Scan barcode
trin's review against another edition
1.0
Oh, this is bad. Familiar, old-fashioned, college creative writing course bad. The plot makes no sense, the characterization is thin or muddled, and the prose ranges from workmanlike to borderline incompetent. For example, here is one page (p. 239) of dialogue attributions:
Isis explained
Nola gave in
Nola said sharply
Isis investigated (this one’s totally my favorite!)
Isis continued
Nola confirmed
the psychic requested
Nola replied
Isis queried
“I think someone needed a more thorough editor,” Trin said. But anyway, the plot! Our heroine is Lucy Fisher—supposedly a free spirit, although when we meet her she’s living in a dull split level, engaged to a dull man, and working as a dental hygienist. (What a wild woman!) The book opens with Lucy coming back from a Hawaiian vacation on which she’s spent her entire inheritance and had a mostly miserable time to discover that her fiancé has kicked her out of the house with no explanation. The next morning, she is fired from her job for stealing and for failing a drug test. Then when she goes to stay with her sister to get away from it all, she is immediately hit by a bus and dies.
I don’t think I am out of line in suggesting that this is, perhaps, a little much? Especially considering that the plot of the book does not involve the gods being angry at Lucy and taking their vengeance upon her.
No, instead she has to go to ghost school, where many chapters are required for Lucy and her fellow students to learn a bunch of skills that Patrick Swayze figured out over the course of a fun montage. Lucy picks up all the stereotypical haunting tricks, and is even given the option of getting kitted out in whatever ghost gear might suit her fancy (woman in white? old-timey hooker? the choice is yours!). However, she is also instructed that she’s not supposed to frighten whoever she’s sent to haunt, she’s supposed to help them. If she scares them too much, she could get sucked into the white light, which is actually a portal to eternal torment. Then why is she being taught how to scare people, one might ask? Beats me!
Wait, no it doesn’t: it’s because without this sequence, the book would have no middle. We’d have to rush right on to the final third, wherein Lucy mildly torments and is mildly tormented by her personality-free ex-fiancé’s cartoonishly awful new girlfriend, who is also the woman who got Lucy fired (...right). Then the book ends and Lucy finally gets to move on to The State, which sounds just like Earth only you’re dead and get to eat as much brownie batter as you want. (This is the same State, by the way, that was frequently claimed to be “indescribable” to anyone who asked.) Was Lucy supposed to learn anything from this? Isn’t she supposed to be some sort of higher being now? I’m sorry, but I can’t trust any “higher being” whose idea of paradise involves raw brownie batter. Cookie dough maybe, but I’ve dipped many the wooden spoon and trust me, raw brownie batter is not worth dying for.
Sorry, this is probably a much more scathing review than this book truly deserves: it’s bad, but it’s not offensive—or at least no more offensive than any other bad published book. However, I read it as a favor to a friend, and he’s going to ask me about it, and I am going to have to equivocate so much. Best get the brutal honesty out of my system now, then, before I have to start practicing all the phrases I used in my actual college creative writing class, where we weren’t allowed to say anything mean.
Ahem.
“Gosh, Notaro sure was trying for something interesting with this!”
Isis explained
Nola gave in
Nola said sharply
Isis investigated (this one’s totally my favorite!)
Isis continued
Nola confirmed
the psychic requested
Nola replied
Isis queried
“I think someone needed a more thorough editor,” Trin said. But anyway, the plot! Our heroine is Lucy Fisher—supposedly a free spirit, although when we meet her she’s living in a dull split level, engaged to a dull man, and working as a dental hygienist. (What a wild woman!) The book opens with Lucy coming back from a Hawaiian vacation on which she’s spent her entire inheritance and had a mostly miserable time to discover that her fiancé has kicked her out of the house with no explanation. The next morning, she is fired from her job for stealing and for failing a drug test. Then when she goes to stay with her sister to get away from it all, she is immediately hit by a bus and dies.
I don’t think I am out of line in suggesting that this is, perhaps, a little much? Especially considering that the plot of the book does not involve the gods being angry at Lucy and taking their vengeance upon her.
No, instead she has to go to ghost school, where many chapters are required for Lucy and her fellow students to learn a bunch of skills that Patrick Swayze figured out over the course of a fun montage. Lucy picks up all the stereotypical haunting tricks, and is even given the option of getting kitted out in whatever ghost gear might suit her fancy (woman in white? old-timey hooker? the choice is yours!). However, she is also instructed that she’s not supposed to frighten whoever she’s sent to haunt, she’s supposed to help them. If she scares them too much, she could get sucked into the white light, which is actually a portal to eternal torment. Then why is she being taught how to scare people, one might ask? Beats me!
Wait, no it doesn’t: it’s because without this sequence, the book would have no middle. We’d have to rush right on to the final third, wherein Lucy mildly torments and is mildly tormented by her personality-free ex-fiancé’s cartoonishly awful new girlfriend, who is also the woman who got Lucy fired (...right). Then the book ends and Lucy finally gets to move on to The State, which sounds just like Earth only you’re dead and get to eat as much brownie batter as you want. (This is the same State, by the way, that was frequently claimed to be “indescribable” to anyone who asked.) Was Lucy supposed to learn anything from this? Isn’t she supposed to be some sort of higher being now? I’m sorry, but I can’t trust any “higher being” whose idea of paradise involves raw brownie batter. Cookie dough maybe, but I’ve dipped many the wooden spoon and trust me, raw brownie batter is not worth dying for.
Sorry, this is probably a much more scathing review than this book truly deserves: it’s bad, but it’s not offensive—or at least no more offensive than any other bad published book. However, I read it as a favor to a friend, and he’s going to ask me about it, and I am going to have to equivocate so much. Best get the brutal honesty out of my system now, then, before I have to start practicing all the phrases I used in my actual college creative writing class, where we weren’t allowed to say anything mean.
Ahem.
“Gosh, Notaro sure was trying for something interesting with this!”
jaquelync88's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
thelibrarylady42's review against another edition
4.0
Stephanie Plum goes ghost. Lucy's life has hit a rough patch. Her fiance threw all her stuff out on the lawn and changed the locks, she lost her job, and she got hit by a bus. Now she is in ghost school learning how to be a good ghost so she can complete her mission and continue on to "The State". A perfect combination of laugh out loud moments and tugs on the heart strings.
jmj697mn's review against another edition
5.0
I wish I could give this book 10 stars. I was a little concerned because Laurie Notaro can be hit or miss for me, but I literally blew through this book. I did not want it to end because I fell in love with Lucy and the other characters, but I HAD to know what the mystery was. I highly recommend this book to anyone & everyone.
asurges's review against another edition
4.0
Laurie Notaro is sarcastic, loud, and really, really funny. Her first fiction book kinda, well, it wasn't that great. It was kind of dull and lacked her very strong voice.
But this work of fiction? Freakin' hilarious. I laughed out loud a number of times and screwed up my work schedule today by bringing it to work (you know, to read "during lunch," which apparently was two hours long). Very entertaining and light but not stupid. Les--I'm sending it to you asap. Diana, Les can send it to you after, if you want.
But this work of fiction? Freakin' hilarious. I laughed out loud a number of times and screwed up my work schedule today by bringing it to work (you know, to read "during lunch," which apparently was two hours long). Very entertaining and light but not stupid. Les--I'm sending it to you asap. Diana, Les can send it to you after, if you want.
lunaeclipse's review against another edition
5.0
This was a charming book that had me laughing and close to tears at times.
kenziebecky's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
This book was really, really fun. I got it on a whim and am very glad I did. It has early 2000s vibes and is funny and fun all around. It had me laughing in public and happy crying at the end. It’s a very simple story but it’s a good one.
karenleagermain's review against another edition
1.0
I love Laurie Notaro and have read all of her books. “Spooky Little Girl” is the first Notaro book that I really disliked. I felt like it was riddled with problems. None of the characters, with the exception of the Dog, Tulip, were likeable. Not only where they impossible to like, but I couldn’t even understand why most of them would be friends. It just didn’t work.
The story centers around Lucy Fischer, a self absorbed dental hygienist, whose Fiancé mysteriously kicks her out of the house when she returns from a girls only trip to Hawaii. She doesn’t have time to figure out why she has been dumped, before being hit by a bus and turning into a ghost. As a ghost, she must attend “Ghost School” and learn scare tactics, prior to getting an assignment back on earth, where she must intervene in the lives of her friends, family and former fiancé.
The whole Ghost set up is kind of clever, but it wears thin. It also isn’t consistent. It seems like Notaro set up the rules of being a ghost, only to break or bend them when it is convenient in the story. Example- Ghosts are not strong enough to pick up a pen and write a note…however, they can move chairs, throw picture frames and write on a steamed mirror. It just seems silly.
The mystery of why her Fiancé dumped her is just not interesting enough to carry the story. The motivations of the characters are weak and uninteresting. Also, the story has too many implausible coincidences. The biggest thing that irked me was no one noticing that she was missing. Why wouldn’t the sister take greater action to inform Lucy’s friends that she was dead? Her death was supposedly all over the news, yet none of her friends figured it out. I’m glad my friends are smarter than that!
Finally, the title of the book doesn’t really make sense.
The story centers around Lucy Fischer, a self absorbed dental hygienist, whose Fiancé mysteriously kicks her out of the house when she returns from a girls only trip to Hawaii. She doesn’t have time to figure out why she has been dumped, before being hit by a bus and turning into a ghost. As a ghost, she must attend “Ghost School” and learn scare tactics, prior to getting an assignment back on earth, where she must intervene in the lives of her friends, family and former fiancé.
The whole Ghost set up is kind of clever, but it wears thin. It also isn’t consistent. It seems like Notaro set up the rules of being a ghost, only to break or bend them when it is convenient in the story. Example- Ghosts are not strong enough to pick up a pen and write a note…however, they can move chairs, throw picture frames and write on a steamed mirror. It just seems silly.
The mystery of why her Fiancé dumped her is just not interesting enough to carry the story. The motivations of the characters are weak and uninteresting. Also, the story has too many implausible coincidences. The biggest thing that irked me was no one noticing that she was missing. Why wouldn’t the sister take greater action to inform Lucy’s friends that she was dead? Her death was supposedly all over the news, yet none of her friends figured it out. I’m glad my friends are smarter than that!
Finally, the title of the book doesn’t really make sense.
mehitabels's review against another edition
3.0
I love the premise, and mostly this book was enjoyable. Perhaps it was just the wrong time to read lite-lit. I adore her non-fiction books, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in harmonious shame as I did reading [b:The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life|7531|The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life|Laurie Notaro|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320488033s/7531.jpg|514237]
mckinlay's review against another edition
2.0
not my kind of book but it was the book for my book club this month. i did like the end though.