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***SPOILERS*** Christy is a young woman in age, but is childishly stubborn in her refusal to accept responsibility for her life choices and actions. She doesn't learn from her mistakes and appears to be oblivious of cause & effect. She seeks relief from emotional pain and boredom in drugs, alcohol and sex with a single-mindedness that would be admirable if turned towards anything else, ever. Christy's family is working class, reasonably prosperous. She has two sisters: Julie and Lizzy. Her mother is portrayed as a fanatical Christian, but no one goes to church and her irrational religiosity reads more as a mild mental illness - a coping mechanism that has nothing to do with religious faith. (As an ex-Christian, I know the doctrine well and respect it. At best, this is a cynical caricature that's mirrored in a passing mention of the Grand Ole Opry, characterized as “really” a front to extort money from “poor farmers” for burial plots and insurance. Horrors! Entertainment is financed by advertising! It's an early indication that this book is an attack against American normal, on – ironically – a moral level. Ironic because our heroine is a self-made model of slutty self-destruction, and primarily a victim of herself). Last in the family is Dad, who encourages Christy (evincing no awareness that this is wrong or creepy in any way) to tell the details of her numerous sexual encounters and who later relates them to a neighbor boy as they masturbate together. It's all very Middle America, with a strong streak of WRONG through it, and life breeds apathy in 2 of the 3 sisters, who do little to nothing regarding building a future for themselves. Julie manages to marry (trap) someone to take care of her, Christy wishes to die because life is boring (but she doesn't want to have to kill herself, ew). Lizzy, the only fun & endearing character, dies engaged in her passion for cars and becomes a stimulus for Christy's misery - never a source of joy or inspiration. Poor Christy has no ambition and little survival instinct; she is doomed. She needs to realize that she has the freedom to make different choices and the strength to better her life, but self-pity and fear dominate her psyche. It's downright depressing and she isn't likable enough to make it sad. Christy is so apathetic that she cannot muster even mild resistance to her sister's husband coming to watch her strip and receive intimate lap dances,. She does change jobs but it's not made clear that this was expressly to avoid him. He subsequently finds her and is still her "faithful client". She finally tells Julie that her husband "lies" to her and the sister freaks out in a scene that is all inference, accusations not being articulated, but are perfectly understood between the women. I think the author wanted to paint a grim picture of her own culture and in that she succeeds, though it isn't necessarily accurate. I don't like how she portrays her world as just too wretched to endure unless made easier. I don't like that almost every person, and every single male in this book is vile, uncaring or exploitative, or that NO ONE loves anyone (except an idealized dead sister). It's an emotional exaggeration of how life can sometimes FEEL, and an excuse to avoid the burden of responsibility for one's own actions: A very fashionable trend in our uber-priviliged country and I will be glad when it finally dies the death it so richly deserves. Be forewarned; there is constant depiction of explicit sexuality. I gave 2 stars because the author is a technically competent writer and had some appealing and amusing turns of phrase. If she chose to write a story with characters who feel that they might influence their own future, I would read it. Read full review
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