Girls in the Grass

by Melanie Rae Thon

Winner of a 1997 Whiting Writers'Award One of Granta's "Best Young American Novelists"

Ranging across a uniquely American landscape, from rural Idaho and suburban Arizona to downtown Boston, the eleven stories in this eagerly awaited reissued collection explore with painful lyricism the harsh awakenings of eroticism and hypocrisy, love and violence, responsibility and guilt, adult inconstancy and the random cruelty of life and death.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Melanie Rae Thon is a Professor of English at the University of Utah.

Reviews

[Susie]

This is a book by a high school classmate. It is a series of short stories. To me they all seemed more negative than positive. Full of conflict and strange behavior. Not the most uplifting book, but it turns out Melanie has written several books and received several awards. Not sure I'll seek anymore of her books, but it was interesting to see the MT/Kalispell influence. Describing certain places that you would recognize like the Conrad Mansion, Conrad cemetery, Kila Flats, the 'twins' (perhaps Linda and Lori Kaps?) with out specifically naming them.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Montana native, M.R. Thon, provides interesting short stories in this collection which have a remembered connection to Montana, but take place in other parts of the USA. All the stories are well written and interesting, some overlap. I look forward to reading more of her work as I research the writers of Montana.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of short stories. Some of them failed to keep my attention; thus it took me nearly a year to read a 272-page book. I found it hard to identify with many of the characters. My favorite story was about a college professor and a young girl he is trying to seduce, "Small Crimes." I also liked the story "Iona Moon."

[Cardee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of fun, pretty solid. I wish I would have read this book back when it was newly out (97-98ish)because I know it made a big splash upon its release and feel that all of her novice followers have overused her plot lines.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great debut collection. A lot of these stories ended up as the novel, Iona Moon, my FAVORITE novel by Thon.

[Melanie Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid--vivid characters!

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memorable collection of short stories from a great author!

[Chas Bayfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK