The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing (Thorndike Large Print General Series)

Rating:
Summary: Profound, moving and funny.
Review: This book is a pleasure to read and impossible to put down: I read it in one go on a long plane flight and then re-read it slowly over the following week. Melissa Bank writes about the most serious issues - growing-up, our relations with siblings and parents, death, falling in love, unexpected illness (to me the most breathtaking chapter is 'You Could Be Anyone') and the impossibility of choosing the 'right' partner - with warmth, knowledge and a sense of humour that will make you laugh out loud. I think I've read half this book to friends over the telephone. (And all of them have since bought and read it.) What more could you ask for?

Rating:
Summary: Only for those who can laugh at ourselves!
Review: Why is this the book people love to hate? I thought it was terrific. Naysayers claim it only appeals to young, single ditzy women, but I am a Harvard grad with 10 years of marriage under my belt and literally laughed out loud a number of times. My husband also enjoyed the passages I read aloud between cackles. If you can laugh at yourself, you will love Jane.

Rating:
Summary: Very amusing
Review: I found GGHF to be an amusing and crisply narrated group of stories. The characters were adroitly drawn, the humor fresh. What's even more amusing, however, are the mean-spirited customer reviews -- especially the recent reader who said that anyone who likes this book enjoys soap operas and is illiterate. The arrogance of such a remark is stunning; I can only imagine the kind of bitter, pretentious and hugely insecure person who would be driven to this kind of blanket judgement. A graduate of Yale, I thoroughly enjoyed this book -- I am certain I am not the only smart woman who liked it. Clearly there are some people who need a good long rest, and to stop looking at Amazon as a way to spew venom. Of course, it IS a compliment to the author that anyone could be psychotically fixated on "bringing the curve down." -- she must have struck a nerve. Simply hilarious.

Rating:
Summary: An obvious first attempt
Review: This book is an obvious first attempt from a writer of magazine columns. The characters lack any depth what-so-ever, which makes you happy it's a fast read. If you're looking for something you don't have to think about from a fairly sarcastic first person perspective, you'll love this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great summer reading for singles
Review: TGGH&F is a well written, funny, often insightful, and highly entertaining read. Jane is a refreshing and precocious character. While I couldn't relate to her that much, I still find her viewpoint unique and welcome. She was also very human as evident by her ability to acutely observe others while not being able to see her own life that objectively. I don't understand all of the criticism directed to TGGH&F. This book is very different from Bridget Jones. And even if you can't relate to the character, it is undeniably well written and isn't the whole point of reading to be liberated and enlightened? I think we are fortunate to have a lot of good contemporary fiction for singles out there right now (I also read In the Drink and Fried Calamari this summer). I highly recommend TGGH&F.

Rating:
Summary: Not What I Expected
Review: I had heard so many good things about this book and couldn't wait to read it. I read it and I was greatly dissapointed. Jane was very dull in all of the stories and towards the end I just lost interest in the book. I finished it and wasn't impressed!

Rating:
Summary: a fun read
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It was a light, fun read that can be easily devoured within a week (or less!). I enjoyed seeing the character mature from a young girl to an adult woman and her metamorphis that she experiences in knowing herself and her relations with the opposite sex. One question though, the one chapter regarding the other family that lived downstairs from her (re: two sisters and a brother with two children not to mention two differnet mothers of the children on the way), what did that have to do with the story? I would've liked that to be weaved in a bit more.

Rating:
Summary: Mistakes seldom become best sellers, but this one did, sadly
Review: Unfortunately, this book shows, mostly, that with enough money behind it, any book can make it to the best seller lists. (The author got a HUGE amount of money as an advance; now the publisher HAS to make it an "event", using lots of promotion and hype to get people to buy it, or lose all that cash!) Great writing it isn't; it's like something you'd read in a magazine while getting a pedicure. The "story" is disjointed (it's actually not a novel, as it claims to be; it's more a collection of so-so short stories put together as a sales device, since short story collections don't sell well) and often less-than compelling. I think a good idea of what to expect can come from the reviews here, in the following way: the readers giving the book lower scores seem to be the most literate and literarily discerning; the ones giving it five stars often enjoy soap operas and are looking for a "brainless" bit of diversion. You know which category you fall into; fair warning.

Rating:
Summary: Much Better Than Expected
Review: I was prepared to hate this book, and the writer, especially in light of her much publicized advance and all the hype for a first-time author. I was pleasantly suprised, though, by Jane's voice: she is vulnerable, and funny, but not too glib and urban. I enjoyed all the stories, with only the 2nd-person cancer story falling a bit flat. This is a collection of stories, NOT a novel in chapters, and to those who are confused by this, well, maybe you should try to read a bit more short fiction. I have not read Bridget Jones, but I do think that this book is not fluff, is thoughtful and quite literary in feel, and is much more than the summer beach read that some have dismissed it as.

Rating:
Summary: Mistakes seldom rocket to the top
Review: I quite enjoyed THE GIRLS GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING. The stories were compelling and often shocking -- I especially liked Archie -- her making him a sympathetic character is proof of her gifts. The naysayers in this quaint n' cruel forum seem hysterical in their breakneck attempts to downgrade a major success. One may not cotton to Jane, but GGHF is indeed well written (how could anyone debate this?). I found it humorous, original, and striking; not like Bridget Jones in the least. I laughed at loud at many places, not the least of which was the Mister Mother%$#$^ line and the Aunt Rita line ("Men think with their &*%^$s"). Those who frothily disagree with Ms. Bank's triumph can make it right when they have their own books on the NYTimes bestseller list. I am sure that will be happening at any moment.