September Girls
3/5
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About this ebook
September Girls is a stunning coming-of-age novel about first loves, oblivious parents, sibling rivalries—and mermaids. This imaginative and painfully honest book garnered five starred reviews, including one from ALA Booklist that proclaimed it "a rare and lovely novel, deserving of attention from discriminating readers."
Whisked away by his father to an unusual beach town in the Outer Banks, Sam finds himself having the summer vacation most guys dream of. He's surrounded by beautiful blonde girls, and, better yet, they all seem inexplicably attracted to him. But there's definitely something strange about the Girls. They only wear flats because heels make their feet bleed. They never go swimming in the water. And they all want something from him.
Sam falls for one of the Girls, DeeDee, and begins an unexpected summer romance. But as they get closer, she pulls away without explanation. Sam knows that if he is going to win her back, he'll have to learn the Girls' secret.
Bennett Madison, critically acclaimed author of The Blonde of the Joke, brings a mix of lyrical writing, psychologically complex characters, and sardonic humor to this young adult novel. September Girls is perfect for fans of the irreverent wit of Ned Vizzini and the seductive magic of fairy tales retold.
Bennett Madison
Bennett Madison is the author of several books for young people, including The Blonde of the Joke. He attended Sarah Lawrence College but remains two classes shy of graduation. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Reviews for September Girls
60 ratings12 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I personally had a harder time getting through this book. Mostly, I suppose because I wasn't expecting the crude honesty of what goes through a young man's mind. But it did indeed start to pick up towards the end and I loved the new and interesting take on daughters of the sea. It was very different and very creative. In the end it was well enjoyed.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A great and nebulous look on growing up. What better time to reflect on what it means to "come of age" than during summer by the ocean? Plot is great, and action sequences are awesome, but reading something contemplative and introspective can be pretty awesome too.
I've seen a lot of criticism decrying this book as being crude and sexist. I'd argue that despite a jarring first impression, Bennett Madison is more savvy than that and has written an overarching allegory regarding puberty. I'll point you to the Book Smuggler's review for a better breakdown of why September Girls isn't a disgusting work of objectification. - Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I thought this book would be a fun, quick read. It started off intriguing, but as the book progressed, it seemed like the plot slowed down without moving along. Once I set the book down, I didn’t feel the urgency to pick it up and finish like you do with a really good book. When I finished it, I didn’t feel like the resolution to the story really ended anything. If you’re looking for an aimless summer beach read, this would be the perfect book, but I wouldn’t read it again.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5teen fiction (older teens - the main character Sam is 17); mysterious girls with a common secret (mermaids). quite a bit of swearing (f__, b*tch, ho), and characters that speak in misogynistic tones, plus in the beginning Sam's mom appears to be some kind of radical feminist (and hence suffers quite a few jokes at her expense). However ridiculous such a person's actions might be, I feel like this is a personal barb against a particular person or persons, and could have been handled more appropriately (the author's bio blurb at the end says he did attend Sarah Lawrence, but I feel like this kind of rhetoric sets teens up with the wrong ideas). Sam's mom, in the end, turns out to just be confused/trying to figure out who she is, and is redeemed from her ridiculousness, but still.
I liked the story, but had a few issues besides the tone (those first two hateful chapters, in my opinion, could just be omitted entirely, as they add nothing to the story). If Sam's dad knew about the enchanted mirror, that would mean that he'd found it and given it to someone during his last visit 30 years before--and if he'd given it to Sam's mom, it would have shown her who she was (and she wouldn't have to go through all the soul-searching that's driving her family nuts). Sam's mom being a former Girl would answer a lot of questions, except for that magic mirror bit. On the other hand, if Sam's mom is a regular messed up human, does she really need to be that ridiculous? Sam could still have bonded with DeeDee if the mother was absent, period. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5So after reading this I feel like the cover and the title do not totally go with the book. The book tells an expanded version of the Little Mermaid curse but it's not about the romance. It's definitely told from a guys point of view. A raunchy, clever, gross teenage boy.
This book was definitely not what I was expecting from the cover, although I got some hints about it from looking over the goodreads review page. It's definitely an interesting twist on the mermaid fairy tale and I'm glad it wasn't a cookie cutter ending. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Well, I finished it. That's about all I can say for it. There's a dude, and he's on the beach for the summer, and then there's this girl. And she's all mysterious. And then there's this thing. I didn't hate it for the male/female dynamics or because there's an argument to be made for the agency of the Girls only coming into being with a male but because the writing, except for about five sentences, is sub-par and the "plot" is boring.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5*Braces for impact*I liked this one, I didn't expect to having read a multitude of reviews that panned it, but I actually liked this one. I will also say that it wasn't perfect but I found it a good read.It would probably be best described as closer to magic realism than true fantasy, the fantasy is not central to the story, it is an aspect and not as important as the relationship between the characters. It's ultimately a coming-of-age story, Sam's story of a first sexual encounter, of the pressures on girls to be one way and boys to be another.Yes, some of the language is crude, but it comes across as authentic to me and while he starts off thinking of the world in black and white you can see the maturity dawning in him by the end, he makes choices that are more thoughtful of others rather than of himself and he understands that sometimes when you love someone you have to let them go and that you can't make decisions for other people, they have to make decisions for themselves.Sam meets DeeDee when his father drags him and his brother to a beach town because their mother has gone off to explore herself, which at first Sam finds incomprehensible. In this beach town there are beautiful girls, who seem to be everywhere with ridiculous names, one of them is DeeDee and Sam finds himself entranced by her. As the relationship grows he learns that these girls aren't run-of-the-mill and their secret is big. There's a curse that needs to be broken and he has the key.Yes there's crude moment and the way Sam thinks at first isn't the way it ends and that's important. His unthinkingness is blatantly wrong and he needs to be a better person before he can be a hero. This is the story of that path. I get what people have had issues with in the story but I found it a rewarding read and did enjoy it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sam's life is spiraling out of control. His mother left months ago and his father has been acting really strange since then, until he announces that he, Sam and his brother Jeff are going to the beach with no real plans to return. At the beach Sam notices that there's a lot of girls who seem similar to one another and they all appear interested in him in a weird way. The brothers stumble into a party and Kristle, a girl from a restaurant, comes on to both him and Jeff. It's all really strange. Sam then meets DeeDee and they begin a prickly friendship. As it develops into something deeper, he learns bit by bit that the girls are not quite girls, but creatures from the deep who have been transformed into girls as a curse put on their mother. I liked the story and the characters. The chapters alternated between the point of view of Sam and one of the girls. I liked Sam's voice but thought the girl's was too odd for my taste.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Even though I read a lot of YA, I don't read tons of it that is aimed at teenage boys. Or maybe more likely, at girls who want to read books from a guy's POV. In this one, a high school guy spends summer vacation with his dad and his older brother down in the Outer Banks, in a vacation community that is populated by hot, sexy, airhead girls (always "Girls" to distinguish them from ordinary girls). This might be a teeny bit of a spoiler, but nothing you can't figure out from the book flap description -- the Girls are actually mermaids who are under a curse that is making them live on land in a slightly run-down beach town, doing those beach town seasonal jobs like working at mini-golf and at gift shops. This book is trying to look at a lot of issues related to conventional views of gender roles for teenagers, and sexuality, and empowerment, and sometimes it's successful but there's still a lot that isn't really working on that level. But that said, for all the times it swung and missed, overall I'm pleased that this is something male authors are trying to put out there for male readers. Even the missteps didn't make me want to set the book on fire, it was more like I wanted to sit down with the author and talk about what he was trying to do, and why did he think it was working?The writing was surprisingly solid, and it felt genuinely, tangibly beach-y throughout. There were even a few story lines that surprised me by how much I emotionally bought into them, because I would have thought I was too busy being picky about the unraveling of the "issue" aspects. I do wish that he hadn't left the origin details of the Girls and the curse so vague ... I can be cool with ambiguity, but not if I strongly suspect it's because the author doesn't even the answers in his head.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was reluctant to read September Girls by Bennett Madison. I heard it was something about mermaids and I thought it wouldn’t interest me. But I needed something to read so I picked it up. I found September Girls to be a tender love story tinged with fantasy.Sam’s father decides that the boys, Sam, his father and his brother Jeff, should summer in the Outer Banks. It’s been six months since Sam’s mother abruptly left the family, basically to find herself, without the company of men. So, off they go, a trio of unspeaking men. When they get to their destination, they find a town inhabited by the most beautiful girls they’ve ever seen, all perfect, all blonde, all able to toss their hair alluringly. There is something mysterious about them all, besides the fact that they look very much alike.The story unfolds primarily through Sam’s narrative, interspersed with the story of “we“, the September Girls, the myths and legends that rule their lives.September Girls is a story of love, of accepting, of sacrifice, of destiny, of growing up. As we (I) age, we want those perfect relationships that sprout and grow almost unannounced. Madison says it so well. “So I waited, and it happened. The way you put your hand on my shoulder. The way you smiled at me when I was talking, the way I’d tell a joke and not even realize it was a joke until you were laughing. The way you kissed me, the way I saw you ambling toward me down the beach, still in the distance. In your small movements and gestures, something happened: the girl you thought I was began to acquire form…and she was beautiful in a way that had nothing to do with what I’d thought of as beauty.”This is the love I want. I wonder whether it exists other than in books.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Title: September GirlsAuthor: Bennett MadisonRelease Date: May 21, 2013Publisher: Harper TeenSource: Edelweiss DRCGenre(s): YA Supernatural, YA Fantasy, Mermaids, Coming of AgeRating: ★★☆☆☆Review Spoilers: Moderate/HighGoodReads | AmazonMermaids are becoming the next zombies just like zombies were the next vampires – and I guess werewolves are in there somewwhere, too. Every now and then you see a mermaid book but they are becoming a lot more common. September Girls is an interesting new take on the classic mermaid lore and something more akin to the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale version of the Little Mermaid than the Disney version.In September Girls, Sam is a young man whose family life is falling apart. After his mother took off on the family without warning for some feminist commune and his father – amid what seems to be a midlife crisis – pulls him out of his last weeks of school and drags him and his brother – whose home from college – to a remote beachfront in North Carolina. It seems like it’ll be boring and lame but the island has it’s charms. Among those are literally hundreds of blonde haired girls with perfect bodies who seem to be ubiquitous in the area, filling every shop and restaurant and hotel in the area. They work by day and party hard by night; they are always celebrating ‘birthdays’ and going aways. They would sound like your usual Southern beach girls but there’s something strange – they are all rather fixated on him. Sam realizes it one day and doesn’t understand why until he meets DeeDee (and Kristle) who over the course of the summer explain everything and initiate him into a sort of lore that he never could have imagined to be true.The story is told primarily through Sam’s POV though every now and then an alternating chapter will jump in for a few pages and give the point of view of one of the girls (ultimately revealed to be DeeDee in the final chapters). Both POVs are crude and speak very frankly. Unfortunately while Sam was a pretty decent narrarator the cryptic mermaid chapters were kind of meh. They worked when they were just a page or two but some of them stretched a bit too long and were just unhelpful pages on pages of nothing, really. Plus even the mermaid chapters are full of curse words. Both Sam and the mermaid narrator curse and talk like you would expect teenagers to talk. This book gets points from me for at least being realistic and not pretending that kids don’t think of your ‘butt’ as your ‘ass’ and stuff like that. It was a bit much at times, though, and I can’t imagine the parents who would be buying the book for their kids would approve.Not that you ought to be buying this for anyone under like fourteen or fifteen. Sex plays a major part in this story with Sam’s virginity turning into some mythical key to the mermaid girls’ freedom. Which was actually a kind of nice plot twist because how often do you find stories revolving around a guy losing his virginity?I’m not going to say too much because it’s actually hard not to spoil this book entirely. In some ways I liked it, in others I didn’t. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing for whatever reason. But the story wasn’t bad and I liked the way the story ended for the post part. Just don’t expect a happy ending. Or a sad ending. Just an ending. It’s very much a coming of age story and I think the ending proves that. Sam walks away from this summer trip a different person and the reader walks away with an inventive interpretation of mermaid lore if nothing else. I do think, though, that if you’re in the mood for mermaids there are probably more fulfilling stories out there. I wouldn’t say that you should necessarily pass on this book – because it wasn’t bad. But it’s not what I think most people expect or most teenagers want in something marketed as a supernatural romance.I do, however, really appreciate that this is a standalone book. I love standalone books in this era of trilogies and sequels and series.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5September Girls was one of those novels that I really wanted to love, but didn’t. The concept sounded amazing, and I love mermaid stories, so I thought this book would be everything I wanted and more. While I didn’t dislike the book either, there was just nothing that made me love it.Sam was really off-putting to me and I was actually a bit shocked by some of the things he said and thought. I couldn’t help but think, is this what guys actually sound like when girls aren’t around? I seriously hope not. As a person, he was actually pretty sweet, but the way he would express himself was just crasser than it needed to be. The supporting characters are all middle of the road. Some are weird, some are likable and dislikable at the same time, and others are just forgettable. The plot was another aspect of the novel that I could really take or leave. On the one hand it was an intriguing concept, on the other hand I was bored most of the time. I did like the ending though and the way Madison tied up all of the pieces.While I did not love or hate this book, I think that die-hard fans of Jackson Pierce’s Fathomless will enjoy it. The books are similar with regard to the plot, although Fathomless is more focused on memory and is a bit of a psychological thriller, while September Girls is more of a light mystery and a bit more character driven.