Product Description

It s 1981 and 17-year-old Norma Rogers' parents drop her off at the college dorms. Soon, Norma finds herself drunk and nearly naked with three strangers. The strip poker event is the first of many experiences that prompt Norma to question who she is and who she wants to be. Norma's relationships with an array of characters induce her to grapple with society's messages about women, sex, and freedom. These characters include Jack, her aloof on-again, off-again boyfriend; Goat, her antsy dorm neighbor; Liz Chan, a pot-smoking sorority girl; Benny Moss, a nerdy guy who has a thing for Liz; and Paul Fellows, Benny's roommate, whom Norma calls Chuck because he reminds her of Charlie Brown. Chuck, a witty aficionado of old films, plays a pivotal role in Norma's discoveries about life's possibilities, as does Norma's roommate Stacy a beautiful, kind, and somewhat mysterious blonde. Many tumultuous events take Norma through an array of troubles, pleasures, and thrills: from drug use and ominous encounters with strangers, to rowdy parties and road trips, to queer coming-out surprises. In the midst of these incidents which are peppered with 1970's and 1980's pop cultural references Norma reflects on her desire for freedom (sexual and otherwise). Reinforcing these themes are the intermittent appearances of her middle-class parents and her sister, as well as her best friend from high school whose life in a small town as she prepares for her upcoming wedding is poles apart from Norma s. Ultimately Norma comes to see that there are many ways to live and love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #339276 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
Evans' debut novel, For the May Queen, is a compelling coming of age story. Through a first person narrative that is as intimate and engaging as the finest memoir, Evans takes the reader on the humorous and chaotic journey of spirited Norma Rogers as she navigates her first year of college. Evans skillfully reminds us all of what it means to be young, questioning, and prone to get a lot wrong on our way toward an adulthood where we know ourselves--and those around us--- just a little better. --Jayne Pupek, author of Tomato Girl and Forms of Intercession

In the tumultuous way of Go Ask Alice, so Kate Evans captures the nightmarish chaos of a young woman s attempt to find her way amid too much freedom, too much sex and too many drugs. Laced with the kind of astute detail that drops readers into that fateful freshman year of college, this story examines the hard choices that can make or break a spirit. --Martha Engber, Growing Great Characters From the Ground Up: A Thorough Primer for Writers of Fiction and Nonfiction

The 80s were all about drugs, alcohol and casual sex, and Kate Evans deftly conveys the uncertainty of the era as her feisty Norma Rogers leaves a sheltered home life and dives headfirst into a series of hedonistic adventures at college, including falling in love with Chuck, who just doesn't seem to be that in to her. The clever dialogue, unexpected twists and a meticulous sense of time and place evoke the immediacy of memoir. Funny, poignant and ultimately a testament to lasting friendship, For The May Queen is a trip back to the not-so-distant-past without the hangover. --Collin Kelley, author of Slow To Burn and After the Poison

About the Author
Kate Evans is the author of a poetry collection (Like All We Love, Spirit/Q Press) and a book about lesbian and gay teachers (Negotiating the Self, Routledge). Her stories, poems and essays have appeared in more than 40 publications, including the North American Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Santa Monica Review,and ZYZZYVA. Her work has been nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Lambda Literary Award and two Pushcart Prizes. A California native, she teaches in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at San Jose State University.

Customer Reviews

Couldn't put the book down!
I loved For the May Queen. It was a page turner and I couldn't put the book down until I was finished! I could totally relate to the charcter, growing up in the 80's. I haven't read a book this great in a long time. It's a must read!!

A hip, funny yet great old-fashioned read
It's been a long time since I truly haven't been able to put a book down. This is the most compulsively readable book I've read in a long time. I know it's a cliche, but it's true: I both laughed and cried. The narrative voice of 17-year-old Norma is lively, strong, flawed and funny. All the other characters are great--and there's such a variety of them. Each character feels like a real person.

The story takes place in 1981 in the dorms. Norma has moved away from home for the first time and faces a lot of choices relating to sex, drugs, partying, friendships. This world seems very real and alive. And along the way there are some surprises building that, when they are revealed, are really great.

I can't recommend this book enough. I think it would make a great movie. It deserves to be a bestseller.

Why For The May Queen is a must read
Move over Holden Caulfield --- there is finally a female character who is not afraid to tell us what it really is like the moment you leave the safety net of your home and your parents' inquiring eyes. For the May Queen by Kate Evans is a powerful new debut fiction novel that is destined to secure a place in bibliophile mania, equal to that of Catcher in the Rye. I did something I rarely do and that is fell in love with Norma Jean Rogers, the central character after reading the opening lines. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked, so hooked, I didn't put the book down until I was finished.

Norma is a young woman who is off to college and on her own for the first time in her life. She is fearless in her pursuit of discovery of self. Her sense of bravado makes human and believable as she teeters along that fine line between girlhood and womanhood, and between throwing away the last inhibitions when one suddenly decides that `I am an adult.'

Within a few hours after her parents leave her with bag and baggage at the dorm, Norma wakes up on the floor with three strangers in her underwear. From there it goes on a wild and fun ride through the growing pains of womanhood, life and friendship.

The first chapter is full of getting to know Norma and her menagerie of friends who are all memorable in their own right. But it doesn't stop there and we are continually introduced to new characters who breeze in and out of Norma's and her other friends' lives.

The novel reads like a fine memoir, is often poignant, often funny, and never dull. Yes, there are sex scenes, drinking, wild parties, and an occasional high, but they are done so tastefully, and so honestly, that even as a parent of teenage girls, I have no qualms about them reading the story because I want them to read what young people face in the real world, and perhaps see that growing up is also about making decisions, right or wrong, good or bad, but they are your decisions and choices to make.

Although the novel is set in the early 1980s, ever decade is a tumultuous era, and even more so, this first decade of this new millennium. I venture to say that throughout history, leaving home has never been more honestly and thought provokingly written about. Taking the steps to achieve adulthood is like riding a roller coaster and. Kate Evans is a writer extraordinaire with an equally amazing storytelling voice. For the May Queen is a must read and a book that you won't be able to put down.