May 2012

A Girl Named Zippy, by Haven Kimmel

Our chosen restaurant ended up being closed so we had to make a quick switch and ended up eating at The Wild Grape and having a lovely, though unexpected, lunch.  Our rating of this book was all over the place, so it gets 3 stars overall.

Sue said, "This book is devised as a set of sketches, although the overriding theme is that despite the group of eccentric characters surrounding her, Zippy had a happy childhood. Some of the chapters reminded me of my own growing up years, especially the interior design chapter where the different craft crazes hit her town. It's a fast read and very enjoyable, with some laugh-out-loud sections."

Alison said, "More a collection of personal essays than a cohesive memoir, A Girl Named Zippy provided me with a week's worth of pleasurable commuting time. Laugh-out-loud funny at times, it also has some tender moments. I especially enjoyed Zippy talking about her relationship with her father and about her mother's faith."


Linda said, "I thought she was a good writer and it was funny at times, but there were other times I was just disgusted - like the description of the state of her house, her describing her vomit, etc.  Some of the things she did to deliberately humiliate the other kids, I thought were very unfunny.  It kind of bothered me that the author could be making money off  the story of her bad behavior as a child."