Review: The Kissing List by Stephanie Reets
IN A GLANCE: Stories all revolving around Kissing. Really not what I expected.
Author: Stephanie Reets
Publisher: Hogarth
Format: Paperback
Pages: 223 pages
ISBN #: 0307951820
An inventive debut that recalls the imagination of Aimee Bender and the sardonic wit of Lorrie Moore. The interlocking stories in The Kissing List feature an unforgettable group of young women – Sylvie, Anna, Frances, Maureen – as their lives connect, first during a year abroad at Oxford, then later as they move to New York on the cusp of adulthood. We follow each of them as they navigate the treachery of first dates, temp jobs and roommates, failed relationships and unexpected affairs – all the things that make their lives seem full of possibility, but also rife with potential disappointment. Shot through with laugh-out-loud lines, yet still wrenchingly emotional and resonant, The Kissing List is a book about women who bravely defy expectations and take outrageous chances in the face of a life that might turn out to be anything less than extraordinary
Review:
This is just one of those books that I wanted so badly to love, but I just couldn't bring myself to even come close to loving it. I think I was just so confused by this book, to many stories wrapped around into a story and the characters were just way to scattered for me to even try to connect with any of them.
I will say this that I almost stopped reading this book three times and for me that is bad. Usually if that happens I don't come back to the book at all, Ill call it quits and just give up, but I wanted to like this book so I kept trying. I did end up finishing it, just took me a while.
I think I wanted to love this book so much that I really fell in love with the thought of this book and what I think the author was trying to actually write but just missed the mark with. I will give one thing to this book, it did seem real while I was reading it. Some of the stories are great and the writing is great, I don't know it just wasn't what I needed it to be for me to love it. I'm sure others will enjoy this book, I'm just not one of them.
Rating:
Plot: 18/20
Creativity: 17/20
Characters: 10/20
Writing: 19/20
Ending: 5/10
Cover: 10/10
79 out of 100 = 2 1/2 Puppy Rating
