Rating: 
Summary: Cover shmover
Review: Many of the reviews seem disappointed that the book didn't live up to the promise of its cover. Hmm. Well, never judge a...never mind.Not a great book, but a pretty good one. It reads at times like the product of a graduate school writing program, a bit too self-conscious and self-reflexive in spots, too afraid to let the reader figure things out for himself or herself. One of the more annoying qualities are the passages where the protagonist is compelled to diagnose herself and the other characters in the book. But this may have been a deliberate device, since she also describes herself as "the worst kind of person, attractive, overeducated, raised with middle-class delusions of grandeur." As a whole, it is sleight and a little wanting, but she mines the story for all it's worth. The imagery in some places is reminiscent of "Steppenwolf", her descents into debauchery echoing some of the hypnotic and hallucinatory alternate "realities" that he experiences at the end of that novel. I suggest just going with them -- don't be too terribly concerned if they don't make sense, they're supposed to be dreamlike. Steinke is no Hesse, but I'm sure a Freudian (if any true ones still exist -- we might have to use a Jungian) could find plenty to both love and hate in this short book. But be forewarned, it also takes some of the more unpleasantly frustrating and non-sensical twists and turns reminiscent of Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Unconsoled." At least "Suicide Blonde" won't take you 500+ pages to realize that you don't like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh
Review: Maybe I was misled by the reviews (I know, I know, these are intended to mislead). Somehow I thought this story would be shocking and erotic. Instead it is like taking a bath in self-pity. The nihilistic protagonist drifts from experience to experience, recognizing each negativity, yet powerless to change course. Is the prose itself unenjoyable? No. Will your reaction to the book's worth reflect your own sense of self-worth? Probably. If you have a healthy ego (and especially a healthy sex life), I recommend passing.
Rating: 
Summary: Steinke's stinky writing makes this book a waste of ink.
Review: Steinke doesn't create believable characters. It doesn't seem as though she cares about them herself. What could be an enlightening look at the "seamy" side of life in SanFrancisco, in the end isn't even "provocative," because it's so obvious that she doesn't care about these people as more than cartoon characters doing lurid things she writes about woodenly. What got this book into print and reprinted? Okay, so sex sells...but if you buy this book for that reason, you won't find anything sexy about it. Graphic details are written of in flat, sometimes laughable, prose and what's included between these events is vapid and dull. I don't resent her choice of subject matter. I resent how she doesn't care about it, her characters, her readers, the truth. This is an ugly book
Rating: 
Summary: Steinke's Suicide Blonde will one day be labeled literature
Review: Steinke has a good sense of language and, most importantly, a knack for combining images that describe the atmosphere, feel, and/or mood of a situation. She is a master of story telling, psychology, and rhythm. As an aspiring writer, it is a comfort to know that some people can still get away with creativity, and not be condemned for vulgarity.
Rating:
Summary: Get out your highlighter!
Review: Steinke's "Suicide Blonde" has passage after passage with insight so concise that you can't help but underline and mark the page. Story line: compelling and beautiful (yes, perversity IS beautiful); images: in your face (ie real); characters: I fell in love. This gets my highest recommendation. I don't know what the other reviewers were bi**hing about...f**k callow or shallow, Steinke was obviously just to deep for some. Read it now.
Rating:
Summary: Great title .... think about it ....
Review: The author paints a picture of a young girl, Jesse, living with Bell, her lover of some years whom she met while he was having a homosexual affair with another young man. Jesse, is certainly disturbed, though I guess not in a manic sort of way, and as we follow her through her relationship we get to meet some other unsavory characters such as 'Pig' a fat (is that politically incorrect?) friend who is estranged from her equally fat daughter ... I really don't want to get too deep into the book since I found it depressing as ... . So, unless you like very depressing stories about a drab character, or you want to sound educated and worldly while sipping on a veinte grande in the local coffee shoppe (yup it's not shop it's shoppe) then forget this book ....
Rating:
Summary: HAZY LOOK AT SAN FRANCISCO's ARMPIT
Review: The handful of characters in this dismal chronicle are
each hopeless, hapless and twisted into a pretzel of indignant depravity. The most pathetic and sympathetic is
an enormously fat woman, called "Pig". The narrator pines
for a more meaningful relationship with her whacked-out,
bi-sexual boyfriend, so she naturally decides to seek out
the deeper meaning of life by trying out life as a whore.
The prose is purple and filled with shallow and labored
musings on the meaning of life, that are meant to sound
ironic and deep and are as tasty as day-old pizza.
Rating:
Summary: A haunting portrayal of modern lust and ennui
Review: This book draws readers in with lush descriptions and an intriguing narrator. Then it keeps them hooked with insightful, terse observations. It also, I might add, illustrates quite dramatically the struggle today between the eros and the thanatos, between hedonism and nihilism. Definitely worth a read (or five).
Rating:
Summary: Never thought in a million years...
Review: This book for some might be a bit werid to follow... but if you hang in there for the first chapter you'll get in to it. I have to admit I picked the book up off the bookshelf in the store and opened it up and read the first 2 sentences and thought... "gonna get this one too" as i put it in my basket. The book is written very beautifully. You feel as if you can relate to this character the more you read it. Wants mothers attention. Going from boyfriend to boyfriend.. maybe even a girkfriend in there too. But the book all blows down to is reality and what we all think inside out heads! Great Beach read.. if you liked this I would recommend "LAYOVER" by Lisa Zeidner... this and her book could have been written by the same person. Both great reads! 5 stars...
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: This book starts off slow but catches up fast and keeps the reader very interested. It could easily be made into an independent/sundance film. Read it!!!
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