Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?
Book - 2004
"Touches and dazzles and entertains. An enchanting novel." -- The New York Times
In this moving, poignant novel by the bestselling author of Birds of America we share a grown woman's bittersweet nostalgia for the wildness of her youth.
The summer Berie was fifteen, she and her best friend Sils had jobs at Storyland in upstate New York where Berie sold tickets to see the beautiful Sils portray Cinderella in a strapless evening gown. They spent their breaks smoking, joking, and gossiping. After work they followed their own reckless rules, teasing the fun out of small town life, sleeping in the family station wagon, and drinking borrowed liquor from old mayonnaise jars. But no matter how wild, they always managed to escape any real danger--until the adoring Berie sees that Sils really does need her help--and then everything changes.
In this moving, poignant novel by the bestselling author of Birds of America we share a grown woman's bittersweet nostalgia for the wildness of her youth.
The summer Berie was fifteen, she and her best friend Sils had jobs at Storyland in upstate New York where Berie sold tickets to see the beautiful Sils portray Cinderella in a strapless evening gown. They spent their breaks smoking, joking, and gossiping. After work they followed their own reckless rules, teasing the fun out of small town life, sleeping in the family station wagon, and drinking borrowed liquor from old mayonnaise jars. But no matter how wild, they always managed to escape any real danger--until the adoring Berie sees that Sils really does need her help--and then everything changes.
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Publisher:
New York : Vintage Books, 2004, c1994.
Edition:
First edition
ISBN:
9781400033829
1400033829
1400033829
Branch Call Number:
MOORE L
Characteristics:
147 pages ; 21 cm.
Opinion
From Library Staff
From Library Staff
Berie, now middle-aged, narrates the memories of her bittersweet adolescence in Horsehearts, New York, 1972. Recommended for fans of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.
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Add a CommentA short novel, very well written, that I found hard to put down.
Heard a short story by her read by Roddy Doyle on NYorker Fiction podcast, and liked her writing.
Two best friends were fifteen in 1972. They spent the summer together, breaking rules, flaunting authority, having fun, and experiencing heartache.
A bittersweet little novella, bursting at the seams with GIRLness. A lovely afternoon read.
There are some great passages in this book. What is missing enough character development to make the subject herself one with whom one could find empathy. The main character is relentlessly self absorbed, whether doing harm or being contrite. Something is missing. I found this a disappointing experience as a story. And all the curly prose surrounding some of the events and moments do not match the tone of the novel. Embellishments cannot hold the reader.