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    Girls in Trucks
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    Girls in Trucks
    Unavailable
    Girls in Trucks
    Audiobook6 hours

    Girls in Trucks

    Written by Katie Crouch

    Narrated by Joshua Ferris

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Sarah Walters is a less-than-perfect debutante. She tries hard to follow the time-honored customs of the Charleston Camellia Society, as her mother and grandmother did, standing up straight in cotillion class and attending lectures about all the things that Camellias don't do. (Like ride with boys in pickup trucks).
    But Sarah can't quite ignore the barbarism just beneath all that propriety, and as soon as she can she decamps South Carolina for a life in New York City. There, she and her fellow displaced Southern friends try to make sense of city sophistication, to understand how much of their training applies to real life, and how much to the strange and rarefied world they've left behind.
    When life's complications become overwhelming, Sarah returns home to confront with matured eyes the motto "Once a Camellia, always a Camellia"- and to see how much fuller life can be, for good and for ill, among those who know you best.
    Girls in Trucks introduces a narrative voice that is astonishing and irresistible - a true, sweet, and wise voice that heralds the arrival of an exciting new talent.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateApr 7, 2008
    ISBN9781600242731
    Unavailable
    Girls in Trucks
    Author

    Katie Crouch

    Katie Crouch was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and now lives in San Francisco. Having finished her MFA at Columbia in 2005, Katie has written for the the New York Observer, Teen, and Self. She is the author of the bestselling novel Girls in Trucks.

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    Reviews for Girls in Trucks

    3/5

    360 ratings39 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The story of a group of southern girls who are sort of friends because of who their parents are starts off strong, as they learn to dance and to have proper southern manners. I loved the first third and the last few chapters of Girls in Trucks, but there was a rocky section in the middle. Really this reflects what the main character was going through in her life, so now that I've finished reading it, I really did like it very much.
    • 3/5
      It started out really good and I was hooked but then it went off into a bunch of different directions and it lost it's way. It started out being written in Sarah's voice but by the end of the book it was written in the 3rd person which I thought was odd.It's the story of Sarah, younger sister of Eloise, friend of Anne and Bitsy and Charlotte. She seems desperate for her sister's affection, but she's a rebel, but she gets into some messy messes.
    • 2/5
      My mother bought this book for me on a whim because I am a huge fan of Southern novels being a Southern girl myself. However, this book just didn't do it for me the way that books like The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood do. Katie Crouch is a competent writer, but the story itself was very sub-par, in my opinion. Girls in Trucks starts out with a bang, full of debutantes and Southern charm, and quickly devolves into a "Little Girl Lost" story with the main character doing a complete 360 on us. It is hard to be sympathetic to her, and that is who we are supposed to be rooting for. I found it hard to like her once she had grown up and gotten herself into a pile of messes. I give it two stars because I did finish the novel, but I immediately sent it out to the local used bookshop afterwards. There are far better Southern novels than this and I'm surprised it got the fanfare it did.
    • 5/5
      Just finished this. I read it in one day! It's been awhile since I've finished a book that fast - couldn't put it down. :)This book has a lot of swearing and could be considered pretty offensive in some parts, but I couldn't help but be entranced by the character's honest portrayal of her life. It was a captivating read.
    • 2/5
      I have to say I won this book from a book blog giveaway. With all the hype it was getting I thought it was going to be a great read. Unfortunately I was disappointed in it. The way it was written did not flow, which made it hard for me to stay interested in it.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed Girls in Trucks quite a lot when I started reading it. Sarah's voice is fresh and honest. She tells it like it is and often deflects emotion with humor. The time line shifted frequently, which was a bit confusing, but I was still able to hold the thread of the story through Sarah. Unfortunately, somewhere around the middle of the book, the author began repeating information. There would be a quick paragraph about Sarah's relationship with Max as if the reader needed a reminder even though we had just spent chapters in that portion of Sarah's life. Another was a reference to Sarah's sister's wedding, reminding the reader that she had been married twice, after we had just lived the story of Sarah as the bridesmaid at the second wedding.Another issue that I had with Girls in Trucks was the shifting point of view. Most of the book is told through Sarah in first person but every once in a while another character steps in and takes over. Then there was a strange section that was still focused on Sarah but was suddenly in third person. I don't mind multiple character point of view but I would prefer the point of view be consistent through the entire book.Crouch has wonderfully strong characters. They are flawed and engaging and I really wanted to become absorbed in their story. The writing is often refreshing and entertaining. I just wish inconsistencies in the point of view and the repetition of information hadn't pulled me out of the story.
    • 2/5
      I had really high hopes for this one. The author has a way of turning a phrase that I loved. The plot seemed fun. I was thinking maybe a fun Steel Magnolias. I was very wrong. There were times I just wanted to stop reading the book and be done with it, so it says something for the the book I guess that I was still interested to find out the ending. The story had a very condensed, fast forwarded time line. One day she's studying as a debutante (Carmerelle, don't know if I spelled that right), the next she's in college, then at a job as a journalist that's always been her dream (though it's never really mentioned). come to find out she's a romping slut for no particular reason who favors mean guys. I didn't get the random jumping ahead in life, with nothing really explored, the whole book gives the impression of being shelled out, with no substance, which is unfortunate because there were moments in the book where I went "wow, what's gonna happen now" only you never find out, and my burst of interest was in vain. 2 stars as I finished it, but that's about it.
    • 5/5
      Loved it. Kept me reading every minute.
    • 3/5
      Partially poignant and partially pathetic. I couldn't resist the cover, the title, and the premise and I was sure I had made a great choice when the first few chapters enveloped me like a moist Southern night out on the front porch. The story of the bond between these Carolina girls raised to be debutantes was well done, but the main character's long list of failures with men got a bit tedious by the end of the book. Too nice, too mean, too married, too crazy, unfaithful, uninteresting...got it. "Girls in Trucks" is kind of like its main character: Pretty and popular with a lot of unrealized potential. Bottom Line: I thought it was a good piece of Southern chick lit, but not a great one.
    • 3/5
      This was an entertaining, fairly quick read. The narration style tends to jump around a bit going from first to third person. The characters were interesting although I personally found Eloise, Sarah's older sister, to be more intriguing than some of the others. I found Sarah to be somewhat unlikable, and frusterating due to her constant bad decisions. Still an overall solid read.
    • 2/5
      This is a book told by an antihero--a girl who makes bad decision after bad decision and sends her life into meaningless blah for no reason. She leaves her warm and comforting home for the cold darkness of New York and watches as her life descends into nothing. She is a cynical woman full of ennui. This book was interesting to a point but made me feel like life was meaningless, which I am sure that is how the main character was supposed to feel. What I didn't like about this book is that there was no hidden meaning, no ambiguity, nothing to induce me to read it again. I was attracted to this book by the cover, and I can truthfully say that the old saying applies to this book, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."
    • 4/5
      While I liked this book, I think it skipped around a lot. It was like she went from 13 to 25 in two chapters with out really getting to know her. This book left a lot of my questions unanswered about some of the characters. I know her sister got married a few times but did she ever marry the international guy? Why does a girl who is supposed to be the upper crust of society have such a potty mouth. What made her go wild with her relationships?Some good points:The depth of emotions of the characters were so vivid.This is definitely a page turnerSome bad points:Unnecessary profanityJumping aroundUnanswered questionsWould I read something else by this author? Yes.Overall I give this 3.5/5
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the story to a certain point and the writing is impeccable, but as I got deeper into the book, I got frustrated for a few reasons: 1) Sometimes the story switches from first-person to third-person for Sarah. I suppose it is a way to illustrate Sarah stepping outside herself and viewing her life through an outsider's eyes, but it is still distracting. 2) Sometimes it switches to third-person for a completely different character, like a cut-to-another-scene-with-other-characters. This I do not care for since we had been following Sarah up until that point. 3) It feels that Sarah is never going anywhere - her life, her relationships, etc. She doesn't know what she wanted which I suppose I can relate to, but I really want to throttle some sense and decision into her after reaching the middle and seeing no change whatsoever.I wish there had been a little bit more debutante shenanigans, a little more detail about Sarah's life as well as her friends and family, and less confusion on the narration. First-person OR third-person would have worked well, but using both seemed like too much!I can definitely see this book as an excellent book club pick or school reading assignment because it can lead to some interesting discussions. As a book to pick up in general, knowing what I know now, I would probably not give it a second glance or thought. I would like it more if it had a little more definitive story with direction. This was a little slow for my taste.
    • 3/5
      This book was quite interesting, but the different writing styles from chapter to chapter drove me crazy. I like some semblance of consistency in a novel. Some chapters in this novel even seemed as though they were short stories posing as chapters.I gather from the information page that particular chapters in the novel had been previously published. When looking at those chapters I could see them as stand alone stories, great stand alone stories. Within the novel however, they threw off the flow of the story dramatically I would say.Katie Crouch writes about a girl, Sarah, who becomes a woman throughout the course of the novel. The book opens with her in cotillion school prepping for her Debutantes ball and ultimately womanhood. The book closes on a mid-thirties woman, who finds that sometimes coming home is the best way to accept and remember who you are.The girls featured in this story are your average deb, getting into trouble almost all the time. The novel has a slight Gossip Girl quality to it, although slightly grittier. I must admit that this was a real page turner for me. I was frustrated with the writing, but that in no way stopped me from tearing through the novel in less than 24 hours.
    • 3/5
      Girls in Trucks is about Sarah Walters who learns to be the perfect woman in cotillion school while prepping for her Debutantes ball. In real life, however, she is far from perfect. She picks abusive men, drinks, does drugs, and is nowhere with her career. Sarah comes home due to tragedy...tragedy and lots of complications.I liked Sarah, but I didn't really understand her. The writing is very choppy, inconsistent, and disjointed. I found this very confusing. This book was fun and easy to read, but in the end really left me with nothing.
    • 4/5
      I was immediately engaged in this book. It reminded me of THE GIRLS' GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING in only the good ways and not the annoying ways. It fell apart for me a little at the end when it skips around in time a lot, but all the individual parts of it were oh-so-satisfying.
    • 4/5
      I'm not sure why I liked this book as much as I did. Sarah, the main character, has many characteristics which typically turn me off, yet in some ways I liked her. She just seemed lost and floating along with this man or that, not finding a job that was stimulating, etc. Having a child didn't seem like the best choice but. . . I think what appealed to me was the honesty of the characters - each of whom was a bit of a screwup. They each had opportunities and some success but never seemed to bring it all together. I found the shift in point of view a bit jarring in the beginning but all in all, I enjoyed the read.
    • 4/5
      The minute I read the first review, I knew I HAD to get my hands on this book. Reading the dust jacket - "Meet Sarah Walters, a Charleston debutante with questionable manners and an inherited weakness for bad ideas" - I felt a tremendous shock of recognition. Granted I was from Atlanta, but take it from me, this book rings so true I was transported back to another time and place. Charleston society was Atlanta times 3 - or 4. In the South, Charleston is the top of the heap, the grand dame of southern gentility and manners. Southerners care about and know who your great-great-great grandfather was and adhere to a convoluted set of social rules. The society Crouch depicts really existed and still lives. Her setting is drawn with detail that truly conveys the place - not only the town with its hot, sticky summers and old homes, but also the stifling "old family" milieu.Sarah is a Camellia. She is the daughter of an old family, so she is a Camellia by birth, and as she says, "once a Camellia, always a Camellia," whether you really want it or not. So true, so true. With charm and wit, Crouch unfolds the story of a small group of girls as they grow up, leave, but never entirely get away from their Camellia roots. Crouch gives us romance with a dark edge and endings that, while not necessarily happy, are very satisfying. Sarah and her friends (by birth but not by choice) leave Charleston with relief, liberated, going "North" to college and escaping the strictures of a culture built on rules for proper behavior. (Southerners really do say "yes, ma'am.") They build new lives around the inheritance of their past, like setting furniture around a large elephant in the living room. Most of the book relates what happens to these Charleston flowers after they leave home. The plot is not sugar-coated and what happens to the Camellias easily flows from the background and story structure.Highly recommended for the Southern Reading Challenge. A great summer book. I could almost taste the sweet tea.Reviewed by Vidalia - Cotillon member and graduate of the Margaret Bryan school of ballroom dance, where you would have found me (step ball step), maybe, on row four, a little confused about why I was there. (one, two, cha, cha, cha)
    • 3/5
      pretty good. a bit too much casual sex for my liking.
    • 2/5
      Another narrator. The whole deadpan, monotone reading was terrible and even juvenile in tone, but not in a young cheerful way. Sometimes the plots were lost on me, but I kept listening to see if she was going to find what she was looking for. By the end I felt like I had wasted my time with this one.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this. narration by au me
      thor was very good and plot keeps interest. glad I discovered Katie crouch will definitely be reading more from her.

    • 2/5
      I found the character development to be poor to the point I didn't care about any of the characters.
    • 4/5
      A nice fun summer novel. Goes fast. Will look for her other books.
    • 2/5
      Needs a Different narrator. Voice is annoying, lacks a narrative quality.
    • 4/5
      Nice southern story about young people following southern traditions bybattending charm school and later becoming camelia's.
    • 5/5
      Interesting. And I like the author reading! Thank you
    • 3/5
      It started out really good and I was hooked but then it went off into a bunch of different directions and it lost it's way. It started out being written in Sarah's voice but by the end of the book it was written in the 3rd person which I thought was odd.It's the story of Sarah, younger sister of Eloise, friend of Anne and Bitsy and Charlotte. She seems desperate for her sister's affection, but she's a rebel, but she gets into some messy messes.
    • 3/5
      This collection of stories is about a group of young women growing up in South Carolina. The stories revisit the girls as they grow up, make mistakes, live, love and generally survive. Strong themes of family and tradition are woven throughout.
    • 2/5
      A little sad on the end, but then, I like a good road to a happy ending.
    • 2/5
      Blah. Nothing really happens.

      1 person found this helpful