Genre: Fiction
As a teenager, Jane Rosenal watches her brother and his girlfriend on the beach and wonders who makes the rules for love. As an older, wiser woman, she turns to a book called How to Meet and Marry Mr. Right to find the answers that have yet eluded her. In a series of smartly comic, affecting and insightful episodes, the Girls’ Guide follows the life lessons of Jane, American Everywoman, as she maneuvers her way through love, sex and relationships, and learns when to fish… and when to cut bait. Readers who have come to know Melissa Bank’s work through The New Yorker and NPR’s Selected Shorts knows that she is one of the freshest, wittiest, and most honest voices in women’s fiction to come along in years. — Thorndike Press
Photo courtesy of BN.com
I really didn’t know what to expect when I picked up this debut novel from Melissa Bank, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I loved everything about the Girls’ Guide—the writing, humor, and especially the main character, Jane. We meet her when she’s a teenager being introduced to her brother’s girlfriend while vacationing at her parents’ summer house. Then she’s a career woman falling into relationship after relationship. The jump in age came out of nowhere but I realized it’s the way we are meant to get to know this character: through different aspects and times in her life. And this book is a collection of short stories.
The Girls’ Guide reads like a screenplay throughout each connected story. If you’ve never had the opportunity to read a screenplay, I’ll explain what I mean. There’s a set up for the scene called action, then you have dialogue, and more action to set up the next scene. That’s how the Girls’ Guide leads you through its pages. There is no fluffy mindless drivel, only Bank’s method of expressing her story. It’s blunt and to the point. This is why I love it. I’m blunt and to the point. One of the quirks of her writing I enjoy most is how she writes the dialogue. After a character says something, she closes the sentence with “I said,” “she said” or “he said.” I experimented with that once myself in a little piece of fan fiction I wrote. Seeing it in Bank’s novel made me wonder if I wasn’t on to something. But enough about me. It totally works for the mood of the novel and doesn’t pull you out of the story.
My favorite shorts are “You Could Be Anyone” and “The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing.” The first is written in third person and is narrated by an unknown female. I think we’re meant to believe it is Jane, but I’m still scratching my head over that one. When you read it, it’s almost as if it becomes your story. No you may not have all the experiences listed in it, but as a woman, you could. And it makes you think. The latter short is just plain hilarious. It gets back to Jane’s narrative where she uses the help of a guide to find a man. The conversations she has with the writers of the book (whom she imagines in her apartment) just tickled me to death. It’s by far the funniest portion of the book and, believe it or not, useful.
There’s nothing I don’t like about the book. Not one thing. I was captivated from the first page and didn’t put the book down until I finished. You genuinely care about Jane and what happens to her. You want to know more about her story, why she makes the choices she does, and where those decisions lead her. I laughed quite a bit and even out loud. My laughter was warranted (the book is seriously witty) and I can guarantee there’s something for everyone. That is if you’re like me and read books for the pure enjoyment of reading. This isn’t a thinker or a difficult read to get through. Bank has been called a Chic Lit author, but I don’t believe that’s true. Yes, her main character is female and we see the world through her eyes, but does that make it a book only for women? No. Heck, I’d think if men wanted to learn something about women, they’d pick up this book and study it—memorize it even. We can be fickle creatures, but we only want what everyone wants: to be loved.
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