Rating: 
Summary: I Am Disappointed.
Review: I really am. I didn't buy this book- thank God- but I've waited since we've acquired it at our public library- about eight months- to check it out. Let me tell you- it's like opening a Christmas present that has sat under the tree for a month, mysterious and promising, only to find that it's something "practical" or a "great bargain". And of course Lucky Girls was neither of these, even. The writing was bland and too safe-side, completely without imagination. Even the subjects were bland. Freudenberger managed to take a whole country with more allure than 97 percent of the places on this planet and water it down to a mere setting, not much different than my back yard Suburbia (even with all the references to poverty- which were just that: references). And Freudenberger doesn't connect herSELF to her own characters- how can she expect us, as readers, to connect to them? I predict (and I'll eat my words if things work out to the contrary) that she'll have a novel out within a year and a half. There will be gobs of hype about it, with a lot of false assumptions about the warm reception of her collection of stories to fool readers into feeling they've been waiting for this novel forEVER. And it may even be a bestseller, but the novel will recieve such half-convinced reviews that we'll not be hearing from Freudenberger for a long time after that- or until she's at last found her strengths and weaknesses and worked them out- artistically, that is. And, by the way, she's a very lovely girl. And sex sells. And all's fair in the publishing industry. The truth obviously comes out- as we've seen just in this small space on Amazon- when people concentrate on the content, but people like Freudenberger need all the head start they can get when they write so dispassionately.
Rating: 
Summary: Lucky Narcissists
Review: Simplistic, cliched, shallow, not well developed, unlikeable and uninsteresting aimless characters with hollow lives populate this book of long winded stories. Every story seems to have at least one young woman who is just like a young woman in all the other stories. Her name and biographic details change but she has the same personality in each story, the same narcissistic, selfish outlook on life, almost sociopathic, where all other people are viewed as objects from which she tries to gain advantage or pleasure. The woman in the first story is incensed (yes, incensed), that the wife of the married man with whom the main character had an affair would not allow her to be at the man's bedside when he was dying, and does not want to meet her now that the man has died. I would suggest that the protagonist wake up and buy herself a clue. She wasn't the man's wife. She was the woman who, along with the husband, made the wife miserable for years. But this protagonist feels entitled, VERY entitled, to whatever pleases her. She does not have a twinge of regret, or of any sort of moral sense. I don't think stories should be all about nice people doing nice things, but this character lives in a universe without a hint of personal morality; it's not even a blip on her radar to consider and dismiss. It just doesn't exist. Other people's feelings don't exist. Only almighty SHE exists. And there is no intended irony. These young women are pitted against another person from the story's start, and vindicate themselves by the end. These read like tales of revenge, and sometimes the young woman does actually wag her finger by the story's conclusion, telling off the person who won't give in to her desires. Unlike characters in most short stories, these main characters turn out to be all right and the world turns out to be all wrong by story's end. That makes the stories boring. As for the style the stories use a dull, literal (not literary) prose, mechanical and clunky rather than metaphorical or poetic. The style makes all of these stories difficult to get through. It's like technical writing (place tab A into slot B), but there are two or three phrases that are actually pleasant to read (these exceptions that prove the rule would if put all together take up a half-page).
Rating: 
Summary: Cathedral and John Connon School and Walkeshwar Road
Review: The grade/middle/high school I attended while growing up in Bombay - Cathedral and John Connon School and the street I grew up on - Walkeshwar Road (leading up to Banganga tank) are both mentioned in "The Tutor". That really made this book even more special to me that it already was. Nell must have really researched her stories well, 'cause unless she lived there for years and years, I can't fathom how she makes the reader really feel like he/she is right there. Being that the events and places mentioned in the book are in recent time, the reader can actually go and see the same places and experience the same things as described extremely vividly in the book! I definitely learned a word or two that I had never heard of before - especially in the last story of the book - which had a very interesting twist (didn't even see it coming). I can't wait for more short stories from Ms. Freudenberger. I have cut out a picture of her from "Entertainment Weekly" to store inside "Lucky Girls" (as a page marker for the section where my alma mater is mentioned. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Two thumbs up
Review: While Jane Austen's reputation is safe (as is Meg Cabot's), I think we'll hear more from Ms. Freudenberger. This isn't a great book, but I think it's a very good book from a young writer who is learning her voice and honing her craft. I don't have the book in front of me, so can't name them all, but I thought the last story and Tutor were the best....the last one was uneven, but tackled some very tough subjects with alacrity and skill. In two or three of the stories, including Tutor, I was impressed with her ability to, I think, accurately depict sexual yearning in the protagonists; when the men felt it, they wanted to mastrubate and when the women felt it, they wanted tot alk about it with their friends. BTW, I think her picture on the book jacket shows a cute young woman, but I can not imagine anyone calling her hot just from that; but I'm a middle-aged former English major, so what do I know about that stuff these days?:)
Rating:
Summary: way over hyped drivel
Review: don't waste your time. This author would be a great tween novelist - you know, coming of age stories for 15 year olds, stuff like that. Like the Sweet Valley High books, that's what she should be writing. i didn't get a real feel of any depth from any of the characters and I found the sex scenes gratuitous and boring. Also, having been to Asia myself, her little infobites about the locations of her stories seemed to be taken straight of guidebooks to Asia. (Details from the 1st story in the book for example -yes, the taj is closed on Mondays and there may have been a twin black Taj built across from it --- I bet the author read that info in the same place I did- the Taj chapter in the Rough Guide to India!) This is pop stuff, pretending to be high art. so, two thumbs down. I bet her publishers feel pretty dumb now!
Rating:
Summary: lots of animosity
Review: Saying that others are stupid simply because they see through this English writing 101 styled book is simply ignorant and absurd. Lucky Girls is by no means a good book, on any standard. But the fact that it has gotten so much hype leads people to have more animus towards Nell & her poor writing than if this was a novel published by Red Dress Ink. Simply put, I agree with all of the negative comments said. Nell is just too young & doesn't have enough talent to hold this book together. My money is that she will fade in a few years, after the fact that this book has bombed- no one will want to read any novel written by her. And let me say that I don't give a rat's a** what she looks like. She's not anything special to look at- but simply because she's 'published' and not horribly ugly- that's supposed to be a big deal. (And I use the quotes for 'publish' because it's always amusing to see those with connections who DECIDE to publish, rather than STRUGGLE like the rest of the unconnected masses).
There are far better writers out there who deserve a chance over this girl who cut in line & cheated any real intuitive reader out of a good story. Technically, if this was a good book- that fact wouldn't matter. But it's not- it's horribly drenched in political corectness & cliches. (And all the positive reviews are coming from NYC & the West Coast- why would they react with such animus if they weren't her pals?) And as for the reviewer who said her book would be worth something some day- perhaps it in the fireplace- you'll get more use of it there.
Rating:
Summary: Happy I bought this book
Review: A lot of the negative reviews appear to emphasize the reviewers' (slightly disturbing) hatred of girls who come from privileged backgrounds and who happen to travel abroad. Would it be better if they never left Manhattan? Or, more likely, if they happened to be privileged young men traveling abroad?
At any rate, the reaction seems to me to be beside the point. It's not as though the author writes about the young women in her stories as Third World saviors! They are what they are, and I think the stories capture their lives, and their families' lives, very well. I like the book because the characters are interesting (interesting does not require flawlessness!) and the stories well-written -- very simple.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing Special...nothing special at all.
Review: I was very excited to recieve this book and couldnt wait to get my hands on it, but after the first story my eagerness slowed. I still had hope that the book would pick up, but it didnt. Both the stories and the writing in this book are weak. It seems as if the writer is trying too hard for her readers to say "wow" and in doing that either doesnt put enough information, and puts way too much nonsensical information. "The Tutor" was the only story that I read and felt mildly satisfied with. The rest of the stories honestly didnt make much sense- I dont think that makes me a "stupid reader" and perhaps if I thought the author was "hot" or if I knew her Id give the book 5 stars too, but Lucky Girls is definitely a NOT. If you can get a copy of "the tutor" read it, but leave the rest alone.
Rating:
Summary: Lucky Girls, Stupid Readers
Review: Please, don't believe the unhype. This is a very strong collection of stories, and the author has a lot of spiritual generosity. For the life of me I have no clue as to why so many are fulminating about this book, other than that its author is as hot as a five-alarm fire and she writes extremely well. (For the record, I have never met N. Freudenberger, which I feel obliged to say since one of the nasty "reviews" here says everyone who likes the book goes out of their way to claim some personal connection with NF.) Read the last story of the book and see if it's not, truly, a quiety shattering and mercilessly beautiful portrait.
Rating:
Summary: It was a waste of my time
Review: I am not at all pleased to give bad reviews but I agree with winfieldscott to the fullest. At the end of each story I was left wondering...what the heck was that story about? So I would actually sit down and read the story again, thinking that I hadnt caught the *boom* I thought maybe it was so subtle, in a word or single sentence...disappointingly there was never any *boom* just a whole lot of "what the..." It took twice the time to read with no pay off. Perhaps even if her writing was beautiful I feel I couldve overlooked the poor story lines. The writing was not beautiful, but confusing and rather weak. I am so sorely disapointed. I couldve used my 14 bucks to buy underwear or something.
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