A Halfway Decent Girl

By Rhonda Talbot

Jeannie knows nothing much will change. Her mother Daisy will pass hot checks, pick up men, and mean every word of the promises Jeannie knows won't come true. Riding cross-country to deliver a white... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887393330
• ISBN13: 9780887393334
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Donald B. Ellis
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.5" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Talent

One of the pleasures of reading is discovering a new writer with great talent, and because I learned about Rhonda Talbot's novel A Halfway Decent Girl (Creative Arts Book Co.: 2002) through word-of-mouth rather than through the hype of commercial publishing, I am moved to recommend it to readers and book clubs. While Talbot addresses the perennial topic of the fractured family that many of us have experienced and some of our greatest writers have portrayed, this book is fresh, particularly in Talbot's gift for characterization, and Talbot's two central characters are brilliant. Jeannie, the doubting, troubled teenage protagonist and speaker, tastes the mistakes that come with her recently achieved adolescence-truancy, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, and theft--but she is also the object of adult crimes that are worse, ones that she must weather. Many of Jeannie's problems are created by her mother Daisy, Talbot's most ingenious character. While Daisy is ruthless as she forges checks, lies, manipulates, and prostitutes herself, she is also a kind of modern-day, unsung hero, fighting for her own identity and survival against a brutal husband and another daughter bent on self-destruction. Set in post-Vietnam America, grappling for its own identity, the book is a journey motif both physically and emotionally, as there are two trips back and forth between Michigan and Marin. CA. The first is a failed escape for an adolescent who bears the full force of the family's horrors and the second is for an abortion, the final trip playing an important role in her maturing process and with it a sense of redemption.It's beautiful writing because every paragraph is filled with pain, humor, and poignancy.

It will make you laugh, it will make you cry,..

One word for this brilliant masterpiece - WOW. I find myself reading about 75% of a book and then beginning the next. Problem is, I can usually predict the end and find it unnecessary to read the rest. I can honestly say that I read this book from cover to cover in 3 days, barely able to put it down. The "matter-of-fact" feeling and it's smooth flow made me want to keep going. Rhonda has been blessed with the ability to capture you into the world of this growing adolescent young lady as if it is your own life. Memories, ideas, and the confusions about the world and the people in it were shared, leading me to reevaluate my own growing experiences. I would recommend this book to anybody and everybody as it contains all of the essentials of a good book,.. humor, emotion, and reality.Rhonda, please publish another book soon, I can't wait. Seriously.

The most gripping book this year

I'm a mother, an MFA, and read about 20 books per month. Talbot has written a most engaging novel, in original language and skilled similies. Her sentences end with a whip lash, as she maintains complete control of her reader. I laughed until I cried, then cried, choked, and cried some more. Talbot leads her reader on an exhaustive, often poignant, and extremely frightening journey as she attempts to save herself and her dysfunctional family. Talbot owns her characters, never losing sight of the need to expose the frailties and inner dimension, that maintains credibility and pathos. We see Jeannie as victim-cum-heroine,thrown alone into a world of grown up crazy people. Jeannie is brave, clever, and survives her irresponsible parents, without losing herself in the terrifying journey. I went through a roll of two-ply Charmin![.] Great reading, when is the next???!...

A Great Book Club Choice

If you're searching for a smart, crowd-pleasing book for your book club, look no further. "Halfway Decent Girl" is the ideal combination of comedy and tragedy. Everyone will walk away happy. Like "Liar's Club," and "This Boy's Life," a young adult finds herself in the unfortunate situation of being raised by parent(s) that are intellectually, financially, paternally and spiritually lacking. Although she encounters some sad, humiliating and shocking situations along the way, ultimately, we willingly follow her because she's everthing that her parents aren't: smart, sophisticated, and very witty. From the first sentence, "My mother made promises," to the last, "It was all okay," I was hooked. I read a lot for work and pleasure, and this book was among the best (and I'm talking a lot!) of the year. "Halfway Decent Girl" is much more than a haflway decent read.