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    <name><![CDATA[Alika]]></name>
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  <id type="integer">183332</id>
  <isbn>0374529787</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780374529789</isbn13>
  <ratings_count type="integer">146</ratings_count>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">25</text_reviews_count>
  <title>My Sister's Hand in Mine: The Collected Works of Jane Bowles</title>
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  <id type="integer">100439</id>
  <name>Jane Bowles</name>
  <ratings_count type="integer">339</ratings_count>
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    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>1</votes>
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  <read_at>Wed Jun 17 19:15:14 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Thu May 07 12:46:41 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jun 17 19:15:14 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I was hoping to give this collection more stars, but I have to be honest in that I just &quot;liked it,&quot; not &quot;really liked it.&quot; I appreciate Jane Bowles taking risks and going off the beaten path with her wacky characters, but in the end, I wasn't sure what I had gained. To be fair, I only read the novel &quot;Two Serious Ladies&quot; and the story &quot;Camp Cataract&quot; from this collection. Both are similar in style (very dialog-heavy with little internal reflections) and subject matter (peculiar women who don't particularly like men and attach themselves to other women/strangers in odd ways). With the novel, it occurred to me that perhaps Bowles decided to write a book where the characters say and do the opposite of what &quot;normal&quot; or conventional women of that time would do. That is, approach and befriend many strangers who possess traits usually seen as undesirable (a stout man living with his parents, a prostitute, a deadbeat guy with no job or passion, a man who ignores her completely). There are a lot of cases when the characters say &quot;yes&quot; when you expect them to say &quot;no way in hell!&quot; which I find interesting, but not enough to carry a novel. I like reading fiction that is on the strange side, but after awhile, I got a little tired of these unsympathetic characters and in the case of the novel, I didn't see much of a story arc. The short story felt a bit more well-rounded and complete to me and definitely had an ending. Perhaps, over time, this book will grow on me and I'll go back and read the rest of her work. ]]></body>
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