack Lorrie Ann and strangle Mia and reverse. I laughed and cried. I related to both of these girls at different times and at other times I just wanted to reach out and hold them. They both went through so much that all I could think to myself at one point was poor baby. There was a point I wondered if Lorrie Ann was right and there was a point I asked myself was Mia right. That's how I knew this was a good book because it didn't take a side it didn't you as the reader what to think. It made you ask yourself who in this story is right? Does making a choice for what seems like selfish reasons to the world yet done for love reasons to the person make it a good choice and who has the right to make the tough decisions? Who was actually right in this story all along and what could have ever made it a better story? Where in the world did our people go wrong? Was there actually a spot in the story where our character could have made a better decision and life gotten better? Or was this their fate forever? 
How does friendship survive, form, meld and rebuild and as a human how do we survive what we are dealt with when life throws us some if not a ton of curve balls?
That's what this story made me dig in deep to think about. At the surface it's all about friendships and growing up and apart as we get older and make values and moral decisions as an adult. However, this book is much much deeper and one that I feel like grew me on a different level. Did it answer any of those questions? No but it did make me think about how quickly I judge others who I have no idea what their life story or path has been and I find I am less likely to jump to a conclusion as fast. 

EXCELLENT READ!


Grade: 4 out of 5 stars

Would I recommend: Definitely a read I would recommend!
Keep or Give: I am giving this while it was an excellent read that made me think about things it is not something I would re-read over and over again. 

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