Girls I Know

by Douglas Trevor

In the winter of 2001, in his favorite café in Boston, Walt Steadman witnesses a shooting that leaves four people dead. In the wake of this event, Walt is left to consider what—if anything—he has made of his life. GIRLS I KNOW is a novel about Boston and its many neighborhoods, about the challenges that arise when people try to help others, and about what it means for three very different people when their lives change, irrevocably.

Genres: Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2013

About the author

Douglas Trevor is the author of the novel "Girls I Know" (SixOneSeven Books, 2013), the short story collection "The Thin Tear in the Fabric of Space" (University of Iowa Press, 2005), and "The Poetics of Melancholy in Early Modern England" (Cambridge University Press, 2004). "Thin Tear" won the 2005 Iowa Short Fiction Award and was a finalist for the 2006 Hemingway Foundation/Pen Award for First Fiction. His short fiction has appeared in "The Paris Review," "Glimmer Train," "Epoch," "Black Warrior Review," "The New England Review," and about a dozen other literary magazines. He lives in Ann Arbor, where he is an Associate Professor of Renaissance Literature and Creative Writing in the English Department at the University of Michigan.

Reviews

[Hilary Satz]

Short and to the point

I was very impressed. 5 stars because DT gave us an incredible story with many layers in just over 300 (ereader) pages.
Walt, Mercedes, Ginger, (and her parents) Flora, Ramon, The Bittles, both grandmothers, and Walt's mother were real characters for me, I got to know them quickly and loved that he didn't take long to get me there. I really appreciated knowing that Walt and Mercedes were going to be ok.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-executed character driven story. I appreciated the risk the author took in putting the kind of event that is usually a climax in the middle of the book. The true climax is in the final pages.

Chapters 1 and 18 robbed the story of a fifth star. It comes across as if chapter one was a much latter addition. However much its presence is needed, the author never embodies Natalie, John, Flores, nor Mercedes. There is too much telling and an absence of showing. Even the protagonist is flat in chapter 1.

Trevor has the skill, because chapter 2 introduces Ginger. And it is her popsicle-cracking gum-chomping sugar feed, amongst other things, that but flesh on Ginger. The protagonist becomes real too in chapter 2.

Merecedes is revisted and post chapter 18 she becomes more than a name on a page.

This story is so near perfect a character driven story, embracing the common with some esoteric meanderings. This extra scoop balanced in the pages is just the kind of thing I admire and would give a five-star rating.

[Keith Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps I didn't love it as much as I enjoy Doug's short stories, but I still thought it was intriguing. I cared about the people involved. Below is a short review I did back in the day

https://annarborobserver.com/articles...

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was so interesting and unique. An intersection of very different lives.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure I liked this novel for the right reasons, but I liked it. Whenever the author let his protagonist Walt drive the story and played the observer's role to his experiences, I thought it was a genuinely touching portrait of an intellectual man shedding his intimate poetics about his own life by facing real, raw experience. I do not know of any other novels who treat this issue in such an upfront, earnest manner, yet I believe it's an issue that deserves some light.

Although, when Douglas Trevor tries to control his story, his Updikian interventions can cramp the story and get pretty jarring, especially when Walt is such a fascinating character through his actions alone. It's a lot worse in the first two chapters than it is in the rest of the novel, but it's still a chronic issue.

I'm not sure if GIRLS I KNOW totally missed the boat or hit a bull's eye, regarding what it was trying to say. I don't think it was a particularly convincing novel about trauma, which I believe was the original intent. But when reading a book, I do like to make my own idea and believe that a story takes its full meaning only when it's read. I liked GIRLS I KNOW for its treatment on ideas vs experience, I found the discourse on trauma to be secondary to it.

[Sharon Bially · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Girls I Know, fine, literary writing meets a delightful, page-turning read! Above all, the characters are vivid and unforgettable: protagonist Walt Steadman unwittingly bares his soul on every page - especially in a breathtaking scene of "depositing" (withdrawing?) sperm as a donor. Long after finishing the book, I had an urge to take him home and nurse him through the post-traumatic stress and deep loneliness that plague him. Harvard student Ginger Newton is as quirky and loveable as she is self-absorbed and neurotic. And most poignant of all is 11 year-old Mercedes Bittles, who struggles to hold onto the self-imposed silence shielding her from the pain of her parents' death and being bullyied at school by commanding herself to, "be the quiet's only friend."

I felt genuinely sad, after the last page, to have to move on from these characters' lives and the story that brought them together. Trevor has a gift for shedding light on the extraordinary even in the most mundane moments while conveying the sheer universality of longing and vulnerability as well as both the power and limitations of friendship and love.

[Jael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes it takes a tragedy to wake a person up. In Girls I Know by Douglas Trevor, 29-year-old Walt Steadman is used to routine. He gets up, puts his clothes on, takes the subway, buys a copy of the Boston Globe, and plants himself at a table in his favorite diner. He's more than just a customer of the Early Bird Cafe, he is a friend to the owners Natalie and John Bittles and a mentor to the waitress Flora. But a horrible act of violence will turn Walt's life upside down.

Read the rest of my review at: http://www.asiturnthepages.blogspot.c...

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my tests of a good book is if I find favorite lines that I'll revisit. These are sentences that jump out at me as original and memorable. This happened to me with Girls I Know. While it took me awhile to connect with Walt and Ginger, once I came to know them they were quite interesting. Teenaged Mercedes was realistic and complex. The story Arc was well done and the author went for an ending with some take away for the reader but not "Deus ex machina". I recommend this book.

[Tl Wagener · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has been cited as a summer read -- but it's not a summer read. It's pretty dense. A book I felt myself sort of "plowing through." I was never seduced or even intrigued, really, with the characters. I kept wondering why, or rather, why not. Perhaps I was expecting something else. Which is, of course, not the book's fault.

The title is vastly misleading. It can be justified in an ironic way, but I wonder what other titles were on the list of options.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every page of this book offered a view of life, theology, sociology that made me think. It's a compelling read with well thought out and interesting characters. I cannot say enough how well written it is. I didn't love the ending, it was a little too tidy, but does not stop me from giving the 5 stars. The writing alone deserves more stars.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting because it's set in Boston, and it's kind of interesting because of the dramatic event that changes the main character's life, but in the end -- I didn't care enough for the 2 main characters. Maybe that says something about me and not the book.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story. I got the chance to talk with the author... and this book definitely makes you reflect on personal and social relationships and how we fit them into our "bubble." I liked it a great deal

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was both wonderfully written, but also at turns oddly compelling, and a little slow.

[Roxani]

Bostonians will like this book more, I suspect. I also suspect that some curious combination of Harvard, trauma, loss, and memory is part of why I cherished Trevor's narrative.

[Penny (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really very good read. Excellent characters - Mercedes will have a hold on my heart for awhile.

[Leslie Wilkins]

On Nicola's Staff Picks for Summer 2013

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read in a long time. Loved the beginning, middle, and ending!

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will not hesitate to recommend it. Well-developed, sympathetic characters, an engaging story line, and complex true emotions! What's not to love?!

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

read

[Lynne Reeves Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful writing, relatable characters and rich in theme and premise, Girls I Know is a pitch perfect read. I didn't want it to end. Highly recommend!

[Laura Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well written

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the descriptions of Boston, and the characters and the way the Walt and Mercedes move towards a path post-trauma.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's deeply tragic with complex characters that promote self-reflection. Riveting and hopeful...