The Only Girl in the Car 
asked by titanium7 on November 28, 2006 9:45 AM
The Only Girl in the Car
Bookworm and dreamer, Kathy was a young girl with a tender heart, an adventurer’s spirit, and a child’s terrible confusion about her proper place in the world. As the oldest daughter in a family of six children, she seemed trapped in her role as Big Sister and Mommy’s Helper. Then, one day, teetering on the brink of adolescence, hormones surging, she heard someone call her “cheesecake,” and suddenly saw her path.
“Cheesecake, jailbait, sex kitten”--the very words seemed to be “doors opening” to a splendid new self. But from the moment she decides to lose her virginity and reels in her prey, a “full-grown man,” fourteen-year-old Kathy is headed for trouble. One cold, raw March night some months later, parked in a car with four boys on the outskirts of her small suburban town, she finds it.
Though she could never have foreseen the outcome of that night, the “boys in the car could just as well have been Gypsies foretelling my future,” she writes. Girls who break the rules in small towns like the one she lived in are expected to pay a very high price for their transgressions--and she did.
And yet...this young girl, as scrappy a protagonist as any in our literature, manages to transform her fate. The story of how she came to be in that car, and how she stepped out of it forever altered, to be sure, yet not forever damaged, is the theme of this extraordinary coming-of-age tale.
From the Hardcover edition.
Bookworm and dreamer, Kathy was a young girl with a tender heart, an adventurer’s spirit, and a child’s terrible confusion about her proper place in the world. As the oldest daughter in a family of six children, she seemed trapped in her role as Big Sister and Mommy’s Helper. Then, one day, teetering on the brink of adolescence, hormones surging, she heard someone call her “cheesecake,” and suddenly saw her path.
“Cheesecake, jailbait, sex kitten”--the very words seemed to be “doors opening” to a splendid new self. But from the moment she decides to lose her virginity and reels in her prey, a “full-grown man,” fourteen-year-old Kathy is headed for trouble. One cold, raw March night some months later, parked in a car with four boys on the outskirts of her small suburban town, she finds it.
Though she could never have foreseen the outcome of that night, the “boys in the car could just as well have been Gypsies foretelling my future,” she writes. Girls who break the rules in small towns like the one she lived in are expected to pay a very high price for their transgressions--and she did.
And yet...this young girl, as scrappy a protagonist as any in our literature, manages to transform her fate. The story of how she came to be in that car, and how she stepped out of it forever altered, to be sure, yet not forever damaged, is the theme of this extraordinary coming-of-age tale.
From the Hardcover edition.
Reviews
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Kathy Dobie's book is truely great. She talked about the stereotypes put on women and reminds us that even today some things haven't changed regarding womens sexuality and how open they can be regarding their sexual practices but still reminds me a 23 years old women that stereotypes are still alive today. Many women can identify with her life and sexual experience whether good or bad. I couldnt put the down I finished it in one night. Truely amazing.
reviewed by jdog on November 28, 2006 12:23 PM
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Freelance journalist Kathy Dobie recounts her personal, sexual awakening in her memoir "The Only Girl in the Car." The eldest girl in a large Catholic family, Dobie was hungry for attention. She acquired the attention she sought through various sexual exploits. Living in a small town in the 1960s, Dobie soon earned a reputation for being "easy." It wasn't too long before the sexual attention she sought turned violent, and Dobie was gang raped.
Painfully honest and beautifully told, Kathy Dobie holds nothing back from the light. She lays bare all of the sexual secrets and heartbreaks that a person would normally never tell. Exceptionally moving, Dobie tale also shows how she rebounded from the nightmare she was living to become a successful, whole woman.
This memoir was incredibly touching. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone.
Painfully honest and beautifully told, Kathy Dobie holds nothing back from the light. She lays bare all of the sexual secrets and heartbreaks that a person would normally never tell. Exceptionally moving, Dobie tale also shows how she rebounded from the nightmare she was living to become a successful, whole woman.
This memoir was incredibly touching. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone.
reviewed by nexus on November 28, 2006 1:17 PM