Shelter: A Novel

In a West Virginia forest in 1963, a group of children at summer camp enter a foreboding Eden and experience an unexpected rite of passage. Shelter is an astonishing portrayal of an American loss of innocence as witnessed by a mysterious drifter named Parson, two young sisters, Lenny and Alma, and a feral boy called Buddy. Together they come to understand bravery and the importance of compassion.
Phillips unearths a dangerous beauty in this primeval terrain and in the hearts of her characters. Lies, secrets, erotic initiations, and the bonds of love between friends, families, and generations are transformed in a leafy wilderness undiminished by societal rules and dilemmas. Cast in Phillips? stunning prose, with an unpredictable cast of characters and a shadowy, suspenseful narrative, Shelter is a an enduring achievement from one of the finest writers of our time. more

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From: Amazon
Posted: Mar-29-2006

Angelic book of angels and demons

This book is amazing, Philips's words ring like poetry and the variety of her vocabulary and structure when she writes from the different characters' point of view is stunning. Once you get to know the people in the book, you don't even have to read the title of the chapter to know who is...

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From: Amazon
Posted: May-17-2005

RICH OBSERVATION AND LUMINOUS PROSE

This searing, sometimes gothic coming-of-age story is written in luminous prose. No surprise here, for Jayne Anne Phillips has done it before in "Machine Dreams," a novel nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Lenny and her younger sister, Alma, are spending the summer at...

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From: Amazon
Posted: May-25-2002

A Must-Read for Phillips Fans

For devotees of Phillips' writing style, this is a must-have item. This work, more than any others truly exemplifies her rather unique way with words. No other living author could render such a poetic description of urinals; it is, alas, simply too beautiful to describe. This wonderful book is...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Jan-09-2002

A DARK STORY...AND NOT A PRETTY ONE

It's never easy to see -- or imagine -- the innocence of children snatched away by the events in their lives, particularly when it involves adults who are so controlled by the evil they have become that they cannot see the difference between preying on children or other adults. The young people...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Aug-19-2001

Good writing; bad story

This author clearly has a gift for crafting sentences, and perhaps this book fills the bill completely for some readers. For me, it didn't do the trick. I kept wishing for a character reference chart, as the characters as written were too vague to figure it out as I read. At times, I had...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Apr-28-2000

Brilliant!

This is one of my most favorite books. Phillips is brilliant with language and tone, in the tradition of such Southern authors as Faulkner and Styron. She really makes you feel hot and sweaty as she describes the summer in West Virginia, and she does a wonderful job at placing you inside the...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Jan-22-1999

Talented Writer Produces Lethargic Novel

Richard Ford's novel Independence Day seems to careen at a frantic pace when compared to Ms. Phillips tale of several girls at a summer camp. JAP has tremendous talent, but I tired of her Faulknerian sentences combined with strange grammar. Sample: "Alma playing paper dolls, not sleeping at...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Jan-14-1999

Hopeless "Shelter"

After having tried on three separate occasions to work my way through this book, I am left with one question: how many trees were sacrificed to satisfy the author's need to spew self-titillating and turgid offal? In the words of Voltaire, "Ecrasez l'infame!"

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From: Amazon
Posted: Dec-28-1998

Am I confused or is it just too late at night to be reading?

I found this book to be extremely confusing. I stuck it out and after finishing it I decided I really did not like it. I feel as though I was reading two entirely different books - one that was a supernatural Stephen Kingesque novel and one that was a coming of age chiller/thriller novel....

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From: Amazon
Posted: Jul-29-1998

Confused and Slow

Did Phillips even know what she wanted to write about when she started this book? She sets up an interesting situation and then proceeds to waste time with verbal gymnastics. What little plot there is is completely disjointed and moves at a snail's pace. There is no connection, no growth, no...

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