|  |
| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 All the things I like Jul 29, 2010
I am a 60 year old man who occasionally rides a motorcycle. This book feeds my interest in women, machinery and the dark side of humanity. The author did a great job in holding my interest. I kept wanting to know more. Plus she has a great respect for beautiful motorcycles as art. I wish I could be Georgia and receive this mysterious and wonderful gift. Assembling Georgia is a book of adventure and change with a questionmark that looms until the very end. I loved it.
A fine and recommended read Feb 08, 2010
The daily grind is simple, safe, and sustaining. "Assembling Georgia" tells the tale of Georgia Dunn, a woman who through odd anonymous packages containing engine parts, she soon finds she has the power to change her world to something far more exciting. But is it worth giving up her secure life to throw it all to the wind for a world of excitement? A story many will relate to, "Assembling Georgia" is a fine and recommended read.
 AnnAlysis of Assembling Georgia Jan 03, 2010
Do you ever sit back and think about your life and wonder what it would be like to take on an adventure you'd never thought possible? What about giving up your life when a complete stranger sends you parts to a motorcycle?
Meet Georgia. She's in her late 30s, works at a chicken factory and sleeps. She doesn't have a social life other than her dog. But all of this changes the day she received a couple pieces of metal in the mail. They come with labels of what the parts are. Day after day, more parts come. Georgia has no clue who they are from but starts compiling them. She finally gets all the parts along with a manual on how to put the bike together. Not much gets Georgia going, but for some reason she can't stop thinking about this.
She quits her job, moves in with her Uncle and they put the bike together. Georgia can't believe the life she is now living. She finally feels free and alive. But what about the person that made it for her? Why did they go through all of this trouble? Once Georgia finally finds out, a flush of bad memories come back along with a man who thinks he could have stopped her from being hurt as a teen.
I got this book from the Kelley and Hall Publishing Company. My mom and her boyfriend ride bikes and I thought it would be a good book for both me and my mom to read and talk about. I definitely think she'll like it.
This book has two points of view. One from Georgia's life and one from Frank's life. At first, I had no idea who this Frank fella was and why he got such a big role in this book. And a forewarning, while Georgia's part starts out dark, you ain't seen nothing until you see the darkness of Frank's life. There were times I wished I could smack him. Although I was confused about Frank's role at first, it was soon put to ease.... just to spark more confusion. The book hinted on why Georgia was sent the bike, but it didn't say until the last 100 pages or so. But every time it mentioned it, I had to sit and think if I missed it or it didn't sink in.
I really like the female empowerment in this story. I like that Georgia took her life by the balls and did something to make herself happy. I believe in controlling your destiny to a certain extent. If all I ever did was work and sleep and had my hands up a chicken's butt all day, I'd probably be unhappy too.
I can't wait until my mom read this. And her boyfriend probably will too. Yay for a book club of sorts I give Assembling Georgia 3 bookmarks.
Great debut novel offers hope for all in need of assembling new life. Dec 11, 2009
Beth Carpel's debut novel reminds us of what so many authors today seem to lack -- the gift of storytelling. Why is literary fiction afraid of the mysteries we encounter in life, instead engaging in the backward recitation of a plot we later piece together. Few writers can handle that style with success. Carpel apparently missed the class on how a novel is supposed to work and instead turned out a novel which runs as smoothly as the motorcycle around which the story centers.
Like the motorcycle, this book has some crashes and parts which need to be repaired, but overall Carpel has turned about a well-oiled story. Georgia is the central character and her life of underachievement is interrupted by the weekly arrival of motorcycle parts to her home. With no clue as to who is sending her the parts or why, Georgia's final package includes an instruction manual and the next step is obvious. Not a mechanically inclined person (or so she thinks) she gets the help of her Uncle Emery, one of more interesting characters to show up in a novel in recent memory. Emery lives up north in the woods of Minnesota digesting a range of books and fixing things up in return for what he needs. He takes Georgia in and together they work on building the motorcycle and rebuilding Georgia's life, or as Carpel puts it "Assembling Georgia."
Carpel holds the mystery of who sent the parts hidden for quite some time, although in the end the discovery is as anti-climatic as life usually is -- some poetic license here would be allowed. Along the way we meet Georgia's good friend Corrine, which shows that level of friendship in which the relationship is always strong no matter what the distance between times connecting with each other may be. A childhood acquaintance, Frank, also gets a starring role as we get caught up on his past troubles and current struggles, all of which are encased in a likable man who seems to be as adrift as Georgia.
Once the bike is built Georgia does the quintessential road trip, giving her time to learn more about herself than she realized she was missing. Characters come in and out and Carpel manages to create strong characters with a few deft strokes. Once the ride is done she is again faced with life, but we now see a woman who is ready for future challenges. The readiness is good as Carpel is not done throwing challenges at her, but at the risk of spoiling the plot we leave that to the reader.
Carpel is not subtle about her intentions, and whether that is the result of a first novel writer trying to make a point or simply an honest writer, the result is a story which invites the reader along rather than daring them to continue. In fact, the unanswered questions in this novel keep the reader moving quickly since the element of suspense works well. We want to know how Georgia turns out. We want to know who sent the motorcycle. We want to know what demons Frank is facing but will not share with anyone. Carpel tells a good story and we keep wanting the story to go on. She recognizes this by giving us an epilogue, which fast forwards us seven years, but she could have left it out because we knew where her characters were going.
Even when the story stutters, as with some faltering dialogue and a few too many touching moments, the result is still endearing in its open attempt to draw the reader in to another person's life. Carpel's characters are real and easy for readers to relate to. They are complex people who make good decisions and bad decisions and sometimes no decisions at all. At times you want to yell at them, and at other times you want to be on the back of their motorcycle. There are no angels or demons here, just ordinary people not only making the best of what life offers them, but learning to create something when they do not like what they have been handed. Call it a coming of age story for the middle aged -- or for people of any age who need renewal. How many novels can you say that about?
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Assembling Georgia Sep 02, 2009
Terrific book. Held my interest from cover to cover. Story is most poignant. An amazing first book for this author.
|
| | |
|
|
