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moarbookspleaze's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyed this collection of short stories, although some were rather depressing.
janetlweller's review against another edition
4.0
I don't usually like short stories; they always leave me wanting more, but perhaps because the stories in the collection are intermingled I found that I enjoyed this book. It is not exactly an upbeat book, but the characters (women, or almost women) are so real that I was engrossed in each story. Though it has been a long time since my college days I found the emotions and actions (sometimes heartbreaking) of the characters brought back feelings and memories. The writing is outstanding, there are spots of humor, but mostly this lets us into the all too real lives and minds of women in different stages of their lives.
longerbeamerbaskets's review
It's not that it's badly written. But by the second story, I wanted to step in front of a moving train.
emscji's review
4.0
2/6/2012: These stories are painful to read; they hit so very close to home. Girls (or women, depending on your point of view) are searching for love, for connection, for validation--and yet they keep coming up against their own shortcomings, their fears, their shaky self-esteem. My least favorite one--which also makes it the best story in the collection--is The Joy of Cooking. In it, Emily, a 24 year old struggling with anorexia, calls her mother to ask for her roast chicken recipe--she is excited about cooking for her first boyfriend. Her mother walks her through it over the phone, thinking back all the while over her daughter's history, wondering how she became the person she is. Meanwhile the daughter is gagging over the chicken, almost unable to touch it, let alone enjoy preparing it. The most poignant story I've read in a while: Schappell is able to show the love between these damaged women, the hope, the fear, the despair on each side of the conversation. Oh dear.
The stories are connected in that the same characters reappear, sometimes at different points in their lives, sometimes as side characters in other women's stories. (Emily's sister Paige has her own story; Paige's story is also about Charlotte, who also appears in two other stories.) We also see characters develop over time; for example, Heather is a teenager in one story, then the mother of a teenaged son in a later one. This works well in that I get to see how the girls' insecurities play out over their lives. Unfortunately, it's not pretty--they haven't worked out their insecurities, only translated them from one canvas to another. (If only they'd had some therapy!) And Schappell does all of this well; their behavior, their responses to situations, are practically foreordained. Even as I want to scream at them No! Bad choice! they keep making the same mistakes again and again.
All that said, Schappell writes well, and the collection is pretty amazing…though I'm not sure to whom I would recommend it!
The stories are connected in that the same characters reappear, sometimes at different points in their lives, sometimes as side characters in other women's stories. (Emily's sister Paige has her own story; Paige's story is also about Charlotte, who also appears in two other stories.) We also see characters develop over time; for example, Heather is a teenager in one story, then the mother of a teenaged son in a later one. This works well in that I get to see how the girls' insecurities play out over their lives. Unfortunately, it's not pretty--they haven't worked out their insecurities, only translated them from one canvas to another. (If only they'd had some therapy!) And Schappell does all of this well; their behavior, their responses to situations, are practically foreordained. Even as I want to scream at them No! Bad choice! they keep making the same mistakes again and again.
All that said, Schappell writes well, and the collection is pretty amazing…though I'm not sure to whom I would recommend it!
hl1021's review
3.0
This is my least favorite book I've read all summer, and I was trying to read this as a reward for reading the other (required) book. Though the stories included some beautiful characters, they were just incredibly depressing. A friend chided me after I started it, what did I expect? Of course short stories are depressing. So, it was interesting, I finished it but the women just made me sad. On to finishing the required reading and starting something better than both books.
pattydsf's review
3.0
First of all, thanks to the publisher and Good Reads for providing review copies to general readers. This is a great program and this book by Schappell was the first book I received through the Good Reads giveaways. I am not sure I would have picked this up on my own and that would have been my loss. I am off to a wonderful start with Blueprints and I can't wait for the next book I get.
This was a fun read. I am not sure what started the trend (which for me began with Melissa Banks)of linked, interwoven stories, but Schappell has done a good job with this genre. Each story does stand alone. Someone could read any of them and find them to be written well and interesting. But the added layer is great too. I found myself going back and forth among the stories, trying to make all the connections. I liked that aspect of this book a lot.
I do think the audience for the book might be women in their 20's and 30's, but I could relate to many of the characters. I would recommend this to readers of contemporary fiction; those people who like short stories and even fiction readers who don't always read stories. The interdependence of these tales might get short stories a new audience.
This was a fun read. I am not sure what started the trend (which for me began with Melissa Banks)of linked, interwoven stories, but Schappell has done a good job with this genre. Each story does stand alone. Someone could read any of them and find them to be written well and interesting. But the added layer is great too. I found myself going back and forth among the stories, trying to make all the connections. I liked that aspect of this book a lot.
I do think the audience for the book might be women in their 20's and 30's, but I could relate to many of the characters. I would recommend this to readers of contemporary fiction; those people who like short stories and even fiction readers who don't always read stories. The interdependence of these tales might get short stories a new audience.
tspangler1970's review
2.0
I took a break from the novels I'm reading for some short stories. This was a quick read, which is what I wanted, but I really didn't enjoy it much. The girls and women who were the protagonists of the stories were just so unlikable. Disliking characters doesn't always ruin a book for me, but here it really did. I just found them annoying and extreme and sometimes despicable. I just read Lorrie Moore's new collection, and some of those characters are not so likable either, but she is able to pull it off. This collection just depressed and irked me.
themaddiest's review
3.0
Schappell’s collection of short stories presents the lives of females: girls and women who are aching to tell their experiences. These uniquely funny, observant, sometimes heartbreaking stories are the ones that are largely secret. Girls being shaped into women can be found here, and it’s a unique experience.
The eight stories collected in Schappell’s book are remarkable not only because Schappell is a good writer who gets in close to her characters but also because she writes tough, smart characters who connect with the reader during moments of revelation. There is not only a great sense of care taken with each of the characters, but a great deal of detail given to the characters and the stories they are telling. These stories are intelligent, unflinchingly honest, and contain an uncanny ability to observe the dichotomy of toughness and vulnerability present in women’s lives.
The stories in this collection interconnect with one another. In the first story, “Monsters of the Deep,” a young girl struggles with being labeled the town tramp. Readers revisit her in the last story, “I’m Only Going to Tell You This Once,” as she talks to her teenage son and tries to reconcile her own past. In “The Joy of Cooking,” Emily, a recovering anorexic, has a prolonged phone conversation with her mother that explores the complexity of their relationship (this one hit me particularly hard). The women in Schappell’s stories go in and out of each other’s lives and provide a richness to her stories that is memorable and satisfying.
These stories contain characters that will leave lasting impressions on readers. The examination of female identity pervades these stories but never feels overpowering or too didactic. Fans of smart short stories should look no farther: this collection embodies that completely.
The collection is out now.
Blueprints for Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell. Simon & Shuster: 2011. Electronic galley provided for review by publisher via Netgalley.
The eight stories collected in Schappell’s book are remarkable not only because Schappell is a good writer who gets in close to her characters but also because she writes tough, smart characters who connect with the reader during moments of revelation. There is not only a great sense of care taken with each of the characters, but a great deal of detail given to the characters and the stories they are telling. These stories are intelligent, unflinchingly honest, and contain an uncanny ability to observe the dichotomy of toughness and vulnerability present in women’s lives.
The stories in this collection interconnect with one another. In the first story, “Monsters of the Deep,” a young girl struggles with being labeled the town tramp. Readers revisit her in the last story, “I’m Only Going to Tell You This Once,” as she talks to her teenage son and tries to reconcile her own past. In “The Joy of Cooking,” Emily, a recovering anorexic, has a prolonged phone conversation with her mother that explores the complexity of their relationship (this one hit me particularly hard). The women in Schappell’s stories go in and out of each other’s lives and provide a richness to her stories that is memorable and satisfying.
These stories contain characters that will leave lasting impressions on readers. The examination of female identity pervades these stories but never feels overpowering or too didactic. Fans of smart short stories should look no farther: this collection embodies that completely.
The collection is out now.
Blueprints for Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell. Simon & Shuster: 2011. Electronic galley provided for review by publisher via Netgalley.
jodiwilldare's review
4.0
Every six months or so for the past decade, I’d randomly type ‘Elissa Schappell’ into Amazon’s search bar and cross my fingers. I kept hoping and hoping that she had released a book that some how slipped by me. I fell in love so hard with her collection of linked short stories Use Me that I longed for something else.
When I spied Blueprints for Building Better Girls on some Fall 2011 release list, I bounced in my chair, fist pumping like a member of the Jersey Shore. I was excited.
I marched right into this collection of interlinked stories with nary a worry. Not once did it cross my mind that this book would be disappointing. I didn’t entertain the idea that maybe this wouldn’t live up to my memories of Use Me. I knew, knew that Elissa Schappell would deliver the goods.
read more.
When I spied Blueprints for Building Better Girls on some Fall 2011 release list, I bounced in my chair, fist pumping like a member of the Jersey Shore. I was excited.
I marched right into this collection of interlinked stories with nary a worry. Not once did it cross my mind that this book would be disappointing. I didn’t entertain the idea that maybe this wouldn’t live up to my memories of Use Me. I knew, knew that Elissa Schappell would deliver the goods.
read more.