The Girl in the Flammable Skirt [Paperback]

Ame Bender (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Anchor Pres,1998 (1998)
• ASIN: B0010EY0B0
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange, startling, and original short fiction, December 8, 2003

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt: Stories (Paperback)

Aimee Bender's stories are perhaps some of the strangest being published in contemporary literature. With her surreal touch and a nod toward the Brother Grimm, this, her first collection, reads like a series of quick dreams - some disturbing, some funny, and all without regard to the laws of reality. The opening story, "Call My Name", begins the collection with the promise of convention, albeit it an off-kilter one, when a woman follows a man home, hoping to seduce him, only to discover that he has a simple but strange desire that only marginally involves her. While the emotions and situation in this story are odd, they don't prepare the reader for the first line of the next story, "Steven returned from the war without lips." None of Bender's characters are whole, whether they have an actually soccer-ball size hole in their stomachs ("Marzipan"), whether they are imps and mermaids in cognito ("Drunken Mimi"), or whether they are grieving for loved ones. In "Quiet Please," a librarian whose father has just died fulfills the librarian fantasies of several male patrons until she meets one whose extraordinary feats of strength finally exposes her emotional pain. In a line that applies to all the stories, the librarian acknowledges that "it's hard to tell the difference between fantasy and reality."

These odd, rambunctious, and startling stories are not for the literal-minded, but they will charm those who like their short fiction with an irreverent edge.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original, surreal, imaginative--not for the TV zombie, April 29, 2001

By 

Nanci "Book Dragon" (Tri-Cities, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt: Stories (Paperback)

These stories remind me of Francesca Lia Block, but even more surreal. I read the book in one evening. Many times I came away puzzled, or turning the page for the rest of the story, but it is so refreshing in these days of computers and Canned TV, ads and radio to find someone with true Imagination that I have to give her 5 stars. I read "the Healing" in Story Magazine, and had to go find more of Aimee. I don't think the stories are necessarily deep. Existential--maybe. Poetry, yes--if poetry is a love affair with words. I'd rate her as a wonderful writer. Wish I had that talent.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I will never look at a librarian in quite the same way!!, August 8, 1998

By 

"ttgayle" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girl in the Flammable Skirt (Hardcover)

Two words: "wow" and "imaginative" sum up this wonderful collection of short stories. While reading "Skirt", I kept thinking "Aimee has got one hell of an imagination!!" My favorite story is "The Librarian" (not the real title, but what it is most often called). You will never look at a librarian with quite the same eye as you have in the past.

I have had the honour of meeting Ms. Bender. At her reading she read the "Imp" story with much animation and passion. It is a joy to see not only a fantastic new writer blossom, but to know that she is a NICE person as well.