Book Review - Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott

Synopsis:  Rosie Ferguson is seventeen and ready to enjoy the summer before her senior year of high school. She's intelligent-she aced AP physics; athletic-a former state-ranked tennis doubles champion; and beautiful. She is, in short, everything her mother, Elizabeth, hoped she could be. The family's move to Landsdale, with stepfather James in tow, hadn't been as bumpy as Elizabeth feared.

But as the school year draws to a close, there are disturbing signs that the life Rosie claims to be leading is a sham, and that Elizabeth's hopes for her daughter to remain immune from the pull of the darker impulses of drugs and alcohol are dashed. Slowly and against their will, Elizabeth and James are forced to confront the fact that Rosie has been lying to them-and that her deceptions will have profound consequences.

First Line:  "There are so many evils that pull on our children."

Random Quote:  "Then tell me, Elizabeth, honey - what is not being said that is causing the screaming inside you?  Elizabeth stared off into the middle distance and shook her head."

Review:  Oh, the trials and tribulations of the privileged in Marin County - how difficult their Birkenstock-wearing lives, how trite their wise women, how much they over-react.

Muir Woods National Monument, Marin County, CA - Image by wallyg via Flickr

Yes, drug and alcohol abuse among teens can be deadly, but not every beer drunk is a step on the road to hell nor does it require a visit to freakin' rehab.  Yes, teenagers lie and are difficult to live with - this isn't a bolt from the blue and doesn't necessitate almost 300 pages of whinging.  Man, it's really damned difficult to keep the house clean and keep the garden up while preparing groovily organic meals that are vegan at least five days a week - it's a good thing you have a trust fund so you don't have to have an actual job.  My heart is breaking for you that your husband writes essays for NPR and isn't at your beck and call every second of the day - what a strain on your marriage.

I hated this.  This book barfs out every stereotype of people in the Bay Area that I loathe (and I live here).  Lamott trots out every cliche of the overbred, over-privileged guilty white liberal that you can imagine and in doing so makes her story pointless.

Thanks, anyway, to the publisher for the advance copy.

Reading Challenges:  ARC Reading Challenge, 2010 100+ Reading Challenge