Reviews for Outside Magazine's the Ascent Calendar

The average rating for Outside Magazine's the Ascent Calendar based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-05-19 00:00:00 Dino Santora I have no idea where this book, Getting Over Tom: Stories by Abigail Thomas, came from. It�s been sitting on my book shelf for years and since my goal this year is to read as many of my older acquisitions as I can, I decided: now�s the time. This book is slender with large print so I didn�t have high expectations for it. It�s actually surprisingly good. The stories are engrossing and well-written. The book is divided into three parts which represents three points of view: a child, a young adult/teenager, and an adult. There is a cycle to the stories in that the first story, �Sisters,� is a girl talking about her sister and her mother. In part three, the stories are from the mother�s point of view, but from different times in her life. In �Sisters,� I got the impression of a woman who seemed too desperate for men, so desperate to have a man in her life that she neglected her children. Later, I get to know her and understand her. The stories as a whole are more about the relationships between men and women (or boys and girls) than female friendship. Although the story �1957� is very good and deals primarily with the friendship between the narrator, Marjorie, and her weird friend Loretta. Marjorie is concerned with looking cool and fitting in with the popular kids but her friend Loretta doesn�t care about that and sometimes embarrasses Marjorie. When they are at Loretta�s house trying to perfect the art of lighting matches (so they look cool when they light up in from of guys), Marjorie is telling Loretta there is nothing cool about lighting a match on your teeth: �Loretta is my best friend, but I know I�m going to need a new one soon� (32). Part Two is probably my least favorite. All the stories in this section concern Buddy and Virginia. She got pregnant after having sex for the first time (this is 1959) and drops out of college to marry Buddy. Well, she doesn�t drop out so much as get kicked out. The Dean of her (presumably) all women�s college gave her two weeks to move out of the dorm and forbad her from dining with the girls (�What did she think? You get pregnant from using somebody�s fork?� 83). She also informed Virginia that her educational career was over. Buddy, on the other hand, is not kicked out of college. He leaves voluntarily to get a job, but plans to continue his pre-med career. Buddy�s education, as Virginia wryly notes, is not over. While I sympathize with Virginia�s lack of choices, I also found her irritating because she seems to be fine with dropping out of college and being pregnant at 19. She thinks taking care of a baby will be better than homework and pities Buddy�s former girlfriend for wanting to go to secretarial school and have a job. Virginia thinks she is more adult and has a higher status as a woman because she has a husband and will soon be a mother. She�s also very superstitious and mentions various objects or actions that will bring bad or good luck. Her attitude is perhaps not uncommon for her generation (hell, it�s probably not uncommon now) but I found it grating because she�s so opposite of me. But she�s lucky in that Buddy is grown-up for his age and takes responsibility for her and the baby. He�s also kind and calm, even though he does struggle with the idea that his life, at the age of 20, is now settled. Virginia I think does as well, but her thoughts are more subtle. She worries that Buddy doesn�t love her and that she may not be a good mother (because of how she handles watching a friend�s toddler for the afternoon). The stories in part three also concern men and women, but the women are older, more experienced. They�ve learned their lessons and choose more wisely�sometimes. Lots of well-written sentences here too, such as Louise describing her former lover�s voice: �His voice is soft and low and full of places to lie down. Once upon a time Louise could stretch out full length in Henry Gold�s voice� (187). Getting Over Tom: Stories is an unexpected treat. I hadn�t expected it to be so well-written and enjoyable. I don�t know why I had that impression, possibly because I can�t remember ever wanting to read it. The stories are deceptively simple, but there�s a lot going on beneath the surface.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-11-02 00:00:00 Tonia Owens Great stories. The second to last one nearly made me cry...having to push a former love of your life away because you know on a practical level that they're all wrong for you. Abigail Thomas has a great voice, and some of the moments she describes will make you gasp because they're so subtle, but you know you've lived them yourself.