Pretty Is
A Novel
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3.8 • 19 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"[A] stunning, multilayered debut . . . . with a great deal of intelligent, beautifully written panache. . . . What a satisfying novel, with its shifting perspectives and competing stories and notion that our relationship to the truth changes with time and distance." -The New York Times
A fiercely imagined fiction debut in which two young women face what happened the summer they were twelve, when a handsome stranger abducted them
Everyone thought we were dead. We were missing for nearly two months; we were twelve. What else could they think? -Lois
It's always been hard to talk about what happened without sounding all melodramatic. . . . Actually, I haven't mentioned it for years, not to a goddamned person. -Carly May
The summer precocious Lois and pretty Carly May were twelve years old, they were kidnapped, driven across the country, and held in a cabin in the woods for two months by a charismatic stranger. Nearly twenty years later, Lois has become a professor, teaching British literature at a small college in upstate New York, and Carly May is an actress in Los Angeles, drinking too much and struggling to revive her career. When a movie with a shockingly familiar plot draws the two women together once more, they must face the public exposure of their secret history and confront the dark longings and unspeakable truths that haunt them still. Maggie Mitchell's Pretty Is beautifully defies ripped-from-the-headlines crime story expectations and announces the debut of a masterful new storytelling talent.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mitchell's debut novel is both a skewering of America's JonBenet Ramsey style fixation with little girls in peril and a fascinating glimpse at the intensity of female friendship. In the mid 1990s Carly May Smith and Lois Lonsdale, both 12, were kidnapped and held in a remote enclave of the Adirondacks for two long, claustrophobic months. Precocious Carly was a preteen pageant circuit darling, desperate to escape the dreariness of Nebraska farm life. Quiet and intelligent Lois grew up in her parents' Connecticut B&B and devoted herself to spelling bees. All they had in common were public profiles: their abductor had used newspaper clippings about them to devise his kidnapping. Told in flashbacks from alternating points of view, the work is most interesting when Mitchell explores the girls' desires and neuroses. Under coincidental circumstances (Lois writes a novel about the experience, and Carly acts in the film adaptation), the women are reunited as adults and must revisit the truth about what really happened in that cabin in the woods. Psychologically rich, with haunting detail, Mitchell's work is a disturbing, insightful look at our deep fears.
Customer Reviews
An Entertaining Read
I enjoyed this book but just kept wishing for more. The plot lines were interesting enough that I felt a little let down that it wasn't great. And I wish it hadn't ended so abruptly.
Amazing
May contain small spoilers!
I just finished Pretty Is and I am sad that I have reached the end. This book is out of my normal preferred genre, but the description drew me in. Almost as soon as I started reading I was hooked. This is a rare gem of a book that is able to draw you in from the beginning and does not take a while to get interesting.
Pretty Is started as a drama, but finished with a thriller bite. It does not contain the usual bits you see in books; there is no real romance and happy ending, there are secrets (some of which are revealed and some that allow you to make your own assumption, giving it a personal feel), and the characters are incredibly real.
Through these pages you slowly learn about the minds of these two woman as grown adults and as children. You feel for them and try to understand their thoughts and actions. I would not have been surprised if it had been based on a true story because the realistic writing style did not feel fictional to me at all.
(Spoiler Below!)
There are things, as I mentioned above, that are not spelled out for the readers, which I appreciate. I have noticed on a couple of reviews that people ask why the girls got in the car with the stranger. No, they were not abused or homeless, but they did yearn for a change. Lois's parents were distant and her home was always full of strangers; not a place where she felt like she belonged. Carly May watched as her father was slowly changed from the man she knew, by a gaudy stepmother. Carly May clearly has a dramatic flair and longed for a change in her boring, Nebraska life. Lois wants to please people and feels comforted by Carly May being in the car, too. On top of this, it's the early 90's and these girls did not understand the widespread fear and panic that children are instilled with today.
That was my interpretation, and it made sense. Do I completely agree with them? No, but that is what is great about being a reader; I do not get to make the choices. I just get the joy of reading a story laid out the way it was meant to.
(End Spoiler)
Pretty Is is divided into 4 parts, each with a unique vibe. The chapters are split between the two girls, as adults and as 12-year-olds, and then with a section of the book Lois writes, which was a nice break and felt more powerful than if it was just explained. The name changes and pseudonyms were a little confusing at first, but I quickly understood who was who and it allowed me to understand when the sections happened in time. It was put together very nicely. I did hope to see a more action-packed ending, but then it would not have fit the rest of the book.
Over all, Pretty Is is a wonderful book that gives great insights into the characters and situation, with a unique spin. These are not women who are haunted by a horrible experience, but women trying to understand and accept what happened and how they have changed. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good piece of literature, and I hope there is a sequel as there seems to be a lot of material for one. =) Great job, Maggie, and I look forward to your future works!