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A review by catherine_the_greatest
Little Beauties by Kim Addonizio
3.0
My rating of 3 stars is an average of the ratings I would give each of three narrators of the book, who tell the story in alternating chapters.
Diana, dealing with her OCD without her medication after her husband's departure, I would give 5 stars. I thought her p.o.v. was very realistic and found her to be a mostly sympathetic character.
Jamie, a pregnant recent high school graduate, who hates people but loves fashion, I would give 3 stars. Her character didn't entirely make sense to me, partially because certain aspects of her personality didn't go together and partially because I wanted to slap her. But in the end, I have to admit that she's probably a pretty realistic depiction of a certain type of teenage girl.
The first-person narrative of Stella, Jamie's unborn and then newly born baby, I absolutely hated. One star is being generous. If the whole book had been told from her p.o.v., I wouldn't have made it through the first chapter. Apparently, Addonizio thought the baby had something to contribute to the story, but I found it to be hokey, new-agey, and just plain ridiculous. The idea that she picked Jamie to be her mother was laughable. I especially hated the revelation that she was somehow connected to another character in a past life.
If Addonizio had written this novel alternating between Diana & Jamie, I probably would have given it 4 stars.
(I picked this book because I enjoyed Addonizio's short story "Ever After" in [b:My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales|7945295|My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me Forty New Fairy Tales|Kate Bernheimer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327926278s/7945295.jpg|11460338].)
Diana, dealing with her OCD without her medication after her husband's departure, I would give 5 stars. I thought her p.o.v. was very realistic and found her to be a mostly sympathetic character.
Jamie, a pregnant recent high school graduate, who hates people but loves fashion, I would give 3 stars. Her character didn't entirely make sense to me, partially because certain aspects of her personality didn't go together and partially because I wanted to slap her. But in the end, I have to admit that she's probably a pretty realistic depiction of a certain type of teenage girl.
The first-person narrative of Stella, Jamie's unborn and then newly born baby, I absolutely hated. One star is being generous. If the whole book had been told from her p.o.v., I wouldn't have made it through the first chapter. Apparently, Addonizio thought the baby had something to contribute to the story, but I found it to be hokey, new-agey, and just plain ridiculous. The idea that she picked Jamie to be her mother was laughable. I especially hated the revelation that she was somehow connected to another character in a past life.
If Addonizio had written this novel alternating between Diana & Jamie, I probably would have given it 4 stars.
(I picked this book because I enjoyed Addonizio's short story "Ever After" in [b:My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales|7945295|My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me Forty New Fairy Tales|Kate Bernheimer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327926278s/7945295.jpg|11460338].)