Reviews
In Girls in Truckseverything is cockeyed and wonderful-white-gloved drunks and stoned debutantes, the social rules of hot Charleston and icy New York . And at the center of it all Katie Crouch has brought us Sarah Walters, a devastatingly funny character trying to figure out not just how to manage the waltz, the cha-cha and various dances of heartbreak-but how to stay alive., Lucky for her readers, Crouch put to use all her cotillion-girl knowledge when she wrote her debut novel, GIRLS IN TRUCKS . . . . In her acknowledgements, Crouch thanks her fifth-grade teacher, Dorothy Rhett, who told Crouch she was a writer. Rhett is surely proud. Maybe her cotillion teacher will be, too., "It's always exciting to hear a new voice-and Katie Crouch speaks in a funny, spiky, highly original voice that carries a reader happily along through this charming novel. Her "Camellia Girls" carry the sweet scent ofCharleston, but they've got a lot more going on in their heads than most ladies of Southern fiction. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.", Girls in Trucksis an extraordinary first novel, one that I'm betting will win the hearts of every reader who has ever sought love or dodged it, and anyone who just plain likes to read a book that's savvy, funny-and-sad, wise, and beautifully written. Katie Crouch has the best ear for dialogue I've come across in years; and she knows how to tell a story that catches us up and spirits us into a world that's achingly familiar but full of surprises. Wow., Girls in Trucks is an extraordinary first novel, one that I'm betting will win the hearts of every reader who has ever sought love or dodged it, and anyone who just plain likes to read a book that's savvy, funny-and-sad, wise, and beautifully written. Katie Crouch has the best ear for dialogue I've come across in years; and she knows how to tell a story that catches us up and spirits us into a world that's achingly familiar but full of surprises. Wow., Katie Crouch's hip and saucy debut is exquisite, the best kind of book there is: It seduces you into inhaling it while at the same time begging to be savored. Perfect for beach, bus or rehab., Readers will be powerless to resist Sarah Walters, the charmingly lusty narrator of Katie Crouch's debut novel. HerCharlestongirlhood may have taught her how to be gracious to others, but it's the heartbreaking honesty with which she sizes herself up that makes her one of the funniest, most sympathetic literary heroines in years., [An] amusing debut.... Crouch's portrayal of a young woman's self-sabotage and the pitfalls facshy;ing young women in a cold world is wise, wry and heartbreaking., Readers will be powerless to resist Sarah Walters, the charmingly lusty narrator of Katie Crouch's debut novel. Her Charleston girlhood may have taught her how to be gracious to others, but it's the heartbreaking honesty with which she sizes herself up that makes her one of the funniest, most sympathetic literary heroines in years., "It's always exciting to hear a new voice-and Katie Crouch speaks in a funny, spiky, highly original voice that carries a reader happily along through this charming novel. Her "Camellia Girls" carry the sweet scent of Charleston , but they've got a lot more going on in their heads than most ladies of Southern fiction. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.", InGirls in Truckseverything is cockeyed and wonderful-white-gloved drunks and stoned debutantes, the social rules of hotCharlestonand icyNew York. And at the center of it all Katie Crouch has brought us Sarah Walters, a devastatingly funny character trying to figure out not just how to manage the waltz, the cha-cha and various dances of heartbreak-but how to stay alive., [An] amusing debut.... Crouch's portrayal of a young woman's self-sabotage and the pitfalls facing young women in a cold world is wise, wry and heartbreaking., Sarah Walters, the heroine of Katie Crouch'sGirls in Trucks, is one of those people who never quite fits in-not with her Southern gothic family, not with her comically flawed lovers, not with her for-better-or-worse society sisters. The question is, at what cost? In spare, confident prose, Crouch perfectly captures the peculiar joys and pain of a life lived mostly alone. She is an author who knows the hunger, and resilience, of the human heart. She's also damn funny., ''Sometimes, looking back on things that have happened to me, I can pin down exact moments when certain situations began to unravel,'' reflects Sarah, the insightful protagonist of Katie Crouch's captivating novel Girls in Trucks .... given all the predictable tales about young women, Sarah's genuine imperfection seems refreshing. A-, Sarah's voice is a funny, slim stiletto to the heart of friendship, desire and love. Her spare prose and sharp dialogue flay open a universal need to belong, whether to a place, a person or your own true self., In Girls in Trucks everything is cockeyed and wonderful-white-gloved drunks and stoned debutantes, the social rules of hotCharlestonand icyNew York. And at the center of it all Katie Crouch has brought us Sarah Walters, a devastatingly funny character trying to figure out not just how to manage the waltz, the cha-cha and various dances of heartbreak-but how to stay alive., Sarah Walters, the heroine of Katie Crouch's Girls in Trucks, is one of those people who never quite fits in-not with her Southern gothic family, not with her comically flawed lovers, not with her for-better-or-worse society sisters. The question is, at what cost? In spare, confident prose, Crouch perfectly captures the peculiar joys and pain of a life lived mostly alone. She is an author who knows the hunger, and resilience, of the human heart. She's also damn funny., In the book's final scene, she leaves her characters in a shared moment of new joy, one that may or may not last, no guarantees, just like in life and in good literature., There are more gasps, sobs, laughs and surprises in these pages than in most people's entire bookshelves. Love never felt so sharp or real as in Katie Crouch's debut., ''Sometimes, looking back on things that have happened to me, I can pin down exact moments when certain situations began to unravel,'' reflects Sarah, the insightful protagonist of Katie Crouch's captivating novelGirls in Trucks.... given all the predictable tales about young women, Sarah's genuine imperfection seems refreshing.A-, Lucky for her readers, Crouch put to use all her cotillion-girl knowledge when she wrote her debut novel,GIRLS IN TRUCKS. . . . In her acknowledgements, Crouch thanks her fifth-grade teacher, Dorothy Rhett, who told Crouch she was a writer. Rhett is surely proud. Maybe her cotillion teacher will be, too., A page-turner by every account, Girls in Trucks blends steamy scenes and heartbreak with an infectious, dreamlike prose, to deliver a graceful work of literature--not to be read while wearing white lace gloves!
