The Last Girls

Starred review from July 1, 2002
The Big Chill
meets Huckleberry Finn
in a moving novel inspired by a real-life episode. Thirty-six years ago, Smith (Oral History) and 15 other college "girls" sailed a raft down the Mississippi River from Kentucky to New Orleans in giddy homage to Huck. Here she reimagines that prefeminist odyssey, and then updates it, as four of the raft's alumnae take a steamboat cruise in 1999 to recreate their river voyage and scatter the ashes of one of their own. What results is an unsentimental journey back to not-quite-halcyon college days of the mid-1960s ("periods cramps boys dates birth babies the works") masterfully intercut with more recent stories of marriages, infidelities, health crises and career moves, all set firmly in the South. At first the characters threaten to be mere stereotypes: innocent, self-sacrificing Harriet; arty, maternal Catherine; brittle Southern belle Courtney; brassy romance novelist Anna. But Smith reveals surprising truths about each character, even as she suggests that the fate of their departed classmate—the wild, promiscuous, possibly suicidal Baby—may never be understood. The steamboat setting provides ample opportunities to skewer cruise ship tackiness and Southern kitsch, a witty counterpoint to the often troubled personal stories of the passengers. Readers who like their plots linear may be challenged by the tangle of tales, but those who agree that "there are no grown-ups," and that there's "no beginning and no end" to the "real story" of people's lives, will find this tender, generous, graceful novel a delight. Agent, Liz Darhansoff. Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club and BOMC selections; 15-city author tour.

Devotees of the Southern novel will enjoy this book; after a few minutes of Smith's artful prose, read in her addictive, musical drawl, listeners will be hooked. The premise of the novel's present-day plot is a bit thin: Four college friends meet up after many years apart to spread the ashes of a wild-child former classmate on the Mississippi River, a locale they know intimately from an unlikely college-era "Twain-esque" raft trip. The novel sparkles, however, through its flashbacks and engrossing accounts of the histories of these characters and the people they encounter. Smith evokes a sense of place best when she travels back in time, and listeners will enjoy making that trip. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine


They were reading HUCKLEBERRY FINN in a college English class. Their impetuous suite mate, Baby, said, "I'd do that," and they were off, rafting down the Mississippi, enjoying the adventure of a lifetime. Thirty years later, Harriet, Courtney, Catherine, and Anna reunite to scatter Baby's ashes. This time they journey via riverboat and memory. Linda Stephens's graceful performance enhances this complex exploration of the South, the sixties, and the cultural expectations for women of a certain class. Neither as sentimental as STEEL MAGNOLIAS nor as cynical as THE GROUP, THE LAST GIRLS offers a clear-eyed view of each woman, allowing Linda Stephens to slip from flamboyance to reticence, from brashness to delicacy with accomplished artistry. Based on her own experiences, Lee Smith's novel reminds us that wisdom doesn't necessarily accompany age. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine