Helpful Score: 15
This is the third book of hers I have read and I am not sure I would waste the money to read another one. I found this story to be dull, a slow read and more rambling than anything. The book is broke up into three parts; to me each part seemed like a mini story, they didn't flow together well. The main girl Lutie was horrible and after the third or fourth chapter I was tired of her selfish whiny ways. I loved the book Honk and Holler opening soon, I guess I was hopeing this book would be just as good but I was let down. I wouldn't buy this book, I would wait to get it free from this site or a friend. Hoenstly this has to be one of the slowest most painful stories I have read in a long time. I kept reading on hopeing it would pick up and go but it never did :(
Helpful Score: 4
I found this slow in the beginning, but suddenly I couldn't wait to get back to it, then it just lost its bang. A good book for sure, far far grittier than her others, but even though I can see why the heroine had such an attitude, the author did not generate enough sympathy for a reader to really feel for her. I loved the kid brother, though as he was much more developed and sympathetic. I do wish more had been done with the circus and her practice on the wires. Too much was just glossed over in this novel for it to be a keeper.
Helpful Score: 3
This book has a more adult content than other Letts books, or perhaps just more dark. I did not find very much humor in this book. Story delves into the underworld of the forgotten children in our culture.
Helpful Score: 3
I literally could not pry this book from my fingers. I read the entire thing in a day from start to finish. The characters are real but not perfect, which I like. You can tell the author put a lot of thought into who Lutie and Fate McFee are as people and how they would act in certain situations. They make mistakes, but as a 13 year old girl and an 11 year old boy, their characters are more than believeable - they are real. Her characterization of Lutie McFee is spot on. She is sassy, headstrong, and yet innocent in the ways that only experience can age you.
I'm the type of reader where characters that always 'DO THE RIGHT THING' bug me, because they seem fake. Good characters make or break a story for me, and these characters are so lifelike, I fell like I know them personally. The main characters react the way most kids would, given the responsibility they are thrust into at such an early age.
Ulitmately, it's a story dealing with the good and the bad that the real world throws at us. An excellent, excellent book. I plan on rereading this, and picking up Letts' other books as well.
I'm the type of reader where characters that always 'DO THE RIGHT THING' bug me, because they seem fake. Good characters make or break a story for me, and these characters are so lifelike, I fell like I know them personally. The main characters react the way most kids would, given the responsibility they are thrust into at such an early age.
Ulitmately, it's a story dealing with the good and the bad that the real world throws at us. An excellent, excellent book. I plan on rereading this, and picking up Letts' other books as well.
Helpful Score: 2
You ever read a book SOOOO good that you purposefully avoid finishing it because you hate to see it end. THIS IS THAT KIND OF BOOK! The kids in this story are so lifelike and their heartaches and heartbreaks so real I didn't want to finish the book because I wanted to keep them with me forever. This book will make you cry, laugh, cheer and cry some more, and eventually it will make you a better person for having read it.
Helpful Score: 2
If you have never read any of Billie Letts books, this one would be a good place to start. This a tale of two kids alone in this world doomed until a kind sole who also has a lot of troubles befriends them. It turns out all three survive and begin a happy life after a rough ordeal. It was great book and I could hardly put down until I was finished with it. You will be hooked on Letts, if you read it.
Ray Wallace
Ray Wallace
Helpful Score: 2
Another great story from Billie Letts. I haven't read one of hers that I didn't enjoy and had a hard time putting down.
Helpful Score: 1
A novel with some similarities to "Where the Heart Is" (also by Billie Letts). This is a must-read novel about two orphaned children who run away when their caretaker dies, and the troubles and problems they face along the way. It has sad moments and then very happy, inspiring moments too.
Helpful Score: 1
Finished this book in one day....again, Billie Letts does not let down her readers. You feel for the kids in this book and want the best for them. Wonderful story and very heart wrenching. GREAT READ
Helpful Score: 1
This is my third Billie Letts book and I must say that it is dark and depressing, nothing like the others that I so enjoyed. A story about two orphaned siblings who run away to Las Vegas where everything goes badly. They get rescued in the end and find a âfamilyâ of sorts, but the happy part is only the last few pages. I've never had a book leave me feeling so depressed.
Helpful Score: 1
I tried really hard to stick with this book but after a few chapters, I was so bored I had to put it down.
Helpful Score: 1
Well written, which I expected from the author, but a little sad. The first 2/3 or so of the book I kept wondering if there really was going to be any kind of happy ending at all. In the end I was still a little bummed at the harshness of "the real world" the kids had to endure. In conclusion: a good read, but too depressing for me to re-read in the future.
My personal favorite by Billie Letts.....very good!
Nowhere near as good as the author's previous novels. The sister is such a self-centered brat. (I know, I know, she's just a teenager who's had a hard life; but c'mon! I just couldn't generate very much sympathy for her.) And the ending: I thought "Oh, great; now she's gonna be more self-centered than ever!
I loved this book. Billie Letts writes beautiful prose in this story about a teenage girl and her little brother, both orphans trying to survive and make their way in life on their own. It was thoroughly entertaining and so real that I felt I was living the story.
Not one of my favorites from this author, but it is still a wonderful story. I found myself getting very frustrated with the characters...but I couldn't wait to find out what the outcome was. Very entertaining read from Ms. Letts. Would recommend to everybody.
This is a really good book about 15 year old Lutie and her 11 year old brother, Fate and their struggle to survive on their own while searching for their father in Vegas. Both are creative in their attempt to make it on their own. The book is graphic in the things that happen to them. Both characters are very likeable and the reader becomes emotionally involved with their failures and success.
Lutie McFee is fifteen and her brother Fate is eleven. Their Mother died and their Father leaves for Las Vegas leaving them behind with a ex girlfriend, Floy Satterfield. One day at Walmart while Lutie is busy shoplifting and Fate is playing on the computer in the electronics department, a crowed rushes to the front of the store. A woman has died, her name, Floy Satterfield. The kids make a life changing choice and run instead of becoming wards of the State. They make horrible mistakes with their choices while trying to make a living on the run.The Author pulls you into very dark ugly places. I found myself disgusted at times with the kids and the so called Adults they ran into on the way. I never found a reason to like either one of them even at the end of the book when the Author choice to pull out the somewhat happy ending. It is filled with questionable actions and events and I had to remind myself many times it is a work of fiction so let the little hard to swallow things go. Like the policemen in the beginning of the book who don't ask questions, do any calling to find out the facts on the kids and let them drive off without checking they did in fact have a driver licenses. I liked and disliked this book from beginning to end.
My first book from Billie Letts. Nice style and story line. Although I enjoyed the book,( mature male) I think it is written more for the teenager or young adult reader.
I really liked this book. I have read several of her books and had to wait 6 months to get this one on my wish list. It had many twists and turns ,always keeping me wanting to read more. I could have done without some of the situations that the main character went thru but all in all i would recommend it to book reading friends.
Lutie and her nerdy younger brother, Fate, take off for Las Vegas when their care taker dies unexpectedly. In Vegas, Lutie makes all kinds of bad decisions. There are several disturbing things described associated with the kids trying to survive in Las Vegas. I really disliked Lutie and didn't even want to finish the book. It was pretty depressing. I stuck it out though and the second half of the book got a little better but not enough to make me want to read anything else by this author.
A good read - true to life in some parts
Letts' novel of a young brother and sister left to fend for themselves in the gritty underbelly of Las Vegas is powerful stuff, but marred by a happy-ever-after ending that verges on fantasy.
Watching Lutie, the book's angry teen determined to provide for herself and her brother, slide into the vortex of sex and drugs, is absolutely agonizing. One moment you want to take her under your wing; the next you want to slap her upside the head for her self-centered choices. She's such a real character that the about-face Letts directs her to in the conclusion is, perversely, a real let-down.
Watching Lutie, the book's angry teen determined to provide for herself and her brother, slide into the vortex of sex and drugs, is absolutely agonizing. One moment you want to take her under your wing; the next you want to slap her upside the head for her self-centered choices. She's such a real character that the about-face Letts directs her to in the conclusion is, perversely, a real let-down.
