\nThese days it seems that anything written by a woman gets lumped into the \u201cchick lit\u201d bin. However, I think The Girls\u2019 Guide\u2026 truly qualifies for that label and it reminds me that I\u2019m really not a girly girl. I\u2019ve never seen a single episode of Sex in the City either.\n<\/p>\n
\nI like the main character, Jane. She is self-deprecating and has a wacky sense of humor. I found the structure of the book interesting. It\u2019s a series of short stories, most of them told in the first person by Jane. (There\u2019s one story in the middle, \u201cThe Best Possible Light\u201d which isn\u2019t and I never figured out how it fit into the rest of the book.) If this book were a TV series, each story would be like a single season; each with its own arc which contributes to the pattern of the larger arc of the novel. Of the stories (relationships), I liked \u201cMy Old Man\u201d and \u201cThe Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine\u201d best because Jane\u2019s dialog with Archie is the most endearing and he is the most filled in of the boyfriend characters. I liked \u201cYou Could Be Anyone\u201d least because it\u2019s told in an awkward second person and tense. The boyfriend is too perfect while at the same time being completely wrong. He doesn\u2019t seem like a real person. None of the boyfriends do\u2026except Archie. They are collections of mannerisms and quirks. They are Ken dolls, make-believe men who are just a reflection of how women think men act and think.\n<\/p>\n
\nOverall the book was an easy read. There were some clever lines that pulled me up and made me think, \u201cThat was a clever line.\u201d The style didn\u2019t distract from the narrative except in two cases: the story told in the second person and dialogs. In almost every dialog the author feels the need to write \u201che said\u2026she said\u2026he said\u2026she said\u201d after every line. Only two people are talking. The lines are typically short. It\u2019s not like the reader is going to lose track of who\u2019s saying what. They shouldn\u2019t. The voices of each character and the information they are imparting should be enough to help us keep track. This was such a tedious habit that it distracted me for the first third of the book.\n<\/p>\n
\nNot recommended\u2026unless you\u2019re a 20-something single woman looking for a distraction on a 3-hour plane flight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These days it seems that anything written by a woman gets lumped into the \u201cchick lit\u201d bin. However, I think The Girls\u2019 Guide\u2026 truly qualifies for that label and it reminds me that I\u2019m really not a girly girl. I\u2019ve never seen a single episode of Sex in the City either. I like the main character, Jane. She is self-deprecating and has a wacky sense of humor. I found the<\/p>\n