White Girls

I was a student in Ms. Lauber's on-line writing course at UCLA, and so I was interested in seeking out her published work. This book is wonderful. Deeply touching but not in a sentimental and manipulative way. It earns its emotional power. It is also satirical and ironic in its portrayal of family life in a small town. But for me the best thing about it is the language: her words are pure poetry; the details are vivid and stay with you long after reading. I highly recommend WHITE GIRLS.

WHITE GIRLS is poetic, evocative, funny, and ultimately deeply moving. It feels a little like "Winesburg, Ohio," but it's darker, more poetic--a beatiful mediation on youth, on race, and on the regrets that haunt us all. The final scenes never fail to bring me to tears.

This book is really a collection of vignettes about an interesting and remarkably alive girl growing up in a quintessential middle American town in Ohio. Like Mona Simpson without the emotional fireworks, the stories are sustained by the freshness and depth of the central character. Her love interest is not as clearly drawn, but the women around him are carefully and poignantly depicted. The whole story has a sadness and sweetness which is leavened by her keen and often humorous observations. The stories are strongest when told from the point of view of the young girl, and saddest when the author assumes an omniscient voice. This is good stuff, I'm looking forward to more from Lynn Lauber.