Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully enagaging!
Review: After hearing a reading by the author at a local book shop I decided to purchase the collection, how could I not after hearing a segment of one of the stories? I needed to find out how the story ended. The choice to buy "How to Breathe Underwater: Stories" was a terrific one. Each story while drawing me into the plot, proved to be emotionally powerful and poignant. The writing itself is phenomenal; it seems that each and every word is so carefully considered and placed in exactly the right sequence that the stories offered me, the reader, a most enriched experience. The end result is true literature that speaks to your mind and heart in a most satisfying manner.
Rating:
Summary: Too good, it doesn't even need a review!!
Review: After listening to Julie Orringer speak at a book reading for young writers at Stanford University, I was attracted to Orringer's love for writing and her zest for life. She breathes new meaning into short story writing, redefining the mold. Her opening "Pilgrims" is haunting and very powerful, like every other story in that it leaves the reader begging for more! Of course some stories might appeal more to a certain audience, but the collection is so complete offering a wide array of genres and topics that deal with life, death, confusion, and happiness. This book is a must read- any others who may be degrading the book were not mature enough to look at the true meaning behind the opening. I loved it!
Rating:
Summary: Too good, it doesn't even need a review!!
Review: After listening to Julie Orringer speak at a book reading for young writers at Stanford University, I was attracted to Orringer's love for writing and her zest for life. She breathes new meaning into short story writing, redefining the mold. Her opening "Pilgrims" is haunting and very powerful, like every other story in that it leaves the reader begging for more! Of course some stories might appeal more to a certain audience, but the collection is so complete offering a wide array of genres and topics that deal with life, death, confusion, and happiness. This book is a must read- any others who may be degrading the book were not mature enough to look at the true meaning behind the opening. I loved it!
Rating:
Summary: The beauty of darkness
Review: I am afraid I do not even have the words to describe this work, only that I am sure it will become one of those books that women sneak around in their bags as some sort of guilty pleasure, to read over and over again, at every moment possible. After reading it a third time, I still have trouble picking out my favorite piece. I love the fact that the author writes about womanhood from a darker, less trite perspective than most fiction. It is nothing you would ever expect, and more than you could ever dream of. In "Note to Sixth Grade Self," Orringer is able to perfectly capture and reproduce a complex inner monologue of a small, self-concious little girl. Orringer also carefully manipulates the language in "Care" to give it a dizzying affect, thus forcing the reader to fall deeper into the shoes of the narrator. If you appreciate well-developed, original characterization and meticulously painted settings, you cannot afford to pass this one up.
Rating:
Summary: It's very, very good
Review: I first encountered this book shortly after it was published, perusing the 'New Fiction' shelf at my local Barnes and Noble; I was, I'm sorry to admit, drawn to it for its attractive cover, and then coaxed into opening it by the compelling blurbs - for which I've always been kind of a sucker, if they're written by the right people, though I understand some people find them insulting as a marketing tool - written by George Saunders, Ann Packer, Charles Baxter and Dan Chaon. But at the time I had a lot to read, so I didn't wind up purchasing it.Now I have purchased it, and I'm going to purchase extra copies for Christmas gifts. I enjoyed every story - "Pilgrims" and "Stars of Motown Shining Bright" made my heart quicken, and "When She Is Old and I Am Famous" was hilarious. A few people have singled out "Notes to Sixth-Grade Self" as their least favorite, and I'd have to agree, as it is unquestionably more gimmicky and sort of "chick-litty" than the rest, but even that story was okay. Julie Orringer is currently at work on a novel. I can't wait to read it.
Rating:
Summary: What I thought.
Review: I havent read the book, but i tell you, i was at borders the other day, and i see this book on the bookshelf, i take it down, laugh hysterically, and reply while laughing, "BE A FISH!" I give it 5 stars just for the title.
Rating:
Summary: A breath of fresh air
Review: I loved this book. Each story is wonderfully compelling, perfectly drawn. Each has its own unique flavor and style. There are frightening, almost surreallistic stories, like "Pilgrims," and there are hilariously funny stories, like "When She is Old and I Am Famous". All of the stories are in some way heartbreaking, because Orringer knows about life and the anguish is sometimes holds. Yet the overriding feeling of the book is one of optimism and wonder. This book will be with me for a long, long time.
Rating:
Summary: An edgy debut that bristles with reality
Review: I read a couple advance reviews that suggested this book was going to be a thoughtful and tender examination of relationships in the aftermath of loss. That description turned out to be beautifully true, but incomplete. A current of dark struggle muscles its way through these stories as well, setting the reader uncomfortably on edge. Orringer shows the reader that loss has a dark side that's often sexual and angry. In stories like "Care," "Stars of Motown Shining Bright" and "The Smoothest Way is Full of Stones," you'll see that the language of emotional dislocation is articulated with guns, drugs and sex. Even when a character's pain is kept inside, longing and loneliness seep out in sharp-tongued dialog and clear-eyed self-examination. Prepare yourself for a dark and beautiful ride.
Rating: 
Summary: No Thanks
Review: I read the first story and - yeeecccchhhh - weird, hopeless, depressing and horrifying pretty much sum it up. The characters in this short story all make you want to run into the light of normalcy. Morose kids, strange house, freaky grown-ups, dying mothers, screaming bratty girl who meets a truly preposterous fate, etc. etc. One might argue that Orringer is really "deep." If this is deep, give me shallow, please! Guess it's super hip to be hung up on the dark side.
Tried to continue with the Sixth Grade Self story, just could not. Unendurable. Surely filled with angst and misery if the start was any indication.
This collection goes back to the library shelf, and soon.
Rating:
Summary: No Thanks
Review: I read the first story and - yeeecccchhhh - weird, hopeless, depressing and horrifying pretty much sum it up. The characters in this short story all make you want to run into the light of normalcy. Morose kids, strange house, freaky grown-ups, dying mothers, screaming bratty girl who meets a truly preposterous fate, etc. etc. One might argue that Orringer is really "deep." If this is deep, give me shallow, please! Guess it's super hip to be hung up on the dark side.
Tried to continue with the Sixth Grade Self story, just could not. Unendurable. Surely filled with angst and misery if the start was any indication.
This collection goes back to the library shelf, and soon.
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