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Ivy's Reviews > Tully
Tully
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I never thought I would hate a novel by Paullina Simons, but here it is. This overly long first novel deals with the life a young woman named Tully Makker. She comes from a horribly abusive family and her background, as well as tragic loss, sets the stage for the poor life choices she makes throughout the novel.
The plot moves at a turtle's pace taking us through Tully's devastating teen years where her mother's attentions range from nonexistant to severe beatings. Tully dances at frat parties and strip joints for money, loses herself in meaningless sex, and isolates herself from her best friends, Jennifer and Julie. When tragedy strikes, the loss is so overwhelming for Tully that it haunts her well into womanhood and influences her decisions. Tully continues to isolate herself, bouncing from man to man and, at times, two-timing her boyfriends. While all this is happening she is trying to decide the course of her future, but fails miserably because she refuses to share herself with people that might help her. She finally decides to go to college and study social work.
The tone of this book was tragic and disappointing, overly long, and hopeless. (No I don't need to read a page and a half of how she convinces the state of Kansas to allow Child Services a bigger budget and longer training times for prospective foster families.) Tully then marries, out of neccesity, a man who loves her but she feels nothing for. People hate her at her job because she makes waves, her friend Shakie loves a fellow classmate but can't have him because she is married...blah, blah, blah. I was also dissatisfied with the way the relationship between Tully and her mother is wrapped up. It didn't feel realistic to me at all. I never felt any sympathy for her lovers except Jack. He didn't deserve to be hurt by Tully who seems to poison everything she touches.
Towards the end of the book I hoped that Tully would finally get a little happiness and what does the idiot do? She makes another dumb choice. I felt my anger rising and I finally lost my patience with this drivel. Tully muddles through life and just when things seem to be changing for the better, she once again throws happiness away with both hands. I never thought I would dislike a heroine as much as I disliked this one. The entire book had me wondering what the point of it was?
D+ read.
The plot moves at a turtle's pace taking us through Tully's devastating teen years where her mother's attentions range from nonexistant to severe beatings. Tully dances at frat parties and strip joints for money, loses herself in meaningless sex, and isolates herself from her best friends, Jennifer and Julie. When tragedy strikes, the loss is so overwhelming for Tully that it haunts her well into womanhood and influences her decisions. Tully continues to isolate herself, bouncing from man to man and, at times, two-timing her boyfriends. While all this is happening she is trying to decide the course of her future, but fails miserably because she refuses to share herself with people that might help her. She finally decides to go to college and study social work.
The tone of this book was tragic and disappointing, overly long, and hopeless. (No I don't need to read a page and a half of how she convinces the state of Kansas to allow Child Services a bigger budget and longer training times for prospective foster families.) Tully then marries, out of neccesity, a man who loves her but she feels nothing for. People hate her at her job because she makes waves, her friend Shakie loves a fellow classmate but can't have him because she is married...blah, blah, blah. I was also dissatisfied with the way the relationship between Tully and her mother is wrapped up. It didn't feel realistic to me at all. I never felt any sympathy for her lovers except Jack. He didn't deserve to be hurt by Tully who seems to poison everything she touches.
Towards the end of the book I hoped that Tully would finally get a little happiness and what does the idiot do? She makes another dumb choice. I felt my anger rising and I finally lost my patience with this drivel. Tully muddles through life and just when things seem to be changing for the better, she once again throws happiness away with both hands. I never thought I would dislike a heroine as much as I disliked this one. The entire book had me wondering what the point of it was?
D+ read.
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Reading Progress
September 18, 2009
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Started Reading
September 28, 2009
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Ivy
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rated it 1 star
Sep 29, 2009 10:02AM
Fulfills VBC category: Read two books from your favorite author; 12.5 pts.
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Honestly, I believe you completly misread Tully.
I can't agree more, i don't know who i found more pathetic tully for putting the people she supposedly loves through hell because she couldn't decide what she wanted so she tortured all around her or her husband for taking her back. The only person i liked was the character Jack and i would have liked him a lot better if he had taken his daughter away from tully and ran away with her. The book was annoying and boring.
Well I ask did we read the same book? This girl had no choices. I don't think she chose to be abused, lied to and betrayed. I think u were wrong and your review was LONG
Renee wrote: "Well I ask did we read the same book? This girl had no choices. I don't think she chose to be abused, lied to and betrayed. I think u were wrong and your review was LONG"All my reviews are long, sweetie. That means I have READ the book and feel completely capable of giving it a fair review. Have no control whether you agreed with it or not. That goes for you too, Jessica. There is no such thing as misreading a book. You can like it or you can throw it out the window. I chose the latter.
I totally agree....I hated this book, I actually didn't finish it because the character Tully drove me insane!!. After having read "A Bronze Horseman saga" I thought I would read one of her other books and unfortunately I picked this up.
I agree with your review. This book was long and boring and frustrating.
Ivy, after reading your review of Tully, I can't help but think that you are disturbed? Like it or not Tully did not deserve such a critique. My beautiful wife and I thought that Tully was absolutely fucking awesome!!!!
Heath, honestly, you amuse me. I could never label a person based on whether they liked a book or not. But as you form it as a question, you are not sure? Let me set you straight. I am not disturbed. I give my honest opinion in a fair and informed way and I certainly don't use foul language to get my point across. That must be why authors invite me to read their books. Have a nice day.
Thanks Ivy, not that I would ever be interested in anything remotely like this, unless it was written by Mary Karr, check her out btw, I think you would enjoy her stuff. But long story short, I admire your honesty (much like me & my reviews) and nice defense vs. aggro guy up there, 'Heath' (lol)
Suze65 wrote: "Thanks Ivy, not that I would ever be interested in anything remotely like this, unless it was written by Mary Karr, check her out btw, I think you would enjoy her stuff. But long story short, I adm..."I'll check her out. Thanks, Suze!
I loved this novel, it really resonates with parts of my life..but I can see why you wouldn't like it too. As a 20yr old, I found it romantic and tragic, as a 40 year old now? I still find it romantic, tragic, frustrating and sad.,,but I still love it :)
Interesting review. I read the book years ago, and really loved it, but I'd like to read it again and see if I still feel the same way. I liked your perspective on the things that happens, and will bear your thoughts in mind when (if!) I ever get around to rereading it!
one of my best friends lent me this book to read, as it is one of her favourites.But I just can't read it. The writing is truly, truly awful. Have dragged myself up to p62 but it's not getting any better. My friend loved it, but I just can't continue to read it.
Awesome review. I gave the thing 3 stars as I remember she did something cool with music, and I'm of the same generation as Tully. The thing just seemed to drag out interminably; I wonder if anyone edited it? Anyway, thanks for the honest review...it was more honest than mine.
This is my favourite book in the entire world!
Hi Ivy. I'm wondering what book(s) you would recommend by Paulina Simmons. This one came up as a recommendation and it doesn't sound like something I would enjoy. Thanks for a concise review that really helps readers to know if they will enjoy a book or not.
Marshia wrote: "Hi Ivy. I'm wondering what book(s) you would recommend by Paulina Simmons. This one came up as a recommendation and it doesn't sound like something I would enjoy. Thanks for a concise review that r..."Paullina Simons is a hot/cold author. I thoroughly enjoyed the Bronze Horseman and, surprisingly, Red Leaves. Red Leaves is a gritty, detective thriller while The Bronze Horseman is an epic love story that takes place during WW2. Both books are completely different but very engaging. I have to warn you, the last half of Bronze Horseman gets sexually graphic, making you feel like a voyeur spying on two people getting it on. So, beware if that is not your thing.
Below is the link to my review of BH
/review/show...
Happy reading!
I read this when it first came out and loved it but I was 22. Now I am thinking of reading it again. I do know that it stuck with me and I am now 46 so that says something. I will read again and see if my opinion changes.
I read this when it first came out and loved it but I was 22. Now I am thinking of reading it again. I do know that it stuck with me and I am now 46 so that says something. I will read again and see if my opinion changes.
It’s strange, because so much of what you have written is true about Tully; but as I first read it in 1996, well before the Bronze Horseman was released, I had found a new standard. I’d best add too, I was only 16 when I first read it; and could really resonate with Tully at that age; our mothers shared a lot in common, so her story lit a fire within me. I am now 40; and until I had my children at 32; I would re-read Tully once every couple of years. I know I haven’t read it since I’ve been a mother myself, and I do wonder if I would still love Tully as much as I did?
It’ll always have a special place in my heart; it was one of the truly adult books I had read at the time, and one that spoke to me almost subliminally. I could feel what Tully was feeling; yet couldn’t quite grasp why? It also took me many years to acknowledge that my mother too was an abusive narcissist; something that I didn’t understand until only a couple of years ago, when a tumultuous event in our lives saw me seek counselling for the first time.
My life in retrospect, turned out nothing like Tully’s. I am still happily married to the man I met when I was 18, our similarities ended with the narcissistic mother. I think, in retrospect, that I viewed the book as a ‘guide to how things could’ve been worse,� which made me feel better about my mother’s awful treatment; as Tully’s mother hadn’t tried to hide the signs of her physical abuse towards her daughter. It made 16 year old me think, “at least I’m not beaten that badly.� “At least I haven’t turned to alcohol and stripping.� “It can’t be that bad, my father hasn’t left my mother,� and so on.
Like you, I enjoyed ‘Red Leaves,� despite the genre being completely different to that of Tully. ‘Eleven Hours� bored me; and as a result, saw me shelf ‘The Bronze Horseman� for 8 months after I had purchased it. I did try to read it straight away, but was turned off when I realised Paullina had changed directions once again. When I did finally pick it up again, man oh man. The fact that I had to wait 4 years for a sequel literally tortured me. I read and reread it; and wished Paullina could just tell me that T&A had reunited after the war, and lived happily ever after.
I literally burst into tears when I walked in to my bookshop and saw T&A’s names on the back of the sequel. My reaction was so sudden and intense, that I alarmed the shop assistants!
I think people would’ve felt differently about Tully had they read Paullina’s writing in chronological order as I had, and had seen Paullina’s growth as a writer, rather than make comparisons between her best work, and her earliest.
I probably haven’t properly made my point; but I will always have a place in my heart for Tully. It was the book that made me fall in love with Paullina’s writing, and a wonderful debut for a first-time author ❤️
No one is perfect. Are you ? I like a character with layers.
💯 agree. A bookthat gives no hope is a frustrating read. Someone who makes stupid choices every time and doesn’t stop
is a frustrating read indeed!
Thank you. Tully is a selfish, self sabotaging idiot.
10 years later and this commentary is still going strong, most of which is very interesting. I think Oden says it best: “a book with no hope is a frustrating read�. The author needs to make me care about her character. If she fails in that, or doesn’t show them at least becoming wiser and making changes, then what is the point of it all? Some of you were satisfied with this mediocre work. Others, like myself, were not. Some brought interesting povs to this commentary while others just trolled because they felt offended someone didn’t like their favorite book. My mind hasn’t changed and I have to agree that Paullina Simmons is a hot/cold author. A Russian friend told me that the plot of the Bronze Horseman was taken from a popular 70s Russian drama, so that proves the hot/cold theory. Either way, no more books from this author for me.
