The Page 69 Test: "Girls in Trucks"

Sunday, April 6, 2008

"Girls in Trucks"

Katie Crouch's debut novel, Girls in Trucks, is "a little bit autobiographical, but not too much."

She applied the Page 69 Test to the book and reported the following:

On page 69 of Girls in Trucks, Sarah Walters, the protagonist, is cutting out of a debutante tea to go drink beer with her best friend and a couple of farmer boys. She's fifteen years old and "the South's last virgin," although this issue is about to be resolved after a long ride to the beach.

"Charlotte sings to the R.E.M. song on the radio and the wind is warm and is there any happier place than in a carful of kids driving toward the water with the windows open? Nope Camellias. I think not."

I love that this scene fell on page 69, because as a teenager, I thought there was nowhere sexier to be than the back seat of a car filled with people. We spent a lot of time during my high school years driving to parties out in the country, and I remember how my whole body would sing when I was able to wedge myself into a car next to a boy I liked.

Now, of course, my desire triggers have changed. If you squeeze me into a crowded car today, I get antsy. It's not all about your knee touching mine anymore; I need you to turn on my brain.

Sarah Walters' perspective, of course, also changes throughout the book, although not in the same specific ways I have. She becomes hardened throughout the novel as she grows older and moves in and out of different relationships. In this scene, though, she's still green and full of hope, and she's in love with the simplicity of moment she's having. It's a very joyful scene. Totally page-69 worthy.