- Shopping Bag ( 0 items )
Sitting through months of probing therapy sessions can be an intense experience-especially when you're not the patient. In her abused-girl-on-the-run story, debut novelist Phillips piles on the requisite ingredients of a teenage melodrama: sexual abuse, prostitution, an incompetent mother and a brief stint in foster care. The story begins as 17-year-old Chloe is placed in the Madeline Parker Institute for Girls following an arrest for prostitution. She is belligerent, indignant and won't open up to anyone. But as her therapist chips away at her steely exterior, Chloe begins to reveal memories she never thought she'd share with anyone: her mother's dizzying train of live-in boyfriends, her stepfather's wandering hands and the first time she pleasures a john for money after running away from home. As Chloe relives each of these moments from her past, teens are given full access to her thoughts and emotions, thanks to Phillips's clear understanding of Chloe's tough yet vulnerable character. Unfortunately, the most shocking revelation of all-the reason Chloe severs ties with her family in the first place-isn't explained until the very end, which may leave many to wish they had learned the truth earlier. An exhausting but nonetheless authentic read. Ages 15-up. (June)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationCHLOE DOE is a wrenching, unflinching portrayal of a girl on the fringes of society. On and off the street since the age of eleven, having worked as a prostitute for most of that time, seventeen-year-old Chloe has little patience for the attempts of The Madeline Parker Institute for Girls to reform her. However, as she speaks with the institute's "shrink" and starts to bond with the other girls, she realizes there may be more to life than what she's assumed is her lot.
Chloe, who narrates the story in chapters set in the institute and flashbacks to her life before she ran away from home, has a sharp, engaging voice that will grip readers quickly and bring them into her world. As her story unfolds, those shocked by her situation will come to understand it. Despite her untouchable front, Chloe slowly reveals all the pain and fear that lie underneath, making her sympathetic even though her outlook is so different from that of most teens. Her love for her older sister in particular makes her human and achingly believable.
The novel doesn't shy away from the harsh details of Chloe's life. Thankfully, it manages to relate her awful and sometimes tragic experiences without falling into melodrama or playing up for shock value. Everything is stated simply and directly. While the narrative rarely goes into graphic detail, enough is shown and the rest is skillfully implied to make it clear that Chloe's path has been far from an easy one. This makes her attempts to open up and escape her narrow, hopeless world-view all the more poignant and heroic. As the scenes in the present and the past lead up to the final revelation of what drove her from her home, the reader will be glued to the page. The ending, when it comes, is hopeful without being maudlin or unrealistic.
That realism, ultimately, is what makes CHLOE DOE worthwhile. It acknowledges both the good and the bad, letting readers make their own judgments about Chloe and her life. Many will find themselves wondering, how would they have reacted, if things had gone a similar way for them? Could they have done better? Could they, in the end, rise above it? Chloe's story will inspire them with the idea that no matter how far one falls, there is always hope.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 2, 2008
This is most definatly the one of the saddest books I've ever read. It talks about 17-year-old Chloe Doe who is a teenage prostitute. She gets caught by the police and is sent to this girl's home to get better. There, she talks about her childhood, growing up with a slutty mother and a sister. She also talks about her meetings with the psychiatrist and the people she meets at this home 'mostly about a girl who she calls 'Niña' who had been having sex with her brother because he told her he was Jesus, she was Mary and they were saving the world'. I won't give away the ending, but it's heartwrentching and almost brought tears to my eyes, when I haven't cried reading a book since Johnny Cade and Dally Winston died in The Outsiders. Basically, if you're looking for fluff, stay far, far away from this book. But if you enjoy a good story, pick it up.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I just finished readng this book yesterday and to say the least the ending made me think. Chloe is a strong,independent lead character with a horrible past. Her story is filled with abuse,neglect but in the end she finds the courage to make it right. I reccomend this story to anyone looking for an inspirational tale of a girl finding herself through her past.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 25, 2009
I read Chloe Doe a few weeks ago and i adored it. It is a captivating story of a former prostitute in an institute for troubled girls. Her story is told in flashbacks and through her theraphy sessions. The book keeps you on the edge of your seat, while forcing you to try to fit the puzzle pieces of the story together. I read the book in a day, it was phenomenal. I would recommend this book to anyone. :)
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 14, 2011
It ended so quick
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.8907815
Posted October 4, 2011
A great story about a teen over coming her painful past, really sad and heart warming at the same time.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 9, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted May 5, 2009
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted July 10, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted September 8, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted May 12, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted November 9, 2008
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted February 28, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted February 6, 2009
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted May 15, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted March 31, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted October 24, 2009
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted March 1, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted June 29, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted August 28, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
Chloe Doe chronicles a 17-year-old girl's tumultuous path to becoming a prostitute and her ultimate transformation back into mainstream society. During her therapy at Madeline Parker Institute for Girls, Chloe slowly reveals aspects of her painful past--the stepfather who abused her sister, the mother who let it all happen, the need to love and be loved--and faces the future she finally decides to build for herself. Told in heart-wrenching language that's sometimes caustic, often ironic, and always authentic, Chloe Doe is certain to find a place among classics about teens that triumph over their loneliness and desperation to find hope.