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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
I loved this book! It so perfectly captures the weirdness of relationships, and how different they are for each person. I also love the movie based off it.
I'm sad that it has gotten such poor reviews, I think that's really due to it being mislabeled (there is nothing light about it), and the stigma of being in a relationship with a much older man.
I'm sad that it has gotten such poor reviews, I think that's really due to it being mislabeled (there is nothing light about it), and the stigma of being in a relationship with a much older man.
I loved this! Somehow I had never read it. Perhaps I hesitated because I prefer novels to short stories. Thank you to Cara Blue Adams, whose piece on the occasion of Banks' recent passing prompted me to finally pick it up. It was hard to put down.
https://www.gawker.com/culture/melissa-bank-deserved-more
https://www.gawker.com/culture/melissa-bank-deserved-more
Twenty-two years ago, in my twenty-second year, this small collection of short stories opened something like an inner window for me. The characters and voices within were people I have looked for, and found, over and over in some of my favorite books since. Returning to it—a whole second life inside me, a third about to begin—is a particular and wonderful ache.
I expected more out of this book from reviews. I liked both the story and the main character in the beginning, but as the book went on, Jane grew frustrating to read about. Her reliance on her older boyfriend to further her career seemed out of character with the younger version of herself that was presented to the readers in other chapters. The storyline about her switching career paths would have been more interesting if it related to her happiness at the end - but Jane's happy ending was only resolved by a guy, so the outcome of her career transition was left hanging. Overall, I felt Jane didn't have that much depth or growth as a character, so it was hard to stay interested and made the ending unsatisfying. Also, two of the short stories did not wind up tying into the book at all. I am not sure what the point of them was as many other reviewers also seemed confused. 2/2
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not my favorite book. I do like how it is written. I enjoyed how the book was broken up but I just couldn’t relate to Jane at all. I didn’t appreciate her sense of humor, didn’t understand her relationships.... I just could not relate to her at all. 2.5 stars for some well written stories.
I had already read this book quite a while ago but had reminded myself I wanted to reread it. I'm glad I did. I forgot how incredibly witty Melissa Banks is and I absolutely love the character of Jane.
The best part about banks writing is her ability to weave the dialogue in with the characters thoughts and their mannerisms in a way that gives you a very rich understanding of each character.
This is a fast funny yet poignant read and I highly recommend it.
The best part about banks writing is her ability to weave the dialogue in with the characters thoughts and their mannerisms in a way that gives you a very rich understanding of each character.
This is a fast funny yet poignant read and I highly recommend it.
I had heard this book was a novel satirizing novels about women fixated on catching a man and the Finding and Keeping Mr. Right type self-help books. The last chapter came the closest to fitting this description and even that was predictable and poorly done. Perhaps I had wrong information and am judging this book too harshly because it wasn't what I was expecting when it was never intended to be that. All I know is that it was a struggle for me to finish this.
Overall, this read more like a collection of short stories than a novel, no real surprise since the publication info page indicates that many chapters previously appeared singly in various publications. All the stories were supposedly about the same main character but a couple of them just didn't seem to fit, there was no real connection to events in the other stories and the main character acted different enough to seem like a new person. None of the stories grabbed my attention and I never cared what happened to the main character in her many relationships. It was just another book about a whiny female who can't get her life together and all the relationships (romantic or otherwise) that she screws up or actually manages to get right. Not at all my kind of thing.
Overall, this read more like a collection of short stories than a novel, no real surprise since the publication info page indicates that many chapters previously appeared singly in various publications. All the stories were supposedly about the same main character but a couple of them just didn't seem to fit, there was no real connection to events in the other stories and the main character acted different enough to seem like a new person. None of the stories grabbed my attention and I never cared what happened to the main character in her many relationships. It was just another book about a whiny female who can't get her life together and all the relationships (romantic or otherwise) that she screws up or actually manages to get right. Not at all my kind of thing.
You know how they say "never judge a book by its cover?" That. I picked this book up at a garage sale and was intrigued by the title and the girl on the cover, and how those things could ever conceal "the next Bridget Jones," as The New Yorker apparently claimed.
Luckily for me, The New Yorker was mistaken. This is not light and fluffy "chick lit," (a designation I have problems with anyway). This is a good novel about the relationships the narrator navigates in regards to men, from her father and brother to her sexual partners. It reveals her own struggle to grow into herself beyond those relationships. It's a serious plot lightened by humorous characters.
There is one chapter in the middle (and only one) that isn't from Jane's point of view but instead is about the downstairs neighbor. If that neighbor interacted with Jane or moved her story forward, it would be okay, but it seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the novel and was super jarring. I enjoyed reading the chapter, and if it were a stand-alone short story, I think it would be great. As it was, it was a strange intermission in the larger plot.
Luckily for me, The New Yorker was mistaken. This is not light and fluffy "chick lit," (a designation I have problems with anyway). This is a good novel about the relationships the narrator navigates in regards to men, from her father and brother to her sexual partners. It reveals her own struggle to grow into herself beyond those relationships. It's a serious plot lightened by humorous characters.
There is one chapter in the middle (and only one) that isn't from Jane's point of view but instead is about the downstairs neighbor. If that neighbor interacted with Jane or moved her story forward, it would be okay, but it seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the novel and was super jarring. I enjoyed reading the chapter, and if it were a stand-alone short story, I think it would be great. As it was, it was a strange intermission in the larger plot.