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A review by shan1212
Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny
2.0
I had a really (not good) visceral reaction to reading this book. The other reviews are right. It's not even that making nearly every story about a woman cheating on her husband was repetitive but that those women were so shallow.
I enjoyed Standard Deviation (which, of course, had a couple that had started as an affair, but I assumed since that was one part of one novel, it wasn't the only thing this writer would write about). And I enjoy Heiny's writing style and wit. I chuckled some throughout reading this. But what I couldn't shake was the wish that there was anything soulful in there.
At one point the author writes, "apparently Maya was such a rigid, narrow person that she could have sympathy for someone only if she had endured an almost identical misfortune." Maybe this describes me and my inability to have sympathy for these characters, but mainly I think it gets to the heart of the lack of depth and empathy in these characters.
I enjoy a good character study involving the small and big moments of our lives -- getting along with in-laws, having babies, taking care of aging parents, and yes, even the occasional infidelity. I think Elizabeth Strout and Emma Straub do this well. But as I read this collection I was sunk into a sort of despair . . . the world is burning and the cosmos is immeasurable and life is short and beautiful . . . and apparently all it involves is shameless cheating on your husband and judging the woman next door for volunteering too much (the dowdy volunteering neighbor appeared in two stories, clearly as a foil to our protagonists, only I would have rather read about the neighbors) .
I enjoyed Standard Deviation (which, of course, had a couple that had started as an affair, but I assumed since that was one part of one novel, it wasn't the only thing this writer would write about). And I enjoy Heiny's writing style and wit. I chuckled some throughout reading this. But what I couldn't shake was the wish that there was anything soulful in there.
At one point the author writes, "apparently Maya was such a rigid, narrow person that she could have sympathy for someone only if she had endured an almost identical misfortune." Maybe this describes me and my inability to have sympathy for these characters, but mainly I think it gets to the heart of the lack of depth and empathy in these characters.
I enjoy a good character study involving the small and big moments of our lives -- getting along with in-laws, having babies, taking care of aging parents, and yes, even the occasional infidelity. I think Elizabeth Strout and Emma Straub do this well. But as I read this collection I was sunk into a sort of despair . . . the world is burning and the cosmos is immeasurable and life is short and beautiful . . . and apparently all it involves is shameless cheating on your husband and judging the woman next door for volunteering too much (the dowdy volunteering neighbor appeared in two stories, clearly as a foil to our protagonists, only I would have rather read about the neighbors) .