From Publishers Weekly
Robin is pretty; Dani is lovely; Eve has frizzy hair. Beautiful or not, the protagonists of this debut collection's eight smart, irreverent stories are all sharp and honest enough to recognize their flaws and strengths. Few, however, are content to accept their shortcomings without testing alternate ways of looking or behaving. In "True," 15-year-old Robin has just turned pretty, but realizes that she has a "lousy personality." Determined not to be boring anymore, she decides to try being mean instead-isn't she allowed, now that she's beautiful? The title story centers around 17-year-old cheerleader Dani, who knows she is stunning, but comes to realize that she lacks the certain inner something that makes her best friend, Inggy, gorgeous. "Inggy was the most beautiful girl on the poster, although there was more to it than that." Bauman's wry voice, impish sense of humor and occasional surreal shadings make her portrayals of children particularly pleasing. Allie, the eight-year-old narrator of "The Middle of the Night," is the only child of alcoholic parents. She often finds her father passed out on the lawn and is the only one awake to answer her father's lover's late night calls. In "Stew," homely 14-year-old J.D. is mortified to be babysitting on a Friday night, but throws himself gamely into a game of dressup with the two girls in his charge. Astringent and frequently moving, these stories are seductive showcases for a strong new voice.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
"Is that all there is?" asked the late Peggy Lee in what could be the anthem of the girls and women in the stories of Bauman's debut collection, many of whom are driven to the edge by life's rude, crude realities. When underemployed attorney Libby finds her laundry has disappeared, she stops shaving her legs, takes to wearing cocktail dresses with argyle socks, and ships her dirty wash to the hospital her dying dad is in. A little girl is caught up in her parents' on-site separation--mother moves into the attic as philandering father slumps in a recliner, promising a watermelon after supper--and the most powerful communiques in her life are phone calls from her father's mistress, who instructs the numbed eight-year-old in obscene expressions of anger. High-schooler Dani, sorting through relationships with boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, and boys who are friends, not to mention with sisters and half-sisters, finds her loyalties tested in a "Miss Merry Christmas" competition. Ho, ho, ho, and so on.
Whitney ScottCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
