It is mid-summer 1995 as a 1978 Mercedes zooms down the highway, heading west. Inside sit 14-year-old Ann August (Natalie Portman) and her mother Adele (Susan Sarandon). Against her will, Ann is being moved to Beverly Hills where Adele, stifled by small-town life in Bay City, Wisconsin, hopes to make her colorful dreams come true. Ann is furious at having to leave the life she loves. Adele is tired of defending herself against her daughter's longings for home and family, and feels that she's taking Ann away from a lifeless future and offering her an exciting new world. Their first stop in Los Angeles is the Beverly Hills Hotel, the symbol of Adele's quest; they then head off to a Travelodge motel and what will become their real life - meals at diners and a very ordinary one-bedroom apartment in the flats of Beverly Hills. Over the next two years, Ann and Adele adjust to the reality of life in Los Angeles. Their relationship is close, but always volatile. Adele remains on the outside looking in, always wanting more. Ann is the realist, seeing things for what they are, sometimes more the mother than the daughter. Together, mother and daughter are on a journey of discovery - of new possibilities, of their respective dreams and of each other. A national bestseller upon its publication, Anywhere But Here is a moving, frequently comic portrait of wise child Ann August and her mother, Adele, a larger-than-life American dreamer. As they travel through the landscape of their often conflicting ambitions, Ann and Adele bring to life a novel that is a brilliant exploration of the perennial urge to keep moving, even at the brink of profound disorientation. Simpson's now classic novel of a mother and daughter--a national bestseller upon publication in 1986--was hailed by critics and beloved by thousands of readers, becoming one of the bestselling Vintage titles to date. Now published in a new edition to generate interest in her next book, The Lost Father, due out in February. Stunning....Simpson takes on-and reinvents-many of America's essential myths. - Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times From Buy.com for $10.08
Resourceful twelve-year-old Ann and her mother, Adele, travel across America in search of fulfillment, freedom, and their dreams
Anywhere But Here is a moving, often comic portrait of wise child Ann August and her mother, Adele, a larger-than-life American dreamer. As they travel through the landscape of their often conflicting ambitions, Ann and Adele bring to life a novel that is a brilliant exploration of the perennial urge to keep moving, even at the risk of profound disorientation. Simpson's first novel is ultimately a heart-rendering tale of a mother and daughter's invaluable relationship.
"The two women in this book are American originals. Ann is a new Huck Finn, a tough, funny, resourceful love of a girl. Adele is like no one I've encountered, at once deplorable and admirable--and altogether believable."
--Walker Percy
"Anywhere But Here is a wonder: big, complex, masterfully written, it's an achievement that lands [Simpson] in the front ranks of our best novelists. From Walmart for $10.53
|
