What She Saw... : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: You've all met one of them....
Review: This funny and coming of age book presented a girl, Phoebe Fine, who somehow managed to find one of every kind of guy there is out there. Her classical background led to her having thousands of questions about what 'normal' life was like. In her search, she came across all kinds of men, each one slightly different than the one before yet still not filling her empty spaces. Every woman out there has known at least one of the guys that Pheobe becomes involved with. Whether it be the captain of the high school lacross team or the man on the subway who reads the paper everyday, there is some level of connection. The humor and somewhat cynical outlook on her life is what makes the book something that you can relate to.

Rating:
Summary: brilliant, underrated
Review: This is a wonderful, smart book, but that is only the half of it. To call the writing stylish is hardly adequate. Some passages I laughed out loud, others I read again and again, some I wanted to read aloud like a poem. But the book also seems intellectually engaged and smart about feminism, an astute commentary on the fun and the limitations of postmodern feminist thinking, "do-me" feminism I think a men's magazine called it. Charming and memorable.

Rating:
Summary: Boring!!!!
Review: This is probably the most boring book I have ever read . I could however relate with some amusement the secret thoughts of her adolesccent Psyche. I don't recommend.

Rating:
Summary: A slight, vaguely entertainng read.
Review: This marginally entertaining "novel" is a shining example of big publishing bandwagon-jumping. (Its antecedents are Sex and the City, Bridget Jones' Diary and The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing.) It is peppered with thinly drawn characters with obvious names like Holly Flake and Spitty Clark and lazy, self-satisfied lines like "She couldn't imagine a time in life she'd ever aspired to going anywhere--except maybe back to sleep." Rosenfeld does a pretty good job bringing to life Phoebe Fine's many neuroses, but to what end? Any tension she creates is almost immediately dismissed, as in the case of Spitty Clark, an aging frat guy who may or may not have committed rape. How does Phoebe Fine deal with this knowledge? She offers herself to him sexually after a miserable Greek formal but is spared consummation when Spitty vomits during their make out session. Two pages later it's on to another ill-fated relationship, again defined by Phoebe Fine's predictable insecurities her current male foil's supposedly humorous one-dimensionality. It all goes on far too long and none of it is particularly inspired. I was excited by the Pablo Miles section when I read it recently in The New Yorker, but whatever charm that piece may have had on its own is not enough to sustain a novel. What She Saw reads less like a finely constructed piece of literature and more like an ambitious grad school manuscript. Look for the movie sometime next summer.

Rating:
Summary: Made me smile
Review: This story made me laugh and cry, both inspired and frustrated me. Whether we'd like to admit it or not, I think that almost every woman and girl can relate to a certain aspect of the heartbreakingly funny lead character, Pheobe Fine. While I did begin to tire of the book's concept toward the end, and was not particularly impressed with it's ending, I ultimately thought it was a refreshing and beautifully written read, and one that I would definitely recommend to my girlfriends.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read!!!
Review: This was such an entertaining book. The narratives on the various crushes and loves in the character's life were incredibly real. She goes through so many intimate feelings about men, career, and body image that were described so well. This is a great book for women to read. It made me feel like many of my own past experiences and feelings weren't so weird. I'm definetly sharing this one with my sister.

Rating:
Summary: What we see in Lucinda Rosenfeld ...
Review: Though extremely refreshing and witty during the first few vignettes, Rosenfeld's tiring dissertation in her repertoire of ex boyfriends and crushes become rather dreary and flat towards the end. I began to dislike the main character more and more as I witnessed her self-loathing and over self-analysis throughout the pages. At one point you just need her to start loving herself and get over it, so to speak. Perhaps its not about what she saw in Spitty Clark "The Gentle Rapist" or Humphrey Fung or Jack Geezo, but rather what she doesn't want to see in herself. Rosenfeld however does exhibit great moments in her prose when she is able to capture the awkwardness and timidnes of sexual intimacy, especially during the formidable teenage years. She also has a great hand at characterization. Nonetheless, a fair read (especially for post-break up times) even if one doesn't read all the way through.

Rating:
Summary: We've all been there
Review: Too true to life, this one. I'm sure that a lot of us will read it and wish we'd thought to write it first. It will make you laugh and cry ... so, so much fun.

Rating:
Summary: Ahh . . . the memories!
Review: What She Saw ... is a fun read that is light and humorous. Although some of the stories can go on a little too long, the majority of the book is filled with quirky anecdotes that all females can relate to starting with the fifth grade "coolkid" and working towards adulthood. Following the narrator as she tries to find meaning behind her unsuccessful love affairs reminds us of the neroses shared by women everywhere!

Rating:
Summary: stunning debut
Review: What surprised me most about What She Saw was the level of sophistication in the writing, given that this book is a first novel. Subject-wise, Rosenfeld ventures into territory often sought out by first authors, in that she writes what appears to be a highly autobiographical work. But style-wise, she is eons ahead of the competition. There is an exquisite tension in the book between the unknowing of the protagonist, who stumbles blindly along, and the terribly knowing tone of the third-person narrator who writes of Phoebe's exploits. This is an accessible but ultimately unusually sophisticated book; it reads as if an older and wiser sister was relating all of the intimate details about her younger and more foolish sibling - the narrator speaks with that degree of knowledge, and that degree of care, and that degree of critical perspective. What's most unusual about the work is the voice of the narrator: While Phoebe is spinning out of control, the narrator relates her foibles with total control, and while Phoebe indulges in vain delusions about herself, the narrator skewers her for having them by relating these delusions in a lightly scathing tone. I felt as though I was reading about the secret emotional history of a close friend; I almost felt as though I was reading about myself. Often I had the sensation of reading things in this novel that I have felt or thought, but never seen in print before. It's hard to see how a first-time novelist was able to pull off such a feat. But we are lucky that Rosenfeld was able to, because the result is a powerful contribution to modern literature. I am what you'd call thirty-something, and consider this the first book that truly captures what it's like to be female and of my generation. I look forward to reading more by Rosenfeld in the future.