A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Haunting, dark and funny
Review: The smart person's book of the summer. I thank Amazon's editor's for picking A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That as one of the Best Books of the Year. I couldn't agree more.

Rachel Spark and the other women depicted here will break your heart and make you laugh and the same time. The subject matter of the way we relate to our bodies and to each other and the men in our lives has never been explored by any other writer I've encountered in quite this illuminating a way.

Glatt is bold and original in the way she tackles tough issues and flawed characters. I'll be looking out for this writers work in the future.

Rating:
Summary: This girl feels like a shower after that.
Review: While I enjoyed the writing in this novel I cannot say with all honesty that I enjoyed the story. In fact, it left me with an overall feeling of despair and distain. We meet a number of women in this novel, most of them with the odd commonality of seeking out frequent, anonymous, often abusive sex. These are not underpriviledged victims here, these are educated women (with the exception of one character still a teenage girl, whose story was by far the most troubling), women with options and choices. So why does all the sex in this book feel so wrong, so nasty? These women have sex with men whose names they don't know, men they don't even like, let alone care about, over and over and over again. All they are left with are blurry faces that disappear before morning, leaving behind unwanted pregnancies, venereal diseases and a whole lot of angst. As I read this novel, I kept saying, why??.. Why would these women continue to subject themselves to this, what point is the author trying to make here? That as women we are compelled to "fill" ourselves up with men, in the most literal sense of the word. That in the "filling" we will do some "finding"? Sorry, I just don't buy it, empowerment and fulfillment does not have to come at such at painful price for any woman.

Rating:
Summary: an honest and humorous study of women, bodies & souls
Review: with a title like this, it's difficult not to expect a huge payback, and i wasn't disappointed in the least. this book is about women negotiating their bodies (sex, disease, beauty, autonomy) through experience, imagination, and language. i found myself intrigued by the different narrative threads (rachel, ella, georgia, angela) that cross paths but lead to very distinct and dramatic existences. i was surprised at how intelligent this book was, very unlike the chick-lit offerings i have read lately (which i also enjoyed but they didn't leave me thinking). in fact i'm still sorting a few things out, much like the characters in this book who arrive at their own happiness or grief on their own terms, after having made their own choices. i was also glad to see that this book wasn't preachy or heavy-handed about feminism or pro-choice issues. this book is about real women in real situations. it's odd--i feel as if i learned something here about coming to grips with happiness or grief. this is a good book about women like me who have to grow old and sick in our bodies while having to deal with men. this book is SO on the mark!!!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing first novel
Review: You can tell Lisa Glatt is a poet. Every word in this book is carefully chosen; it's spare and honest and unflinching. She shifts voice seamlessly from one character to another - Elizabeth, Rachel, Angela, Emma, and Georgia - and there was something from each one of them that stayed with me for days. What I loved the most was the way she showed these women and their weaknesses without making them into weak women.