A review by jessferg
Blueprints for Building Better Girls: Fiction by Elissa Schappell

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.