Friday Spines Book Review:
Before you start this book:
I recommend that you do not read the stories in order. The opening "Pilgrims" is not bad, but it's more intense than most of the other stories (and somewhat nauseating), and gives an unrealistic representation of the book. I recommend beginning with either "The Isabel Fish" or "Note to Sixth Grade Self"--they're not passive, but will provide an easier transition from life to the intensely captivating world that' is Julie Orringer's writing.
If you haven't already, please come away from this sentence feeling encouraged to read my Irrelevant Literary Musings on the short story.
Before you start this book:
I recommend that you do not read the stories in order. The opening "Pilgrims" is not bad, but it's more intense than most of the other stories (and somewhat nauseating), and gives an unrealistic representation of the book. I recommend beginning with either "The Isabel Fish" or "Note to Sixth Grade Self"--they're not passive, but will provide an easier transition from life to the intensely captivating world that' is Julie Orringer's writing.
How To Breathe Underwater is a collection of short stories that range in tone from uneasily disturbing to nostalgic and wise. As a whole, the collection of stories could be qualified as a flaunting of Orringer's versatile writing--while Underwater has received criticism that the stories are too similar in subject (adolescent girls being the collection's primary focus) but I'd call it more of a theme. In any case, the expert shifting in narrative tone, voice, and technical style overshadows the parallels between the stories, breaking any trace of monotony.
I'm not going to use the word favorite here, because each of the nine stories has a unique quality to recommend it. The stories I most enjoyed were "The Isabel Fish" and "Note to Sixth Grade Self". In "The Isabel Fish", we build an understanding of Maddy's aversion to water through her science project--breeding fighting fish--and her scuba lessons. Slowly revealed are details of the night her brother's girlfriend drowned. "Note To Sixth Grade Self” is told in the little-used second person as a presumably woman gives universal advice to her unsuspecting Sixth Grade Self. Orringer subtly tells the story through anecdotes such as "do not wear a skirt on the first Thursday of September--it will be windy" and demonstrates an excellent grasp of second person writing through the ease in which the story is told.
Some of the stories--e.g., "Stars of Motown Shining Bright"--have premises that seem totally unrealistic to me. Our narrator Lucy is around sixteen, and is in a semi-subtle competition with her friend Melissa over a boy's attention. Lucy has just slept with said boy (Jack) but is once again overshadowed by Melissa, who traps Lucy into being an accomplice in her plan to elope with Jack and become a model. The two come frighteningly close to accomplishing their goal--they acquire a car and drive to Detroit, with "borrowed" money and a gun that only Lucy knows about. Finally Lucy gets fed up with Jack, who's still flirting with both her and Melissa, and demands that they return home. If this were a novel, I'd probably enjoy the story but be dissatisfied with the unlikeliness after finishing it. However, told in Orringer's matter-of-fact style and kept brief, it's easier (but not completely effortless) to focus on discussion the characters and plot instead of arguing with the book about implausibility.
Other things I liked about this book:
I'm not going to use the word favorite here, because each of the nine stories has a unique quality to recommend it. The stories I most enjoyed were "The Isabel Fish" and "Note to Sixth Grade Self". In "The Isabel Fish", we build an understanding of Maddy's aversion to water through her science project--breeding fighting fish--and her scuba lessons. Slowly revealed are details of the night her brother's girlfriend drowned. "Note To Sixth Grade Self” is told in the little-used second person as a presumably woman gives universal advice to her unsuspecting Sixth Grade Self. Orringer subtly tells the story through anecdotes such as "do not wear a skirt on the first Thursday of September--it will be windy" and demonstrates an excellent grasp of second person writing through the ease in which the story is told.
Some of the stories--e.g., "Stars of Motown Shining Bright"--have premises that seem totally unrealistic to me. Our narrator Lucy is around sixteen, and is in a semi-subtle competition with her friend Melissa over a boy's attention. Lucy has just slept with said boy (Jack) but is once again overshadowed by Melissa, who traps Lucy into being an accomplice in her plan to elope with Jack and become a model. The two come frighteningly close to accomplishing their goal--they acquire a car and drive to Detroit, with "borrowed" money and a gun that only Lucy knows about. Finally Lucy gets fed up with Jack, who's still flirting with both her and Melissa, and demands that they return home. If this were a novel, I'd probably enjoy the story but be dissatisfied with the unlikeliness after finishing it. However, told in Orringer's matter-of-fact style and kept brief, it's easier (but not completely effortless) to focus on discussion the characters and plot instead of arguing with the book about implausibility.
Other things I liked about this book:
- The variety of narration, which is so adept I must reiterate it. Simultaneously refreshing and unsettling, the stories are juxtaposed in tone, characters, and setting, but still manage to retain a subtly sense of unity.
- The titles are beautiful, and provide another thought-provoking piece of the succinct short stories to analyze.
- This isn't a note on any specific story, but I appreciated Orringer's variety of perspective on children and young people's experiences. She ranges from clever retellings of middle school angst to parents with cancer to the death of friends. It's wonderful to see a collection of such accuracy and variety among the barrage of badly-written vampire romances, and allows me, as a teenager, to see my persona able to reclaim a sense of dignity in the literary sphere.
Although I've never made it through a book of short stories (that I remember), I'm also reading a book of Colette short stories that's absolutely excellent. (Here's the Amazon link. If you can get the forward by Erica Jong I recommend it!)
You might also like: Crossing the Tracks, by Barbara Stuber; As Hot as It Was, You Ought to Thank Me, by Nanci Kincaid; and Girls in Trucks, by Katie Crouch.
Happy reading!
M. Gabrielle
