Comments on: The Girls from Corona del Mar

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 15:04:35 +0000

In reply to susan. No, not much CA at all, yet it felt very evocative of that place. I really appreciate how she unspools friendship.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 15:03:18 +0000

In reply to Debi Morton. The nice thing about it is it's older so should be at the library without a hold list.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 15:02:11 +0000

In reply to Sushma. Thank you! She is a marvelous writer for delving into uncomfortable (and often unusual) lives and making them relatable.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 15:00:23 +0000

In reply to Laura Newton. Thank you so much! I appreciate the support. Passing sounds interesting- there are so many layers and iterations to female friendships, I love authors that can tap into them.

By: susan

susan — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 04:13:40 +0000

Gawd it’s been awhile since I read this one …. I had to go back to my review to see what I thought …. what I recall is that it’s pretty intense and gets pretty dark. The ending is something that made me wonder too. I guess it begs the question how well do we really know a person. hmm at least that’s what I said in my review. https://www.thecuecard.com/books/high-dive-astonish-girls-corona-del-mar/
The funny thing is there’s not a whole lot of Corona del Mar in it …. but as a girl we used to go to the beach there too … long ago.

By: Debi Morton

Debi Morton — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 22:01:52 +0000

I’ve heard of this book, but knew nothing about it and it wasn’t on my TBR. But your review intrigues me; I may have to pick it up.

By: Sushma

Sushma — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 15:39:20 +0000

I always love complicated relationships in books. I am going to look out for this and potentially checkout her other books. Great review as usual Catherine 🙂

By: Laura Newton

Laura Newton — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:28:30 +0000

I completely agree with everything you said- especially your final line! When I finished, I was also uncertain as to what I had read; was it a friendship that changed over time, or a friendship fostered by the close proximity of childhood that really wasn’t a friendship at all? I recently read Passing by Nella Larsen and find myself seeing some similarities between the women’s friendship in that book and the one in this story: each woman uncertain of the other, each maybe not seeing the other for who they really were, and ultimately, sensing there was no friendship at all.

Great review. I often like the stories you do (or don’t) and take your recommendations to heart, so thank you for all you do!