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darrellreads2much 's review for:
The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
by Melissa Bank
In this lovely collection of short fiction, generally revolving around the same character, Melissa Bank paints what is initially a familiar portrait of a 20th century woman's disillusionment with society, over the course of many years. These are much later works, but there are shades of Fleabag, of Frances Ha, of Lady Bird in spades here. But Bank pulls off a flavor uniquely her own. These stories are in turns uproariously funny, heartwarming, and unbearably cold and tragic, nihilistic even.
What keeps them from becoming satirical, depressing, or otherwise just unbelievable (for a good example of these characteristics, see Edge of Seventeen with Hailee Steinfeld) is a certain level of humanity that is hard to describe, harder even to accomplish. Jane is at once all of us and none of us, simultaneously everyone you've ever had a drink with and none of them. Hardly ever is there dialogue that feels this real, virtually audible, and after a summer spent reading Dark Academia-adjacent works, it's like a breath of fresh air, a Negroni on a hot summer's evening.
A surprisingly, absolutely delightful read that will make you question the nature of humanity, and also undeniably affirm whatever scrap of faith you have left in it.
What keeps them from becoming satirical, depressing, or otherwise just unbelievable (for a good example of these characteristics, see Edge of Seventeen with Hailee Steinfeld) is a certain level of humanity that is hard to describe, harder even to accomplish. Jane is at once all of us and none of us, simultaneously everyone you've ever had a drink with and none of them. Hardly ever is there dialogue that feels this real, virtually audible, and after a summer spent reading Dark Academia-adjacent works, it's like a breath of fresh air, a Negroni on a hot summer's evening.
A surprisingly, absolutely delightful read that will make you question the nature of humanity, and also undeniably affirm whatever scrap of faith you have left in it.