Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Ballantine Books
Pages
208
Description
In this exquisite new novel by bestselling writer Elizabeth Berg, a young woman falls in love -- and learns how sorrow can lead to an understanding of joy. Katie, the narrator, has relocated to Missouri with her distant, occasionally abusive father, and she feels very much alone: her much-loved mother is dead; her new school is unaccepting of her; and her only friends fall far short of being ideal companions. When she accidentally falls through the ice while skating, she meets Jimmy. He is handsome, far older than she, and married, but she is entranced. As their relationship unfolds, so too does Katie's awareness of the pain and intensity first love can bring. Beautifully written in Berg's irresistible voice, Joy School portrays the soaring happiness of real love, the deep despair one can feel when it goes unrequited, and the stubbornness of hope that will not let us let go. Here also is recognition that love can come in many forms and offer many different things. Joy School illuminates, too, how the things that hurt the most can sometimes teach us the lessons that really matter. About Durable Goods, Elizabeth Berg's first novel, Andre Dubus said, "Elizabeth Berg writes with humor and a big heart about resilience, loneliness, love and hope. And the transcendence that redeems." The same will be said of Joy School, Elizabeth Berg's most luminous novel to date. From the Hardcover edition.… (more)
Series
Collection
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1997
Physical description
208 p.; 8 inches
ISBN
0345423097 / 9780345423092
Similar in this library
User reviews
LibraryThing member magst
I finished this book in one sitting. I didn't realize that this was a sequal to Durable Goods, but I am anxious to starting reading it. It is written in a beautiful style, that one can almost put themselves in Katie's shoes. I loved it!
LibraryThing member BinnieBee
A pretty good read, though I was not as impressed as I have been with some of her other books
LibraryThing member carmarie
Another good book by Elizabeth Berg. We returned to Katie some 6 months where we left off from Durable Goods. You saw not only growth from Katie, but from her father as well. He has finally, it seems, to have found the compassion we all knew was there. Nice fast read, smooth writing.
LibraryThing member cranmergirl
Joy School is a story about the growing pains of adolescence. Thirteen year-old Katie moves to Missouri with her emotionally detached father. Both are grappling with the loss of Katie's mother. Katie has some trouble fitting in at her new school but eventually finds a couple of friends, one of whom
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is a compulsive shoplifter. She also develops a huge crush on a young married man, ten years her senior. To me, this book was an easy and entertaining read but nothing momentous. Show Less
LibraryThing member porchsitter55
A sweet, heartbreaking tale of a young girl who moves to a small Missouri town after her mother dies, and how she perceives the new people that come into her life.
From a shy school mate who seems to need Katie even more than Katie needs a friend, to a beautiful young model with a shoplifting
The story was written from Katie's perspective, it was a smooth, fast, light read and short, only a bit over 200 pages.
Sad ending, but worth the read. A nice story if you want something easy and quick.
From a shy school mate who seems to need Katie even more than Katie needs a friend, to a beautiful young model with a shoplifting
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habit, to a 23 year old mechanic who 13 year old Katie falls head over heels in love with, not realizing until later that he is married....and a woman who her father has hired to keep house, who eventually comes to mean more to her father as time passes.The story was written from Katie's perspective, it was a smooth, fast, light read and short, only a bit over 200 pages.
Sad ending, but worth the read. A nice story if you want something easy and quick.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SandyStiles
A good character study of a girl trying to find a good relationship in her life; with her friends at school, the housecleaner (who is having a relationship with her father), with her father. A major part of the story line is her infatuation or love for a married man who is very kind to her.
LibraryThing member LBM007
A perfect mix of funny, sweet and sad.
LibraryThing member InDreamsAwake
The 2nd book following the story of Katie, a 12 year old girl trying to find her way in the absence of her mother. Elizabeth Berg never disappoints. Every sentence is perfection, so beautifully written, that it makes you say, oh I wish I had written that. It doesn't matter how old you are, Berg has
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the ability to bring you right back to that awkward time of being 13, so that you remember it with a complex mixture of horror and tenderness. Show Less
LibraryThing member wareagle78
Lonely, in a new town with new problems and a widowed father who pays her little mind, Katie struggles to find her way. At thirteen, that's not so easy. But friendship by friendship, her life improves.
I particularly loved her relationship with Jimmy. He was pretty naive and took something of a
Well worth the time to read.
I particularly loved her relationship with Jimmy. He was pretty naive and took something of a
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risk spending that much time alone with a girl that age, but he treated her with tenderness and warmth so needed to help her through her time.Well worth the time to read.
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LibraryThing member pninabaim
All your teen memories, both good and bad, will come rushing back when you read this book about a thirteen year old girl attempts at dealing with life.
LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Katie is an 12-year-old Army brat, whose mother has died. She is new to town and school, and she has a huge crush on a married garage station manager. It's a touching coming of age story, told poignantly.
UPDATE - second reading 20July2013
Twelve-year-old Katie has moved with her Army colonel father
This is book two in a coming-of-age trilogy that follows Katie over three years. This particular novel focuses on her efforts to develop new relationships in her new setting. Will she choose her friends wisely, or be seduced by the excitement of “bad girl” behavior? Two adults feature prominently – Jimmy, the “older” (and married) garage mechanic on whom she develops a major crush, and Father Compton, the elderly parish priest who listens patiently to her and offers gentle advice without judging her.
But the undisputed star of this trilogy is Katie, herself. She’s a wonderful character – resilient, courageous, and intelligent and a keen observer of life. Here are a couple of excerpts:
If I ever get to be God, I’m calling all the gym teachers in the world into one room to say this: All right, knock it off! And then I’m going to make them all change into pink formals with pink satin heels.
Or …
Last in the day is home ec. Here is where they teach you how to make food you never want to eat and how to make clothes you never want to wear.
The books are marketed for adults, but would be suitable for teens as well.
UPDATE - second reading 20July2013
Twelve-year-old Katie has moved with her Army colonel father
Show More
to a suburb of St Louis. An Army brat, Katie is used to being the new kid in school, but things are particularly difficult now that her mother has died and her older sister, Diane, has gotten married and moved away. This is book two in a coming-of-age trilogy that follows Katie over three years. This particular novel focuses on her efforts to develop new relationships in her new setting. Will she choose her friends wisely, or be seduced by the excitement of “bad girl” behavior? Two adults feature prominently – Jimmy, the “older” (and married) garage mechanic on whom she develops a major crush, and Father Compton, the elderly parish priest who listens patiently to her and offers gentle advice without judging her.
But the undisputed star of this trilogy is Katie, herself. She’s a wonderful character – resilient, courageous, and intelligent and a keen observer of life. Here are a couple of excerpts:
If I ever get to be God, I’m calling all the gym teachers in the world into one room to say this: All right, knock it off! And then I’m going to make them all change into pink formals with pink satin heels.
Or …
Last in the day is home ec. Here is where they teach you how to make food you never want to eat and how to make clothes you never want to wear.
The books are marketed for adults, but would be suitable for teens as well.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sarahlh
Despite having not read the previous book, I ended up enjoying this one immensely, especially the main character, who seemed totally authentic as a barely teen girl who thinks she knows everything and what she wants but in the end is still finding out who she actually is. And, of course, as someone
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who is big on age differences in romance, the romantic element really spoke to me as well. I didn't even mind how she spoke, because I knew a lot of folks around that age who spoke the same way, caught at that age between knowing nothing and actually realizing you know nothing. I guess I should read the previous novel now, non? Show Less
Subjects
Awards
South Dakota Teen Choice Book Awards (Nominee — 1998)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1998)
Call number
YA A Ber