Nobody's Girl

by Antonya Nelson

It's been nineteen months since thirty-year-old Birdy Stone came to Pinetop. Birdy spends her days trying to teach her students to appreciate the beauty of literature and her nights getting high with Jesus, her gay colleague and confidant. Birdy regards Pinetop as merely an escapade. But the desultory quality of her life is interrupted when a middle-aged widow asks Birdy to edit her rambling memoir. Combining superb storytelling with good humor, Antonya Nelson follows Birdy as she helps Mrs. Anthony reconstruct the history surrounding the bizarre and mysterious deaths of Mrs. Anthony's husband and daughter years earlier. As Birdy is drawn deeper into her subject's story, she begins a love affair with Mrs. Anthony's surviving son -- a young man who just happens to be one of Birdy's students. With its sensuous and lovingly rendered Southwestern setting, Nobody's Girl is a startling novel that showcases the striking talents of an emminently gifted writer.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Antonya Nelson is the author of nine books of fiction, including Nothing Right and the novels Talking in Bed, Nobody’s Girl, and Living to Tell. Nelson’s work has appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Harper’s, Redbook, and many other magazines, as well as in anthologies such as Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and The Best American Short Stories. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Grant, the Rea Award for the Short Story, and, recently, the United States Artists Simon Fellowship. She is married to the writer Robert Boswell and lives in New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas, where she holds the Cullen Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Houston.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I see most folks complained about Birdie, the main character ("don't like her"), I was mesmerized by Nelson's deceptively simple writing.
30-year old Birdie leaves Chicago to teach in a small New Mexico town. Her only friend is the gay art teacher, Jesus; they spend their lunch hours making fun of their coworkers and their nights smoking pot together.
Birdie's hired by a student's mother. The mom wants Birdie to help edit her memoir, entitled Somebody's Girl. Editing this cliche-ridden mess is near impossible, but Birdie's sucked in by the story itself: the daughter and the husband both die mysteriously, the husband within a week of the daughter. Birdie's intrigued: is there something else more sinister going on?
Birdie's plenty flawed, but she's incredibly real. And what I enjoyed most in this novel is its lack of tidy endings. Just like when you have to turn off the TV before the DVD's done, only to find out it's been returned, so you never get to discover the ending, Nelson feels no compunction to sort out all the character's lives.
I read Nobody's Girl after reading her latest, Bound. Bound has more resolution; I wonder if this is in response to complaints that Nobody's Girl felt unfinished.
While I thoroughly enjoyed both, Nobody's Girl resonated a little more, maybe a little more authentic? I don't understand why Nelson's not more enjoyed--I think she's tremendously talented.

[Suzanne Macartney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A favorite. Funny, sharp, observant. Woman returns to NM to be a high school teacher, but she's an outsider, befriended only by another outsider, a gay male teacher.

First Sentence:
"Miz Stone," the pregnant girl said in the way Birdy hated: here at Pinetop High, teachers came in either Missus or Miss"

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vintage Nelson--the style is so redolent of short story writing: each "story" ending with a fair amount of ambiguity, then the author wanders back to the structure of the novel leaving (sometimes very frustrating) loose ends.

The main character, Birdy, is funny and engaging at first as she observes the culture of the small, struggling town in New Mexico. Yet as the novel unfolds, we see that she has avoided the task of grieving for her mother, and is currently avoiding the task of growing up. She uses irony, sarcasm (shoplifting); achingly poignant observations to separate herself from the community of Pinetop.

At the end, though, she may be rejoining herself as she flees to the home of a former student and new mom late in the evening of Thanksgiving Day. Nelson does a fabulous job of not bludgeoning us with any of these themes, but--as in all her writing--gently leaving all kinds of open spaces and and an understanding that things never come back together neatly.

[Rebekah Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful writing that touches on many difficult life lessons & challenges. The love affair of a teacher with a student is obviously an obstacle that many will find a turn off, but I personally think the book is about a lot more than just that. It also doesn't exactly glamorize the affair or make it seem like something that SHOULD be done. I will confess that I wish there had had a bit more resolution to the story but even so I enjoyed the book immensely.

[Dawn Zingone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suspenseful, character driven drama that is also funny at times. Interesting bird's-eye view of relationships and the push-pull dynamics underneath them. Also, a riveting mystery that keeps you in suspense until the last few pages. I'd definitely recommend it

[Robert Natale · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was a fan of Ms. Nelson-----until this one. Didn't care for----or like----any of the characters. The plot read like a bad version of Matlock. I'll give it 1 1/2 stars because I still care for her insights

[Marwa Abbas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

My friend Suzanne recommended this book. I just started it, but it's a promising beginning. Who can resist this line, from the very first page:

"Outside the snow fell. Not the snow of November or December, which portended Christmas, nor the snow of January or February, which meant skiing, but the snow of March, that defeated, dreary, superfluous month no one could love."

Update:

A big disappointment. After a strong start, I got pretty sick of the shallow lead character and nothing much happens in the story to make it worth staying until the end. A good editor could have improved this greatly IMHO - the author had a great set up, some good ideas and some fine turns of phrase, but ultimately the end result just wasn't moving or much fun.

[K.K. Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Antonya Nelson is an all time favorite writer of mine.

She knows how to reveal a character in a way that is uncomfortable and relentless and real. You are able to identify with her characters because you are exposed to the good and the bad. Nelson takes the risk of revealing something about a character that you might not like with no intention of redeeming that character later, because that trait is simply a part of that character. Period.

I love her approach, and that is no different for this book. She takes the controversial subject of a teacher/student affair - one that runs of the risk of being bourgeoisie or soap opera-ish - and pulls it off in an almost mundane and unfantastical way.

It's a great read. She's a great author.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this novel held some treasures, I liked Nelson's short stories better. Her short stories are like walking through Manhattan, there are treasures in every nook, while this novel, in contrast, felt like driving through the Phoenix suburbs; you have to drive a while before reaching a place worthwhile. All that said, maybe I'm being too harsh. I liked the protagonist and the language enough to follow her to the end of her story, which is much, much more than I can say for the last couple novels I picked up, then put down.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of this book is interesting. Reading about someone reading someone else's work. But it is a bit rambling and I just got to the uncomfortable part. So far, I'm not a huge fan.

The book continued to ramble and the author seemed to forget about the plot (the plot, at least, according to the book jacket). I realize there was more to the book and it was more about the main character herself, but if that was the case, it would have been nice to see any character development. She also wasn't very likeable.

[Alexis · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cannot believe this is the same Antonya Nelson. Everything about this novel was awful. Even the name of the main character was pathetically contrived. As Deeds said: she should stick with writing short stories.

[Sally Kenney · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK n= 2 1/2 for Antonya Nelson but she seems to favor loser drifting women unmoored from Mom in problematic relationship with men. I don't find her characters all that likeable, although she writes the occasional sentence that takes your breath away. OK, back to the short stories.

[Notcathy J · Rating 2 out of 5]

"crude and overexplanatory"

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your standard chic-lit, but better done than most.

[Deidre · Rating 1 out of 5]

She simply cannot write a novel. How can such a great short story write be so bad at writing a novel! I resented giving her a star for this one.

[Alexia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh...I only finished it due to the "mystery" aspect of it. The main character was horribly unlikable.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange story about an English teacher from Chicago teaching in a small town called Pine Top, NM. Sad woman, but figures out how to live in spite of her unhappiness.

[Elizabeth]

Very well written but not exactly the feel good novel of the year.

[Juli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 2 out of 5]

All the reviews touted Nelson as such a humorous writer, but I didn’t find the book particularly funny, nor did I find Birdy that likable.

I finished it, but only half-heartedly. Meh.

[Donna]

This was the first book I read by Nelson and it made me eager to read more.