Number 6 Fumbles
In this powerful novel, an accomplished young woman, suddenly seized by self-doubt, falls headfirst into a fervent exploration of the merits and pitfalls of being good.\ Rebecca Lowe is an upbeat coed, the one who gets straight A's, the one friends and teachers count on. But when she sees No. 6 fumble the football at the Penn-Cornell game, Beck begins to question what would happen if she "fumbled the ball" in her own life. Suddenly filled with uncertainty, she begins to devolve, indulging in...
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In this powerful novel, an accomplished young woman, suddenly seized by self-doubt, falls headfirst into a fervent exploration of the merits and pitfalls of being good.Rebecca Lowe is an upbeat coed, the one who gets straight A's, the one friends and teachers count on. But when she sees No. 6 fumble the football at the Penn-Cornell game, Beck begins to question what would happen if she "fumbled the ball" in her own life. Suddenly filled with uncertainty, she begins to devolve, indulging in a personal odyssey of hard drinking and casual hookups, staying out all night as she tries to find the real Rebecca. But somehow the truth keeps evading her.Gritty and passionate, Number 6 Fumbles is an irresistible story for anyone who has ever feared failure only slightly more than success.Publishers WeeklyA major blunder by the unknown, eponymous football player at a Penn State/Cornell game stirs feelings of doubt and instability in Rebecca "Beck" Lowe, a University of Pennsylvania sophomore and the general life-of-the-party, resilient heroine of this spunky but rudimentary debut. Though her physical features "will never add up to cuteness," Beck is "the fun one... who keeps the buzz going," scoring well both in fraternity bars and in class, often attending one right after the other. A pseudo-panic sets in as the fumble resonates for Beck, and she begins to scrutinize the many facets of her second year of college: her volatile relationship with her parents, the ongoing frenzied frat bar search for Mr. Right, her nagging virginity. For much of the book, barfly Beck (equipped with fake I.D.) busies herself taste-testing such potential new boyfriends as the elusive Ryan, who lies about his age and never calls; Ryan's bighearted buddy, Trey; or sweet, attentive Scott. Despite the heroine's forays into hip, collegiate self-analysis, Solar-Tuttle's account of this fruitless bed hopping never develops into something bigger or deeper. The author graduated from Penn State, magna cum laude, and though she confidently relates the cliched college scene of excessive drinking, sordid sexual escapades and self-exploration, that's all the book has to offer. As a novel, this translates into a conglomeration of silly, eventually tedious misadventures. Even younger readers won't laugh so much as wince at this toothless, adolescent fluff, explicitly tailored for undergrads whose steadfast mantra is "anything's possible when you're drunk." Agent, Alice Martell. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
\ Publishers WeeklyA major blunder by the unknown, eponymous football player at a Penn State/Cornell game stirs feelings of doubt and instability in Rebecca "Beck" Lowe, a University of Pennsylvania sophomore and the general life-of-the-party, resilient heroine of this spunky but rudimentary debut. Though her physical features "will never add up to cuteness," Beck is "the fun one... who keeps the buzz going," scoring well both in fraternity bars and in class, often attending one right after the other. A pseudo-panic sets in as the fumble resonates for Beck, and she begins to scrutinize the many facets of her second year of college: her volatile relationship with her parents, the ongoing frenzied frat bar search for Mr. Right, her nagging virginity. For much of the book, barfly Beck (equipped with fake I.D.) busies herself taste-testing such potential new boyfriends as the elusive Ryan, who lies about his age and never calls; Ryan's bighearted buddy, Trey; or sweet, attentive Scott. Despite the heroine's forays into hip, collegiate self-analysis, Solar-Tuttle's account of this fruitless bed hopping never develops into something bigger or deeper. The author graduated from Penn State, magna cum laude, and though she confidently relates the cliched college scene of excessive drinking, sordid sexual escapades and self-exploration, that's all the book has to offer. As a novel, this translates into a conglomeration of silly, eventually tedious misadventures. Even younger readers won't laugh so much as wince at this toothless, adolescent fluff, explicitly tailored for undergrads whose steadfast mantra is "anything's possible when you're drunk." Agent, Alice Martell. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ KLIATTRebecca is a very bright Univ. of Pennsylvania sophomore—the kind who can write A+ papers four hours before deadline—when she attends a football game and sees a home team player fumble the ball. His fraternity brothers, with whom she is sitting and drinking, are greatly put out. Witnessing this, Rebecca experiences a "generic negative" feeling that sends her on a downward spiral of sex and drinking that is truly scary. In other words, the failure of Number 6 to catch the football makes her depressed. She does so many self-destructive things in such a short period of time that the reader feels winded. Sex and alcohol are readily available on and near this urban campus; everyone has a fake ID and there are plenty of male students to take advantage of Rebecca's momentary confusion. As mixed-up as she might be, her description of what she is going through makes the reader wonder how anyone so smart could be so dumb. Her female friends and roommates seem equally clueless and singularly unhelpful. (Where are the counselors?) Just when the reader despairs, Rebecca pulls herself out of her "eccess-tential" behavior and goes running. End of story. A high school college-bound senior would either read this and pass it around to the whole class, because it really appeals to a prurient interest, or decide that college could be put off for a while. At the back of the book is a list of titles that should appeal to the same audience with the recommendation: "More from the young, the hip and the up-and-coming. Brought to you by MTV Books." This is definitely for the college-age reader. KLIATT Codes: A—Recommended for advanced students and adults. 2002, Pocket Books, MTV Books, 242p., \ — PenelopePower\ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsYouth-directed imprint's latest installment: a cringe-inducing first novel tracking a heavy-partying University of Pennsylvania sophomore who undergoes "buzz kill" with existential repercussions while watching Number 6 fumble the football during a Penn-Cornell game.\ \
