Rating: 
Summary: A huge (make that slight) disappointment
Review: what I mean by that is that for all the talk and advance blather about this book I thought it was really going to be something special. It's just not. It's a perfectly pleasant book of short stories some better than others but almost uniformly mediocre. There are sooo many better writers out there, young and old, male and female. I wish there were some way to take some of the publicity this overprivileged girl has gotten--she was photographed in Entertainment Weekly next to a bowl of cherries--I mean, why?--and spread the wealth a little to the more deserving. Also, the reviewer below who gave it 4 stars calls the other reviewers "undereducated" but then uses "it's" as a possessive.
Rating:
Summary: Upper class rich girl syndrome
Review: AIDS babies. Strained father daugher relations. Poverty. Let me begin by saying this is a dreadful piece of not only condescending political correctness & also a snobbish white elitism, but it is written like that of something pulled from a writer's workshop. Consider ideas such as these: Too bad there are poor people, relationships are tough, AIDS is hard on all of us, etc. Isn't it so convienent that Nell gets to write about her experiences teaching (post Harvard) in Thailand, etc & then come back to write a purile book about it while she's sipping her skim-milk chai in some late night Starbucks? The thought is too chilling to imagine. What always amazes me is how rich people think they know anything about poverty because for six months, or a year, "they wen't slumming too once."
"Yeah, man, it's like, poverty, it's just wrong, man..." This debut is even border line propaganda & it's not even interesting like that of Michael Moore. It's just dull Postmodern choking down the throat condescending political correctness. Please put a stop to it! ugh!
Rating:
Summary: Banal
Review: This is one of the worst books I've ever read. No real characters, cliched, dull, melodramatic & typical tripe written by a twentysomething "I want to save the world" attitude. This is Postmodernism in its worst sense, anyone giving this 5 stars has to be "undereducated" himself!PS- Deb, honey- t'was I you were speaking of- not 'reader' below & American Psycho is not the only thing I gave one star, if you actually read. Oh wait- I forgot- Lucky Girls is you're idea of great lit. 'scuse-moi. Maybe a grown-up can help to thumb through that Thesaurus while you're online? I dunno, just a thought...
Rating: 
Summary: exquisite
Review: It's sad that the whiny, undereducated people below have nothing better to do than trash this book. It's an exquisite, elegiac, subtle and very unusual collection. It has it's weaknesses, but it remains the best debut of the year, and I've read everything. Read it. An addendum: the "reader" below has given one star to every book he's ever reviewed (and trashed) except for American Psycho. Nice going reader. But get a dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: Not good at all
Review: This book is very bad from the beginning. Boring prose, dull characters, trite themes fill this book. Please save your money!I wish these publishing houses would stop trying so badly to promote the hottest "cutting edge" young author who really can't write her way out of a hat. I am pleased to see that others agree with my review. Note to Deb- don't use big words you don't understand.
Rating:
Summary: Pretentious and dull
Review: It's funny everyone keeps talking about the hype I hadn't heard any of it--have I been living on a different planet or something?--but I did think this book had an attractive cover and I generally like short fiction so I gave it a go. Well it failed to engage me in any significant way. The narrators and characters are completely stock and the writing is self-conscious and pretentious and precious. For short fiction I recommend Lorrie Moore.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: This book definitely explores common themes in modern popular literature but I was impressed with both the style and the substance. Having never travelled to most of the locales where these stories take place, I found the experiences and society described fresh but familiar. All things considered, I am glad I spent the time and would open the book again to re-read a few of the stories. Just one thing, you have to enjoy short fiction: depth is not what these stories are about.
Rating:
Summary: ugh!
Review: I don't understand the critics--I received this book as a gift--read and returned it. Tripe--pretentious--boring.. This is called talented--I think she should consider a career change--but obviously she's fooled the people who payed her big bucks to produce this work. Maybe she has talent but who cares this book wasted my time....My advice don't spend a dime on it.
Rating:
Summary: Can't understand the hype.
Review: I gave this my best shot, but was left feeling cheated, after all the buzz surrounding this author. These stories feel like practice exercises for a Creative Writing 101 program. Can someone explain to me why she got such a big advance?
Rating:
Summary: Overhyped and lame--don't waste your money.
Review: There are 1000 books like this that come out of M.F.A. programs every year in this country: totally solipsistic, self-indulgent fiction--and that this has gotten media attention is what the title says: lucky. Rich pretty white girl goes abroad etc. Spare us, please!
| 
