Rating: 
Summary: Another example of NY buzz subsiding to a drone.
Review: I anticipated more. I found limp characterization, unremarkable narrative and shallow plotting. This collection falls -far- short of the big buzz. The author should consider herself one "Lucky Girl" in being able to impress a few of the right people in NY with her pedigree and her guts. I'm thankful that I didn't waste good money and got the book free as my neighbor was tossing it toward the trash. [As expaites' for the past 18 & 20 years, we were both interested. Disappointed.]
Rating: 
Summary: Very well done
Review: It's too bad that a talented young female author should get so much flak because she's attractive. I doubt any young male writer would experience this kind of backlash. The author has managed to produce five stories that are both witty and sincere. The prose is elegant, and at times, beautiful. This is some of the best fiction that I have read this year, and I look forward to more.
Rating:
Summary: over-rated and over-hyped
Review: She's a decent writer but not a great writer. This is a small book in the sense that nothing lingers, nothing lasts. Pleasant, not much more than that.
Rating:
Summary: The Talent Myth
Review: The word has been thrown at her so many times, I'd be surprised if it doesn't make the author herself nauseous by now. Talented or not, she has so far produced only a mediochre selection of stories featuring unsympathetic characters, at times lyrical but empty prose, and shallow plots. I wish her better luck with the novel.I bought the book, seduced by the buzz and excited in particular to read the last story because of it's subject matter. Why the publisher chose to place such a long loser last is beyond my apparently limited intellect: I'm also at a complete loss as to how the soggy title story could attract a million dollar offer. (Internet pundits seem to suggest that her cute appearance and Harvard-turned-citizen-of-the-world-pedigree might have something to do with her success, but I'm still loathe to be that cynical.) The title must refer to the author herself, as her characters certainly can't be called lucky to be trapped in such a lusterless collection of tales. If you want to read short stories with prose so resonant with vitality and profound observations that they literally glow on the page like immortal fire flies, buy Julie Orringer's "How to Breathe Underwater." True achievement leaves mere talent in the dust.
Rating: 
Summary: You can do better for your money
Review: Simply put, this book is fine. It won't stay with you, however, nor will you find it particularly moving while you're reading it. I mean--well, it's fine. And that's not exactly what I look for in a book, and I doubt you do either. If you're interested, my advice is wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Stellar Debut
Review: A graceful and sophisticated collection of stories that stay with you for awhile.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent new read
Review: This new collection is great. I hadn't read the story that was published in the New Yorker, and I was very impressed. The tone is mature, the pace is fast, and the charecters are quite well developed. Altogether, a gripping read. I have bought it as a gift for 2 friends since. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Stands up in comparison??
Review: Lucky Girls stories stand up in comparison to Interpreter of Maladies? You must be smoking whatever the author of this awful book was. I dont have anything to gain by giving a bad review. I just did not enjoy this book. The characters were not likeable, the stories were not exciting, some didnt even make sense. To compare Lucky Girls to Interpreters is ludicrous.
Rating: 
Summary: reader from Miami
Review: I had just finished the book and decided to look at the reviews. I was shocked by the personal vindictiveness of some of the comments--I've rarely seen so many sneers about a writer based on the money and publicity she has received or her looks. I am not from New York, not a Harvard grad, and not a friend of this author. I enjoyed the stories very much, and I'm often unmoved by short fiction; I thought they mostly avoided the fake epiphany/twist common to so many such stories. I read the book alongside The Interpreter of Maladies, and thought while these stories are not as memorable, they stand up well to the comparison.
Rating:
Summary: Get over yourselves, fellow reviewers
Review: I think a lot of the people who have written reviews for this book are missing the point. People who have criticized Ms. Freudenberger for being a "petulant American" or snobby, elitist, or whatever, are failing to understand that the stories are exactly those of Americans in foreign lands. Arundhati Roy, whom I adore, writes about the experience of Indians living in India. That is not what Freudenberger is trying to do. As someone who has lived abroad, I can assure you that it is entirely its own experience, rife with conflicting emotions, cultural barriers, feelings of isolation, superiority, inferiority- you name it. This book expresses that beautifully. For the person who has a problem with the character of Mandy not being a doctor and yet working at an AIDS orphanage- you may not like that people do that (although I'm not clear on why, since people who do those kind of things are volunteering, and trying to help people) but the reality is that people do, and Freudenberger is telling that story. I don't think one is necessarily supposed to like Mandy's character, which is why the story is great.
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