基本信息出版社：Algonquin Books
页码：280 页
出版日期：2007年08月
ISBN：1565124928
International Standard Book Number：1565124928
条形码：9781565124929
EAN：9781565124929
装帧：精装
正文语种：英语
内容简介 在线阅读本书
It's a fresh start for Delores Walker when she boards a Greyhound bus bound for Florida. Leaving the Bronx far behind, she's headed for sunny Weeki Wachee Springs, frayed roadside attraction in danger of becoming obsolete with the opening of Walt Disney's latest creation, only miles up the road. Always more suited for a life underwater, Delores joins a group of other aquatic hopefuls in this City of Live Mermaids, where she discovers a world of sequined tails and amphibious theme shows that even Disney couldn't dream up. It's in this fantastic place of make-believe and reinvention that Delores Walker becomes Delores Taurus, Florida's most unlikely celebrity.
Bringing together an eccentric assortment of outcasts, poseurs, and underdogs, this wise and poignant novel conjures up a time in America when anything was possible, especially in the Sunshine State. A story of family, chasing dreams and finding your way, Swim To Me will have you believing the impossible—even in mermaids from the Bronx.
作者简介 Betsy Carter is the author of Swim to Me and The Orange Blossom Special. Her memoir, Nothing to Fall Back On, was a national bestseller. She is a contributing editor for O: The Oprah Magazine and writes for Good Housekeeping, New York, and AARP, among others. Carter formerly served as an editor at Esquire, Newsweek, and Harper's Bazaar, and was the founding editor of New York Woman. She lives in New York City.
媒体推荐 "Sure to be popular with a wide range of readers. . . .Carter's story has a sweetness that is never saccharine, buoyed along by believable characters. . . .Appealing and entertaining."?--Library Journal (Library Journal )
"Sure to be popular with a wide range of readers. . . .Carter's story has a sweetness that is never saccharine, buoyed along by believable characters. . . .Appealing and entertaining.?--Library Journal (Library Journal )
"A delightful escape . . . a sweet, laudable fantasy of good-hearted upward mobility."—New York Magazine (New York Magazine )
"A wonderfully indulgent read . . . it transports you to a sweet dream world."—Glamour, Oct. (Glamour )
"An uplifting tale about a city girl who escapes a dysfunctional family and reinvents herself. Even if you're nowhere near the surf, the story will put you in a sunny state of mind."---Self magazine (Self Magazine )
"Carter’s genius storytelling makes it a delightful escape."—Daily Candy (Daily Candy )
"Poignant and at times rollickingly hilarious in its treatment of family ties and losses, as well as finding one's own personal journey, this engaging story, set in the 1970s, never flounders. . . . Carter's unerring sense for human frailty allows Swim To Me to provide a true and entertaining reflection of simpler times."
—Miami Herald (Miami Herald )
A delightful escape . . . a sweet, laudable fantasy of good-hearted upward mobility.New York Magazine (New York Magazine )
A wonderfully indulgent read . . . it transports you to a sweet dream world.Glamour, Oct. (Glamour )
An uplifting tale about a city girl who escapes a dysfunctional family and reinvents herself. Even if you're nowhere near the surf, the story will put you in a sunny state of mind.---Self magazine (Self Magazine )
Carters genius storytelling makes it a delightful escape.Daily Candy (Daily Candy )
Poignant and at times rollickingly hilarious in its treatment of family ties and losses, as well as finding one's own personal journey, this engaging story, set in the 1970s, never flounders. . . . Carter's unerring sense for human frailty allows Swim To Me to provide a true and entertaining reflection of simpler times. Miami Herald (Miami Herald )
专业书评 From Publishers Weekly
Carter follows her plucky New York journalist's memoir Nothing to Fall Back On and first novel The Orange Blossom Special with another sweet story of self-reinvention. Delores Walker, 17, leaves her troubled home in the Bronx of 1973 to become a mermaid at Weeki Wachee Springs in Tampa, Fla. There, in a series of fortuitous events, ugly duckling Delores becomes the star of the show, a local hero, the most popular girl in town (although she remains unfailingly nice) and the catalyst for an unlikely family reunion. Carter jumps from head to head without providing much insight into her characters, including the slimily manipulative and ambitious TV producer, Alan Sommers, and the gentle circus giant, T. Rex, who's little more than a vehicle for folksy wisdom. But Carter is less interested in character development than in storytelling, which she does with aplomb, as Delores faces fame-related conflicts, and resort owner Thelma Foote has wisdom to spare. The results are sensationalist, predictable and satisfying. (Aug.)
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From the Back Cover
SOMETIMES THE PERSON YOU THINK YOU'VE INVENTED TURNS OUT TO BE JUST WHO YOU ARE.
From SWIM TO ME:
For their grand finale, all the mermaids gathered around a moon rock. One pulled an American flag from beneath her fin and planted it in the ground. A tinny version of "God Bless America" rose up through the amphitheater as the mermaids stood on their tails and saluted the flag.
Delores hoped nobody noticed the tears sliding down her cheeks. She stayed fixed in her seat, worried that if she stood up, she might break into pieces. There was no name for what she was feeling, only this certainty: whatever she had to do, wherever she had to go, one day Delores Walker would become one of those mermaids.
From the Back Cover
SOMETIMES THE PERSON YOU THINK YOU'VE INVENTED TURNS OUT TO BE JUST WHO YOU ARE.
From SWIM TO ME:
For their grand finale, all the mermaids gathered around a moon rock. One pulled an American flag from beneath her fin and planted it in the ground. A tinny version of "God Bless America" rose up through the amphitheater as the mermaids stood on their tails and saluted the flag.
Delores hoped nobody noticed the tears sliding down her cheeks. She stayed fixed in her seat, worried that if she stood up, she might break into pieces. There was no name for what she was feeling, only this certainty: whatever she had to do, wherever she had to go, one day Delores Walker would become one of those mermaids.