The Tribes of Palos Verdes: A Novel Paperback – August 15, 1998

How is this book not huge? It’s one of my favorite books (top 50) and I’ve read it twice. The depiction of California and surf culture is authentic and well crafted. It’s just a lovely book that I have recommended multiple times to friends.

I am in high school and I had to read this book over summer break. I found it very entertaining and I couldn't put it down. I don't read that many books but this one was really good. I live near Palos Verdes and I found many things in the book to be true. The book itself is 218 pages and is focused for a more mature audience because it covers topics such as drugs, sex, divorce, child abuse, and bullying. It was a great book and I can't wait for the movie. I highly recommend this and many of my other high school friends enjoyed this book too. This book may not be that interesting for people who are not familiar with Palos Verdes or with people who don't like surfing or the beach.

The reason why the protagonist in this book was unliked by individuals in the Palos Verdes community was simply because she is inherently unlikeable. She has no moral character, she is promiscuous, uses drugs at a young age and does not ever try to be friendly or engage with others. She is a person riddled with complexes. She shallowly places everyone in her own preconceived category, assuming for instance that every woman in Palos Verdes wears a green tennis skirt, is surgically altered in appearance and has nothing better to do than to gossip about her mother's weight. I don't believe that this is a 'coming of age' novel. It is a book in which the author aims to seek revenge on those that she seems to think did her wrong. She calls out names (first and last) of classmates who had an abortion, girls who were more popular than her and apparently had nothing better to do than to dwell on the size of her mother's dress. Frankly, I am pretty certain that her entire class had better things to think about than whether or not her mother was fat. Her entire family is dysfunctional, which I suppose explains why she is so unlikable, however her 'Mommy Dearest' portrayal of her mother, her classmates, and just about every other person residing in Palos Verdes does not make for good reading.

Having just read Nicholson's second novel, The Road to Esmeralda, I had to check out her first. Although very different in tone they are both in that rare genre, the lyrically literate page-turner. This coming of age novel is deft in its slow revelations of sorrow, madness, and change in the lives of twins Jim and Medina--the reader clings to the narrative with anxious hope that life will somehow be other than what it usually is, that people will act otherwise than they tend to do. Extraordinary writing and brilliant observations combine to create characters who are authentic and unique, rendered with the subtle suggestiveness of a haiku or pen and ink sketch.

I read the book because I lived in PV in highschool, and I was also a transfer in from the Midwest. I was curious to see if this was a positive take on an adolescent who was having a difficult time blending in and making friends with the privileged, closed, snobbish highschool cliques. She supposedly became one of the only female surfers in the community, but her new surfer friends and her brother turned to drugs, which was a disappointing take on how to deal with social or personal issues. Her family was very dysfunctional, her mother also another pitiful character. I wouldn't recommend the book for an impressionable adolescent.

It brought me back to growing up in Palos Verdes in the 60's and 70's. I could totally picture the cove and houses along the bluff. I could totally relate of when you went off the hill and people would ask where you live...as you quietly said PV. It always seemed to create a reaction, "oh you are from there". I really enjoyed reading this book.

If your not from the area of Palos Verdes, I would give the book 3 stars. The author did a good job of building the characters. But, the author wrote a fictional book about a true city and did not do any research about the South Bay and nearby cities. It's difficult to read if you are from the area, because so many references are so far from the truth. She should have used a fictional city.

Coming of age tale of outsider adolescence against the backdrop of fiercely territorial Palisades Verdes surf spots. Written in a clean and honest manner, lacks pretension.

Refreshingly different and vividly written. Quite explicit in places, and more of an adult novel than teen literature, I thought.

I saw the film and liked it a lot, I love books and films that take place on or near the beach, so I decided to read the book. The book is not quite like the film, the main characters are different, especially the mother who is fat in the book and played by Jen Garner, who is super thin, in the film, which makes the story less understandable. Also Medina is beautiful in the film but not in the book. The book, however, is equally as good as the film, it has more details and I enjoyed it very much. For those who haven’t seen the film, I recommend reading the book first.