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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Book Description
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Engrossing,
By fiona (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mouthing The Words (Paperback)
Indeed, this book was engrossing. Thelma is a starkly honest and brutally refreshing narrator. I did end up feeling sorry for her, what with all the horrible experiences she went through. I really disliked her father for what he did with her - playing naughty secretary and the like. The novel is about Thelma's coming of age - written in seemingly short stories about the different stages of her life. I really enjoyed this book. I could really relate to Thelma being a misfit. Ms. Gibb writes powerfully, honestly, and expressively. I think she has really captured the essence of what it is like to speak through a child's eyes, in the face of neglect, abuse, and other experiences. I had the honor of attending one of Ms. Gibb's readings, and even got my books signed. She is a very nice lady, and I am eagerly waiting to read her other books.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Globe and Mail is not wrong!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mouthing the words (Hardcover)
"Mouthing the Words" is written so well. I've not read anything like it before. The story is a dark one, but the way that it is delivered is brilliant. We would all share terrible stories if we were able to do so in such an interesting way.I was totally engrossed from the beginning. This is a novel you will read more than once. See for yourself! Her writing is gorgeous.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Putting the 'Fun' In,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mouthing the words (Hardcover)
Camilla Gibb's first novel won the Toronto Book Award and it's not hard to see why: anyone with the gumption to tackle family dysfunction and father-daughter incest with humor definitely will have readers raising their eyebrows. And in this book, it works fairly well. Young Thelma's mother favors her younger brother over her, while her father employs her as his naughty French-kissing secretary, Theresa, who is often in need of discipline. While together, her two parents, who married only to annoy their own parents, seem to enjoy brawls and screaming matches. A move to Canada does nothing to alleviate the situation. Nor does making friends with the new-age hippy girls nextdoor help Thelma to break away from the fantasy world she has created with three imaginary friends: Ginniger, Heroin, and Janawee. When she gets older, her father finally moves away but the scars of Thelma's childhood are still overbearingly with her.As Thelma excels in college and law-school at Oxford, she also succumbs to anorexia, self-mutilation, and a suicide attempt, as well as failed relationship. It is only as she begins to come to terms with her past and step outside of herself and make friends, that she is able to begin a course into a functional life. This book was good. The story was hopeful and the writing was funny, and as I said, attempting to deal with all of this in a way that seemed funny was quite a challenge. However, the book did have some flaws. The author seemed to skip around too much and not deal with various topics enough, while lingering too long on less important ones. One minute Thelma is fourteen, the next she is eighteen, the next she is going off to law school. This was kind of confusing, and I wish the author would have filled in the gaps more. I also felt that the author did not allow enough emotional responses within the characters. The emotion seemed to get lost in all the attempts at lightness and humor. It bothered me that Thelma did not ever confront her father and the subject of incest, even though it was finally admitted, was just sort of bandied about, and not really taken seriously enough. Other than that, I really did like this book. The dysfunctional beginning was quite funny. I liked the scenes with Molly when they meet in the hospital with the mock "Valley Girl" dialogue, and when Molly returns later on. I found it a story that progressed with hope and understanding. Overall, I recommend this book, and I eagerly look forward to any other novels Camilla Gibb writes in the future.
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