I love cute little hardback books (a la Ladies of Grace Adieu, which I still haven't read and which is now trapped in a cardboard box at my parents' house, sigh) and this one is a cute small black book with white polka-dots and a red spine. Book covers enthrall me.
What was within the cute cover was a passable collection of short stories. Some of them are very cute, some clever and actually quite good, and one or two were just trite. So by story:
"Virginity . . . The Deflowering of Rosie Little": This story is just ok. It's about Rosie losing her virginity in an interesting way although I don't quite get parts of it thanks to some Australian slang. It's not exactly the story you need to lead into a collection but it's not bad either.
Truth . . . Elephantiasis": Wood understands women and how we get trapped by little things that take over our lives. In this one the main character gets trapped and defined by an inadvertent collection of elephants. She's overweight and everyone starts giving her elephants thanks to her owning one (that was given to her as a souvenir from a friend's African safari trip). She is trying, as the story progresses, to escape her elephantiasis.
"Travel . . . Rosie Little in the Mother Country": This one is cute. Rosie goes to England from her Native Australia to visit her godfather who turns out to be none-too-kind. She also meets a boy and sort-of discovers herself. There is a bit in this one that doesn't get resolved--the godfather ends up being creepy in a sexual way.
"Beauty . . . The Wardrobe": I like this one a lot. A woman moves in with her beau (straight from her childhood home) who turns out to be not only a bit of a snob (throwing away her ratty clothes) but a full-on control freak (replacing the clothes with his choice of expensive ones). I won't give away the conceit but this is one Tracy should examine--lots of interesting body stuff.
"Art . . . Eden": I think DeLillo's Mao II has the best, most apt description of a bookstore from a book lover's perspective and I think this story has the best, most accurate description of procrastination that I've read. Eve quits her job and moves to the country to pursue painting. The story is about half-filled with the process of Eve setting up to get ready to paint (including the fact that she has to go buy the appropriate clothes to paint) and it's just fantastically accurate.
"Love . . . The Anatomy of Wolves": This one isn't bad. It's about a woman who falls in love with a "wolf" of a man who ends up abusing her and the consequences that follow.
"Commitment . . . The Depthlessness of Soup": This one is good but painful because you know what each of the characters is thinking but they only share with each other at the very end. It's about a man and woman who have been dating for awhile, a few years maybe, and she wants a commitment. Meanwhile, he is planning to propose. The strangled conversation that happens over soup in a restaurant is painful but well-written.
"Marriage . . . Vision in White": This one is funny, in a mean way. A woman Rosie meets in the airport has decided that she should travel from the US to Australia in her full wedding regalia so that her new in-laws can meet her in her full glory (she does this because she had a vision of herself coming off the airplane in her wedding dress). Anyway, the woman leaves the airport and Rosie finishes her story. Funny.
"Work . . . Rosie Little's Brilliant Career": This one feels more like a transition than a important story.
"Longing . . . Lonely Hearts Club": This one is more experimental in that it's not a linear or complete narrative. It's from the perspective of several women who are all tied together eventually by a heart-shaped rock. It's not that great.
"Loss . . . The True Daughter": Creepy. But in a good way. It reminds me of an Aimee Bender story (or even some of Rachel's) in that almost everything is normal but there is one quirk that's disturbingly odd. This one is about an in-home nurse who works with people as they are dying. She gets a new job with a woman who always talks about her daughter but the daughter never materializes and there are no photos. Disturbing.
"Destiny . . . Rosie Little Joins the Dots": This is the trite one. Rosie leaves her job and begins work on a cruise ship. And she tries to connect the stories in a really thin, silly way. I could do without a few paragraphs of this one because it's just silliness.
I think the book is worth a read. It's easy and simple and fun and, because they are short stories, can be put down and picked up at any point without much consequence. And some of the stories are quite good (not to mention being able to add a cute book to the shelf).
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