One of my favorite books of all time. I cannot tell you how much I love this book. Salve for the broken-hearted.

It's an interesting take on family, and Kimmel's writing style draws you into the story. The characters are all so interesting. It was hard to put down!

I cannot say enough times how much I love Haven Kimmel. She is an amazing writer. In this book, she writes about a daughter who idolizes her pool sharp father as a little girl and learns to play pool herself. She's a natural and is playing adult men for money by the age of 12. Her relationships with her father, mother and sister are complicated, but eventually she finds the best in herself through those relationships and is finally able to let herself find love. It sounds lame, but it's really a great story about a strong, independent, admirable woman.

I wanted this book to be better. I absolutely loved her first two books - A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off The Couch - but those were memoirs of her childhood and were hysterical. This novel is a much darker staging of small town life. I didn't feel like I ever connected to the characters enough to care what was happening to them. And if that doesn't happen early in, I find myself reading like it's homework. I tend to finish books unless they are just so bad or boring that I truly can't do it. So this one didn't capture me except for moments here and there. Read her memoirs. They are like whipped frosting. This one was like...fruitcake.

I picked up this book because it was about a girl who played pool. I found some of the early chapters about her childhood slow and now that I've finished the book, I am unable to draw connections from some of Cassie's childhood experiences and her adult self -- except for her relationship with her father. I really enjoyed the second half of the book, particularly the parts set in New Orleans -- what an interesting twist.

Something Rising is about a woman named Cassie Claibourne. The book starts off with Cassie as a child. Right away readers realize she's from a dysfunctional family. Her dad is married to their mother but he is constantly leaving to play pool in different states or he is with his other woman. Her mother is depressed. And her sister, while a talented writer is a paranoid schizophrenic. Cassie adores her father but as she grows up her disappointments turn her into a tough, angry teenager and woman. She has to be strong and supports her family. Her sole joy in life is her pool playing and her goal is to beat as many players as possible, but especially her Dad.

I was a little disappointed with this book. I think I liked [b:A Girl Named Zippy|15171|A Girl Named Zippy|Haven Kimmel|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166671570s/15171.jpg|17077] so much, and Something Rising just lacks the same charm as Zippy.

This is a book I jumped into everytime I opened it back up. I can't imagine how this could be a better book. The characters develop in your head based on their actions, rather than physical descriptions. Haven Kimmel is fantastic.

Excellent writer. I didn't get the point. Maybe I'm just not a regular novel person. I liked the pool hall scenes though. "Does it have sports?" Typical male.

Kimmel's writing is lovely and she has the people and rhythm of Midwestern life down cold. However, I thought the structure of the book was a little uneven, with many pages devoted to several scenes that seemed pointless, while critical plot and character developments just casually tossed in with one sentence.