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Jun 21, 2011

Kate rated it:

This book sucked some major balls.

5 comments like (23 people liked it)

Jun 29, 2007

Blanca rated it:

It is a shame that Bank's prose is categorized as chick lit, because there is real weight and substance in her writing style. Perhaps she gets lumped into that fluffy genre because of her age and her contemporaries are cranking out pop fiction instead of literary fiction.

Her characters proceed with humor, but it is not cheeky or plucky. If her characters were brought to life on tv, it would be a drama, not a comedy.

Like my favorite short story collection of all time, Th More...

1 comment like (13 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2011

Kate rated it:

I hate the term "chick lit," but I guess that's what this book falls under. It's a collection of short stories, mainly centering around a woman named Jane.

My favorite story is the last one, from which the title of the book comes. In this story, Jane is reading one of those hideous rules-of-dating books, but the rules actually work for a little while.

One of my favorite things about this story in particular is the humor. Jane pictures two girls she went to high More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2008

Bets rated it:

Ok... I read this book a while ago. I saw it on our bookshelf and realized I had completely forgotten what it was about. I decided to re-read it... and guess what? I cannot remember what it is about. I don't think I can go for a third time. I have to say that the cover and title seduced me. Apparently, the story didn't.

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 19, 2008

Staci rated it:

This book drove me crazy. So many of my friends loved it and insisted I read it. I hated it. I thought I was missing something, so I read it again. Still hated it. Ugh.

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 08, 2008

Martha rated it:

This book was supposed to be what started the "chick lit" genre...and I don't get it. I thought it bordered on depressing. Now in all fairness, I read it between Jen Lancaster books so....but really, it had a bleak, Russian winter feel to it. Jane's relationship with Archie, the alcoholic older man, was just so sad that I wanted to beat her for even entertaining the notion of such a self-indulgent ass in her life. There was nothing fun or uplifting or even redeeming about this stor More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 29, 2008

Karen rated it:

Based on the title, I thought that this novel would have some feminist themes, encouraging women to do things that normally men do, but instead this was a book about a series of romantic affairs, none of which were particularly engaging, memorable or unique.

After realizing that the book was about relationships, at a minimum, I had hoped Ms. Bank would shed some new light on the woman's struggle to find a male partner in modern America...Instead, I found her writing to be caddy and More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2008

MJ rated it:

This is a series of short stories about Jane. (Well one story is about her neighbors.) We first meet her at 14 during summer vacation when her older brother brings home a girl for the weekend. From there we see her grow as she searches for her place in the world and looking for love. As we read her story we relate to her frustration at work, her choices in men and her grief when her father is dies. Jane is witty and at times a bit dark. My favorite story is when she meets a man at a friends More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2008

Clara rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 14, 2009

Miriam rated it:

One of my roommate's boyfriends told me that I needed to learn something about feminine mystique. He was probably right because I have never understood many things about women...like why some take so long in the bathroom, and why every time a driver is repeatedly running into the garage wall while backing out, it turns out to be a woman (why?). Sometimes I read books such as this in an effort to find feminine mystique.

Ths book is about a woman and the men she dates. The woman is o More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Aug 24, 2011

Kim rated it:

“It occurred to me that the quiet in the suburbs had nothing to do with peace.”

I believe it is time for another identity crisis. It has been a few years. My neurosis is making farm animals out of dust clusters in this particular corner and screaming to be taken for a walk. It’s time to lube up and face the fact that I might just be becoming one of those women that I want to kick in the shins with my doc martens and spit and spew snarky, inappropriate, gen x’er, manifesto-esque, Jenn More...

5 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2009

carey rated it:

0 stars. if i wanted to spend hours hearing another female continually question her own abilities and judge herself mediocre, I could just hang out with myself.

Found in Last Word trash. A good place

Also someone edited in an extra, unrelated chapter

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2011

Very rated it:

My favorite story is “Advanced Beginners.” I could read a whole novel about Jane at 14. Melissa Bank really has a flair for one-liners. I love when her brother asks if she read the Norwegian philosophy book he gave her, and she says, “I spent about a month reading it one afternoon.” I love all the little details in her stories because she doesn’t beat you over the head with them. They’re sparse and significant. You don’t have to skip over long descriptions of trees and wallpaper and shit. It’s a More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 21, 2008

Wendi rated it:

This is one of those books that you fall in love with immediately. From sentence one to the very last, it's a book that sticks with you.

It's made up of short stories, snapshots of main character's life. Even though the stories were quick I felt like I got this wonderful portrait of the character Jane.

We watch her grow up and coming into herself. She reminds me of a combination of my girl friends - from junior high right on up to my current gal pals - including my female More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2007

Bridget rated it:

I just finished this book and I've got to tell you I was utterly disappointed. I remember this book was out around the time that Bridget Jones' Diary was out and they were comparing the two as "great novels for single females". While Bridget Jones did the trick, this book did not satisfy me what-so-ever. I didn't really feel any connection or feel like I bonded with the main character Jane. I can't imagine dating someone 28 years older than me who also is an alcoholic no matter wha More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 02, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

I found this somewhat disappointing. Not that it was a bad book - but it really meandered and it wasn't as enthralling as I had hoped. It had moments but over all not what I thought I was getting into.

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2009

Cheryl rated it:

I kept this book stashed in the back seat of the car for the past six months or so and would read it in short increments, waiting for my husband to get out of work, etc. This worked out perfectly, I think, because the book is broken into short segments, many of them less than a page long.

The unconventional set-up (a series of stories, most--but not all--including the character Jane at various times of her life), didn't bother me, though I know a lot of people have complained about th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 06, 2009

Jeanie rated it:

A quick, light, Summer read. Quirky & fun, but nothing different then other books of this nature. Would rather read & recommend Bridget Jones then this book...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 08, 2009

Rachael rated it:

I had heard this book was a novel satirizing novels about women fixated on catching a man and the Finding and Keeping Mr. Right type self-help books. The last chapter came the closest to fitting this description and even that was predictable and poorly done. Perhaps I had wrong information and am judging this book too harshly because it wasn't what I was expecting when it was never intended to be that. All I know is that it was a struggle for me to finish this.

Overall, this read more More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2009

bookczuk rated it:

Somehow I missed all the hype about it when it came out, but was curious to see what it was all about. Interesting that it is a collection of short stories/novellas rather than a true novel. The first story "Advanced Beginners" pulled me in because it features a 14 year old Jane and I am surrounded by 14 year olds these days. Bits and pieces of the other stories appealed-there are moments of humor and poignancy, as Jane struggles with everyday issues, not unreal problems. I was reminde More...

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Jan 03, 2009

Amy rated it:

The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing is a compilation of short stories, mostly revolving around the character Jane Rosenal, a sarcastic yet unquestionably endearing New Yorker whose growth we see marked by different events and stages of her life. Each chapter/story leaves Jane with ideas and revelations to ponder about herself, life, relationships, and love, and how all of these things relate to each other. Bank uses the cute analogy of "hunting and fishing" to relate to the proces More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 07, 2011

Bethany rated it:

When I first met my husband and we were talking about books and happy to realize that we were both avid readers I told him if he wanted to know who I really am and what I'm all about that he should listen to Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine album and read The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing. This is probably the best coming of age book I have ever read. It is sharply written, and in no way suffers from being over-wrought as so many coming of age books are. The protagonist is Jayne, a teen More...

0 comments like

Jul 24, 2011

Tiffeny rated it:

I kind of don't get this book, and I'm not sure how to rate it. Some of it I liked, some I didn't. The biggest thing I don't get is that I thought it was a novel. Like all the way through about the same character. And it is - it's her coming of age story, from the time she was 14 (my favorite part of the book), up until probably her 30's. And it's broken up into sections of her life and told by her. But then, just kind of randomly, there are two sections that aren't told by her and aren't More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 21, 2011

Harmonybites rated it:

The book's blurbs compare it to Bridget Jones' Diary, which was published the same year, and Girl's Guide is supposedly one of the progenitors of chicklit, but I don't see the resemblance to Bridget Jones, at all, other than it's from the point of view of a contemporary urban female dealing with love and career--it's no where near as fun, and is at no point laugh-out-loud funny as that other book.

It's not really a novel, but rather seven linked short stories. They're not even consisten More...

0 comments like

Jul 09, 2011

Jessica rated it:

I couldn't believe the disconnect between the reviews of this book and its content. The New Yorker actually compares it to Bridget Jones, because, you know, all books written by women with a female protagonist in her 20s are the same. I thought this read like serious literary fiction. If a guy had written this book, he'd be called the next Salinger. If an older woman had written this book her name would be Abigail Thomas and it would be a memoir titled Safekeeping .

To be fai More...

0 comments like

Jun 06, 2011

Sarah rated it:

The blurb on the back of the book was terrible. This book is not dazzling or wickedly insightful, and it does not "capture in perfect pitch what it's like to be a young woman coming of age in America today" which probably isn't even possible anyway. But, if we take away all these grand ambitions, it was a pretty fun little book. Bank has a really good sense of humour and it shows through repeatedly. For instance, after she gets fired, her boyfriend suggests that he come and work at his More...

0 comments like

May 29, 2011

Frunchezzcuh rated it:

The cover and the title are seducing.

<spoiler>The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing was actually disappointing. At first, yeah, it was okay. But as I flipped through the pages, it became confusing. How the hell this book happened to be a guide anyway?

This book drove me crazy. And I think the main character, Jane, hardly grew up at all. She's so whiny, still somewhat act like the 14 yr old we met at the first chapter and so cannot be contented of the way she is? I More...

0 comments like

Apr 22, 2011

Our Intrepid Heroine rated it:

This is another book I found for $.89 at the Goodwill. I didn't have any particular burning desire to read it. Actually, I didn't even know what it was about. However, I flipped it open and saw an Elizabeth Bishop poem on the first page, so I decided I'd splurge the dollar.

The first story was great. I'm biased, though, because I was in the first story. Julia, the protagonist's brother's older girlfriend, knocked me upside the head because she is awkward and literary and uses words too More...

0 comments like

Mar 10, 2011

Motorcycle rated it:

I liked the first 3/4 of the book. I thought however that the first quarter promised more than the next two quarters delivered. The last quarter was just irritating. The message of that last quarter was good, but the execution bored and bothered me. I really disliked all the advice from Bonnie and Faith in the guide. They were obviously meant to be horrible, but they were. And the thing that irritated me so much I think was that I have met a lot of girls who behave like that and are very s More...

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Feb 25, 2011

Kathleen rated it:

I was really excited when I started reading this book. Jane was a great character at 14 and the beginning with her brother seemed to hold a lot of promise. This could've been 3 different books or at least short stories--didn't understand why the grandmother--an interesting character, got pushed aside for the aunt--except that it helps establish Jane being in NYC. The whole Archie story was bizarre and then it occurs to me that I've seen the movie on Lifetime with Alec Baldwin! That was too we More...

0 comments like