Girly

By Elizabeth Merrick

“Sharp, smart, and on the edge—Girly breaks all of the rules, deliciously.” –Hannah Tinti, author of Animal CrackersGirly is Elizabeth Merrick’s acclaimed first novel, an epic exploring the realm of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976880105
• ISBN13: 9780976880103
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Demimonde Books
• Length: 524 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 1.3" x 5.9"

Customer Reviews

Gorgeous...

GIRLY (which I've read twice now after begging off loaning it to friends) is absolutely gorgeous - caustic in it's honesty GIRLY offers characters (each beautifully flawed) so real and human you can't help but ride their roller coasters with them. Elizabeth Merrick's voice and style mesh ever so intricately with pen and paper - delivering an excellent read.

Coming of Age in Rural Christian America

Move over, Holden Caulfield, time for a new era, a new protagonist, and a new voice - Elizabeth Merrick's. Her first novel tells the raw coming-of-age story of Racinda Hart. Riveting and lush detail reveal the novel's distinct multiple narrative voices, disturbing tensions, and family secrets. Merrick's highly original contribution in a literary landscape deluged by girl-meets-boy-equals-fulfillment fodder is revolutionary. Her unsentimental gaze into a disturbing yet very real world is a testiment to both her uncompromising talent and her promise as a novelist.

Can't wait for the movie!

Girly is one ot those rare books that you can't wait to come home to and read. A coming of age story about a young woman, Racinda Hart. This is a book for all of those who felt like the outsider growing up, like the teenager who laughed too loud or wore too much makeup and developed a little too quickly for her own good. Elizabeth Merrick exposes the dark underbelly of what it's like to grow up in evangelical, suburban America. Her honest, gritty punk rock prose gives a real momentum to the story and makes you wish you could hang out on the corner with her characters. Girly is one of those novels that will stay with you long after you have read it. I highly recommend this book!

Brave and Original Work

"Girly" is a novel that plunges into areas of female sexuality, relationships and experience that few writers have gone of late. For me, this isn't at all a "dark" novel in that cliched sense of the word that seems to be used whenever fiction attempts to peer deeper and truer into our lives. I recommend Elizabeth Merrick's Girly for its epic stretch and startling originality. It's a story told by seven separate narrative voices and is uncompromising. A book about sisters in an American Christian fundamentalist family, Girly enchants the reader while bringing them raw and scorching moments of truth and vision. I highly recommend this journey into sexuality, family, and the margins of our American life.

a stunning debut!

Reviewed by Abigail Koons for Small Spiral Notebook Girly, Elizabeth Merrick's first novel, tells the story of the Hart sisters' tumultuous childhood and the relationships that shape their personalities. From their early childhood in Pennsylvania with their aloof, absent Father to their later years in California alone with their Born Again mother, Ruth and Racinda develop amidst the strong presences of their mother Amandine and their grandmother Button. Their identity is as much who they are as who they aren't. After years of emotional pain and instability, Ruth finally leaves home, allowing her younger sister to emerge from her shadow and make her own mistakes. Racinda strives to define who she is in the absence of Ruth's violent, destructive outbursts, but the need to connect with her sister never leaves Racinda. Once she has forged her own path as a minor groupie for a band and later, as a self-admitted patient in a mental hospital, she reaches out to reconnect with the women in her family, discovering the truth of her family and the heartache and pain that forged them. As this is a book about women, it only seems fair that men dominate the minor characters in Girly, acting as catalysts to the action. Ruth and Racinda's emotionally distance Father, Lyman, creates an absence so acute, that his final abandonment of the family goes unnoticed for days. Joey, his band mates, their grandfather Elmer, Michael -- most of the men in the story remain on the periphery, gently nudging the story in one direction. Rudy, hired to help bring Ruth home, comes on slick and manipulative, but even he is no match for Amandine, the apparent weakest of the Hart women. Racinda's friend Max is a beautifully written character who holds the promise of depth and complexity. Merrick's expert touch to hold back on Max proves her complete control over this novel and her characters. This story wasn't his, although it was interesting to learn, via an interview on Gothamist.com, that the novel grew out of a chapter told from Max's perspective. Jesus, and religion, also have their fair shares of exposure in Girly. Religion, and the all-consuming faith of Born Again Christians, drive Amandine's actions. She discovers her faith and embraces the community with Racinda while Ruth's erratic behavior becomes worse despite her Mother's faith. At times, Merrick's portrayal of Born Again religion is scathing, but peace is made in the end. Amandine, although still prone to speaking in tongues, finds a place where she can accept both her painful past and her religion at the same time. This story is about women. Three generations of the Hart family experience their own pain, suffering and growth. Women in every stage of their lives are part of this story, and although there are different personalities, aspects of Racinda, Ruth, Button, and Amandine are in every woman. Even Lisa, Racinda's friend who can be wicked and hurtful, has her own story to tell. Racinda learns what she can fr