Helpful Score: 2
Hated it. Horrid book from the beginning. I felt as though the author was trying too hard to show off what she learned in her college writing classes. "Look at me, I can use big words! I'm a college graduate who majored in English or creative writing. My vocabulary is bigger than yours." How pretentious can you be?
Helpful Score: 1
Ah! Love in the 90's. An insightful romp that's quick to read and lots of fun. You'll enjoy the characters and their adventures, especially the heroine Claudia Steiner. A super book to improve any mood.
Helpful Score: 1
Read this several times over the years. A funny, twisted little novel, SMART chick-lit
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book! A funny (sometimes actual laugh out loud moments), quick, easy, and light hearted read. Think it helped that I'm in the age range of the main character, and thus was able to relate to much of what she goes through, and thinks. The narrative is witty, sarcastic, and fiery. Something I would recommend to the girlfriends as a fun read.
perfect condition/hardcover!
Awesome, quick read!
Awesome, quick read!
Loved it. I really like the author's style, very humorous.
The cynic's anti-heroine. Pretty quick read but a little depressing. Despite that, I enjoyed the heroine's little antics with her employer and the slight romance. The endings a little unsatisfying but I finished it and that means a lot.
There's always room in my life for a deeply flawed main character. Are you probably (possibly?) a talented writer who is ghost-writing a useless semi-autobiographic genre novel for someone else? Come sit here by me. Are you responding to your boss's breakdown by becoming less and less effective until she has no choice but to let you go? Tell me. Sleeping with a married man? Honey. Treating yourself to dinner out even though you only have $34 in your bank account? Mmmm hmmm. Drinking a little or maybe a lot too much? I want to hear your whole story; start at the beginning.
Christensen perfectly captured that careful boozy balance of white-knuckling it and grim denial that is the first ten years after school. This book brought back memories for me (though Claudia Steiner is both more talented and tougher than I was at her age). Specifically, it made me think of my own bug-infested first apartment, which was nasty but at the same time, something I managed to perpetuate with my own tiny paychecks. I adored Claudia, with all her mistakes, self-sabotage, bad clothes, and denial. I really wanted her to find her way, as unlikely as that seemed for most of the book.
At first I was worried that this book was going to resolve into a simple genre novel, but after the first few chapters, the plot began to get more nuanced. Other characters filled out Claudia's story and gave her depth, and even during flashbacks I felt like the pace was quickening. By the end, I was staying up late because I couldn't wait to see which way Claudia would break. I wasn't disappointed.
Christensen perfectly captured that careful boozy balance of white-knuckling it and grim denial that is the first ten years after school. This book brought back memories for me (though Claudia Steiner is both more talented and tougher than I was at her age). Specifically, it made me think of my own bug-infested first apartment, which was nasty but at the same time, something I managed to perpetuate with my own tiny paychecks. I adored Claudia, with all her mistakes, self-sabotage, bad clothes, and denial. I really wanted her to find her way, as unlikely as that seemed for most of the book.
At first I was worried that this book was going to resolve into a simple genre novel, but after the first few chapters, the plot began to get more nuanced. Other characters filled out Claudia's story and gave her depth, and even during flashbacks I felt like the pace was quickening. By the end, I was staying up late because I couldn't wait to see which way Claudia would break. I wasn't disappointed.
In this compassionate, wise, and comical debut, Kate Christensen gives an engaging and authentic voice to a new generation of single urban women. Claudia Steiner never intended for her life to become such a disaster. At the age of twenty-nine she finds herself serving as secretary to an insane, aging socialite who barks orders from her toilet, specializes in devastating backhanded remarks, and expects Claudia to ghostwrite her best-selling novels. Her job pays enough to keep her in overpriced cocktails, cabs, and take-out but doesn't cover the rent on her roach-infested apartment or keep her creditors at bay. Her romantic prospects are no better. She's hopelessly in love with her best friend, a corporate lawyer who may or may not be gay, and she's still relentlessly pursued by her ex-lover, a married unpublished epic poet. All Claudia can rely on--aside from her wry sense of humor and her faith in the medicinal properties of whiskey--is a persistent little flame of belief in herself, which gives her the glimmer of a chance for a happy ending.
