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bookishcassie's review
5.0
A fucking treasure map that will bury you alive.
I’ll never get over that last story. Or the story about Andy. Or any of it. I’m crying.
I’ll never get over that last story. Or the story about Andy. Or any of it. I’m crying.
amaandaplz's review
4.5
Everything I could want from a short story collection, loved this! Each story was great on it's own but the fact that they all intertwined just made it so much more enjoyable overall and upon finishing one story made me even more eager to read the next
fanellea's review
5.0
Wonderful collection of delicately interwoven stories detailing experiences of different women and girls. Loved it and am hungry for more of Schappell's work.
zelma's review against another edition
3.0
I typically don't read short story collections; however, I branched out to read these linked stories and appreciated the cohesion of the book. I liked seeing the same characters pop up and call-backs to various events. I haven't figured out how one story fits in, but it doesn't affect my feelings on it.
A few stories worked better than others, as with any story collection. I loved a couple, hated one or two and felt lukewarm on the rest. The archetypes and stereotypes Schappell covers aren't new but are always worth exploring. This was an honest, raw look at female experience - a very white, middle class, heterosexual experience. Nothing wrong with that but it was a limited scope.
A few stories worked better than others, as with any story collection. I loved a couple, hated one or two and felt lukewarm on the rest. The archetypes and stereotypes Schappell covers aren't new but are always worth exploring. This was an honest, raw look at female experience - a very white, middle class, heterosexual experience. Nothing wrong with that but it was a limited scope.
jessferg's review
3.0
The difficulty with books of short stories is rating the book overall and not individual stories. I'd say the story I disliked the most was still okay so as a whole I liked them all. I liked the progressive interconectedness but found I liked the first and last stories the best (and they turn out to be the most connected). I'm hoping the title is meant to be ironic because all the women in these stories are deeply troubled and, sadly, seem full of anger and regret with very little growth or redemption - which, of course, can lead to some rather unsatisfying endings. Despite this, quite a nice amount of insight comes through for the reader. A compelling group of stories.
rdreading9's review
5.0
Loved this book. It kicked my ass!!!!!! The unsuspecting way these stories wove themselves together drove you to read each of them to conclusion once you've started. I began every story thinking, really, this is who the author chose to write about???, then I began to recognize these women, & by the end of each store I was looking into a mirror. I kept thinking the next story she wont be able to pull off as well..........but I was wrong, each one did this. And the last line of the book, SPOT ON PERFECT!!! Elissa Schappell is not just a girl.............she is an Author. A very brave, bold & honest writer.
bookworm_gg's review
4.0
A very good collection of short stories, loosely connected, featuring these troubled, complicated, sad "girls." The girls are at different stages in their lives, and the stories are set in different decades. I found myself trying too hard to find the connections between the stories; they are really wonderful indivudual pieces.
longerbeamerbaskets's review against another edition
It's not that it's badly written. But by the second story, I wanted to step in front of a moving train.
monasterymonochrome's review against another edition
3.0
I won a copy of this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. The first few stories didn't leave me impressed but the second half of the book was much better, with a few genuinely fantastic stories and some very well-drawn characters. However, though Schappell's writing is competent and relatable, it is not exactly singular. I couldn't help feeling like, even during the better stories, I was reading Lorrie Moore cast-offs. Though the two women write from similar everyday perspectives, Schappell's prose lacks the elegance and emotion of Moore's. Her stories never quite reached the peak I was waiting for and so left this reader feeling unsatisfied. Still, Blueprints for Building Better Girls is a quick, engaging read if not particularly memorable in the long term.
firewordsparkler's review against another edition
5.0
This collection of connected short stories is fantastic. Every story, every hurt, and every struggle are not symptoms of the disease called womanhood, but are symptoms of living. In some books, it's hard to find even one multidimensional female character. This gives us many. It shows how people's lives change from childhood to adulthood and why they do. How people are not static creatures that only have one personality throughout their lives. They can go from being the bad girl to the loving mother, from the free spirit to the desperate wife, and so on. I definitely have not done this book and this review justice, so I'll just end with a quote from the book itself.
"Don't be a fool. There's no such thing as just a girl."
"Don't be a fool. There's no such thing as just a girl."