Anthropology of an American girl: a novel

Originally self-published, this ambitious first novel generated sufficient buzz to attract a major publisher. Though significantly re-edited, Hamman's novel remains the minutely detailed story of five coming-of-age years, from 1979 to 1984, in the life of Evie, a self-styled American girl who lives in East Hampton, New York, and has a penchant for falling in and out of love. Inevitably, someone gets hurt, partly because of Evie's odd passivity. Though she ultimately defends her failures to act as agency, arguing she has allowed things to happen, the reader may remain unconvinced, lost in a tangle of Evie's pretentious musings ( In my body was a quiescent dizziness, a chiasma of consciousness and unconsciousness ) and a claustrophobic thicket of labored metaphors and similes ( the flat valentine heart of night and I looked like the product of impoverished child artisans ). Though ultimately more soap opera than literary anthropology, Hamann's novel is not without its interests, among them the verisimilitude of its setting and several extremely well realized male characters.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist

If publishers could figure out a way to turn crack into a book, it'd read a lot like this. Originally a self-published cult hit in 2003 (since reedited), Hamann's debut traces the sensual, passionate, and lonely interior of a young woman artist growing up in windswept East Hampton at the end of the 1970s. The book begins as a two-pronged tragedy befalls 17-year-old narrator Eveline: her best friend's mother (more maternal than her own) dies, and Eveline is raped by two high school students. Her brutalized interior, exquisitely rendered by Hamann, leads Eveline to a series of self-realizations that bears obvious comparison to that iconic nonconformist Holden Caulfield. The difference, though, is Eveline's femininity threatens to subsume her fragility. Over the course of the book, she falls deeply in love with a stormy figure who helps bring her to disturbing conclusions. Eveline-bent on self-destruction but capable of deep passion, stifled by circumstance but constantly blossoming-is a marvelously complex and tragic figure of disconnection, startlingly real and exposed at all times. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

In her debut novel, Hamann takes readers on a five-year expedition into the mind of Eveline Auerbach as she finishes high school, leaves her mother's house in East Hampton, NY, and journeys back to the man she loves. But Eveline, or Evie, is not a stereotypical "American Girl"; nor is the book a standard coming-of-age story. Although the driving theme is the powerful attraction between Eveline and Harrison Rourke, the book derives its strength from Evie's "vision," her way of observing the people, events, and objects around her. Always intelligent and insightful, Evie thinks deeply with an honesty and naturalness that are refreshing and often amusing; she may be an odd duck, but she often perceives things in a way that rings true. When her optometrist wonders why she squints despite her 20/20 vision, Evie reflects that she squints to see differently, not better. Readers may find that this book causes them to do just that. A sort of Henry James meets the 21st century, this novel might be slow going for some readers but will intrigue those who are not afraid of the English language. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.-Sarah Blakeslee, California State Univ. Lib., Chico (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Closely observed, Holden Caulfieldish story of teendom in Manhattan and its purlieus in the age of Me.Active in the film-festival business, Hamptons denizen Hamann self-published Anthropology in 2003 and immediately found a following, mostly among collegiates, selling approximately 5,000 copies in cloth. This much-revised version retains all the admirable qualities of the original but expands on aspects of the story line, giving protagonist Eveline Aster Auerbach plenty of room to move. Eveline is bright, precocious and a touch confused. It being the late 1970s, her family life is a touch confused as well, forcing some choices along the wayfor instance, whether to prevaricate in order to keep the peace. "Lying is a full-time occupation," Eveline decides, "even if you tell just one, because once you tell it, you're stuck with it. If you want to do it right, you have to visualize it, conjure the graphics, tone, and sequence of action, then relate it purposefully in the midst of seemingly spontaneous dialogue." Eveline is a great explainer of things as they are, whence the "anthropology" of the title, and the ways of her tribe are sometimes strange indeed, with such things as date rape and drug use being as common as coffee. The details are exactly right, down to the depressing air of a high-school hallway. Life forces its lessons on Eveline constantly; she finds herself confronting illness, death, grief, myriad fears and worries, and there's always a heightened awareness of sex and sexuality, of the power of her body to gain what she wants and to betray her. Intelligent and without a false notea memorable work.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In her debut novel, Hamann takes readers on a five-year expedition into the mind of Eveline Auerbach as she finishes high school, leaves her mother's house in East Hampton, NY, and journeys back to the man she loves. But Eveline, or Evie, is not a stereotypical "American Girl"; nor is the book a standard coming-of-age story. Although the driving theme is the powerful attraction between Eveline and Harrison Rourke, the book derives its strength from Evie's "vision," her way of observing the people, events, and objects around her. Always intelligent and insightful, Evie thinks deeply with an honesty and naturalness that are refreshing and often amusing; she may be an odd duck, but she often perceives things in a way that rings true. When her optometrist wonders why she squints despite her 20/20 vision, Evie reflects that she squints to see differently, not better. Readers may find that this book causes them to do just that. A sort of Henry James meets the 21st century, this novel might be slow going for some readers but will intrigue those who are not afraid of the English language. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.-Sarah Blakeslee, California State Univ. Lib., Chico Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.