April Rising

By Corene Lemaitre

Book Overview

With hilarious twists and eccentric turns, this zany adventure among the rich and comfortable returns twenty-something Ellen Kaplan to her native Philmont, Pennsylvania, after a two-year jaunt in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0006511333
• ISBN13: 9780006511335
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Quriky, strange and yet, lovable!

At first I wasn't sure what to make of this book. I kept reading and found myself turning the pages with anticipation. It's definately a parody in places but it also manages to combine philosophy, humor and even Jesus into a rich soup of suburban life. It's one of those books you pick up and can't quite put down. The title character of "April" is the ray of light in this crazy mixed up household. It's a great vacation/beach read.

Surreal Take on Family Life

Reading this book is like eating lemon sherbert washed down with champagne. The dialogue fizzes along, risking aching stomach muscles at evey page. There is some startling imagery, for instance: 'April has curled up like a crayfish prodded with a stick'. And I love the visual detail. When she talks about the hospital with its 'crocheted afghans which lie complacently against mustard yellow vinyl couches' you can almost feel them 'tearing your skin off when you stand.' Yet the story of snobby, smart arse Ellen's coming home to find the sugar and spice April in her bed, is much more than a witty ,well written take on family life. Lemaitre's surreal touches lift this book into another dimension. Only the most assured and original writer could give us the monkey in the library scene for example! I loved this book. Not only did it make me laugh out loud, it did what all good books should do, it surprised, unsettled and fascinated me.

The Chaos Family

There used to be something called the 'nuclear family': a mom, a dad, and the legendary 2.4 children. In Britain, such familial constructs were on the wane even before the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Ellen, however, still has such a family, even down to the stay at home mom. Yet the novel begins with Ellen returning home from her Grand Tramp around Europe. Deep down she must know something is wrong since she has stayed away from her family for several years. The prose of this intro is the stuff of which classics are made. You are enthralled as Ellen steals into her home, as she describes the pacified denizens of Philmont, and as she encounters the Goldilocks in her bed. Lemaitre has a real ear for familial conversation and drama. It could be you eavesdropping on your parents' less than enthusiastic response to your surprise visit home from college, their annoyance at your showing up after months of being incommunicado. Ellen is a spoilt rich college girl, and she knows it. Part of the reason for her less than successful trip around Europe was to avoid the adult world of work, and that's something that I can certainly identify with. Thrown into this mixture is the lowly outsider Ellen, poor white redneck superstitious trash in comparison with the rich and irreligious Kaplans. However, Ellen has been away so long that she is also the outsider. She's able to see the changes that April's presence has wrought far more clearly for having been away, for it she who can see the junk diet food stashed away in the larder. Ellen feels that her place has been usurped by April, that April is the enemy in a Cold War in which there can be only one victor. April's influence seems to have turned everything upside down. She seems to have influenced James, Ellen's beloved brother, into leaving Berkeley. Even worse, April laughs at Ellen's father's dated jokes. She seems to get on the best side of everyone. Ellen is not used to being the victim, the one forced to sit on the broken chair in the kitchen because all the others are taken. She has a perverse desire to be both at the centre of attention and away from it, especially in regards to her relationship with her mother. Ever since Ellen has returned, her mother has fussed far more around April than her. To make things even worse, her father has decided to be far more difficult in the usual money bartering - Ellen has to actually do something about getting a job before she can get the cash. But the worst offense seems to be the fact that April has gotten in the way of Ellen's unusual relationship with her brother James. This disturbing relationship is one of the first things that set the alarm bells a-ringing. Ellen also seems to have quite a disturbing passion for the alluring Frederick, of Germanic origins in contrast to Ellen's Jewishness. Unwittingly perhaps, April decides that to confide in Ellen that she is with child. To make matters worse, she has persuaded James to take a j

Goldilocks with a twist!

Beautiful and touching, hilarious and quirky at times -- April Rising is one of the best and most original novels I have read recently. The heroine, Ellen, is a sassy, smart, but incredibly arrogant young woman who left for Europe and came back two years later to her suburban home to find that another young woman named April has taken over her bedroom, her family, the love of Ellen's older brother (whom she had a meaningful level of affection -- even attraction), and basically her life. Ellen was determined to show April the way to the door for good. Little did she anticipate that she was just as smitten by April's naivette ways as her family -- and she definitely did not expect that April might turn out to be her soulmate, her twin sister in spirit.The story takes some unexpected turns and some twists -- but the emotions that are felt through the writing are vivid, touching, and surreal at times. With April's help, Ellen discovers her passion for journalism, and that there is more to life than a nice suburban home and a bank account. A must-read! I also recommend Vapor by Amanda Filipacchi.

THE "AMERICAN BEAUTY" OF NOVELS

A DARK COMEDY ABOUT SUBURBAN LIFE THAT APPEALS TO THE POST MODERN GENERATION WITH A BANG. THE IRONIC WIT AND ACCURATE CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS THAT OUR GENERATION CAN ALL RELATE TO KEPT ME TURNING PAGES UNTIL I READ THE ENTIRE BOOK...IN ONE SITTING. A MUST READ!