Beautiful Girls

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I loved Beautiful Girls! I loved these wonderfully rich stories that are brimming with life. With enormous charm and humor, Bauman writes about growing up, being beautiful, or un-beautiful, and the search for love and connection. The writing is exquisite and the characters are amazingly alive. These stories reminded me a little bit of Lorrie Moore's work. This is a book I want all my friends to read. A terrific debut!

Rating:
Summary: wonderful!
Review: These are beautiful stories told with great humor and heartfelt emotions. I fell in love with these characters and Beth Bauman's pitch-perfect writing. Can't wait for her next work!

Rating:
Summary: A Wonder-filled mediocrity
Review: This collection of stories is unastoundingly dull. The characters are shallow and underdeveloped, and the writing style is that of an MFA writing course. No music, no flair, just uninspiringly bland. Is this the worst collection of short stories I've ever read? No. It's better than "Lucky Girls" by that Nell F. girl & more on par with Jumpa's "Interpreter"- but saying that isn't that much of a compliment because Jumpa's stories are equally as dull in a different way. The first story in this collection deals with an estranged father/daughter relationship where nothing much happens at all. WOW. Then there is a story about a girl who goes skinny-dipping with a guy and their pubic hair floats in the water where the author then says "what sea creatures we've become". Sorry- not impressed. Although the fact that I can remember that says something (even if very little). Overall this book is non-offending, non-inspiring, and dull. I recommend Emily Carter's "Glory Goes and Gets some" for a fresh approach to language and characters.