Going Nowhere Sideways: A Novel

By Leigh Curran

It's the summer of 1968 in New York City. Molly Williams is young, conservative, and inexperienced... and then she finds her boyfriend necking with his male roommate in a Greenwich Village restaurant.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156474289X
• ISBN13: 9781564742896
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Fithian Pr
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Human, fun, moving and so, so true

I did not know what to expect when I picked up this book for reading on a business trip. I got so involved in the richly real characters that I could hardly tear myself away to go to meetings. I finished it on a plane, and I sat reading til the plane cleared out because I still had a couple of pages to go. The book is beautifully constructed, with an unpredictable, almost musical flow, and the characters will stay with me for life. This is one of those "best friend" books you tell your best friends about, as I have done. There are moments and images that have stayed with me for the months since I read it. If you came to consciousness in the '60s, or know someone who did, revisit the times and how they grew into a gentle wisdom in the '90s. I thank Leigh Curran for this beautiful work.

A real healing force! I relished every word.

This book is involving, clear, passionate - so personal, fascinating, heart-breaking, heart-warming, illuminating and ultimately so inspiring. And fun. I was in tears and stitches and relished every word!

Summer Reading with a Kick!

I read this book while I was back east this week -- I couldn't put it down! Those wonderful characters and clever structure...what a terrific read. I didn't want it to end, but thank goodness for Molly it did. If you're looking for an engrossing summer book, "Going Nowhere Sideways" is the one. I can only hope Hollywood doesn't make me wait too long for the film version.

A wonderful novel

I got totally engrossed in Molly's life and her relationships, and enjoyed all the cultural references - Woodstock, the McGovern campaign, Nixon's resignation. The various struggles to live within a family and with love were made very real. Although the story is often dark and depressing, and nothing turns out as planned, in the end we are left with the sense that all the difficulties have been necessary lessons, that Molly will have the life she wanted, although not the way she wanted it.

Excellent! I couldn't put it down.

Leigh Curran is a fine writer with an exotic mix of large-hearted bawdiness and refined sensibilities. I couldn't put "Going Nowhere Sideways" down. Michael Weller, playwright