Customer Reviews

Girl Trouble: Stories (P.S.)

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Girl Trouble reads less like a first book of short stories by a young writer than it does like a sixth or seventh book of short stories by an old master. Here you will find no fancy tricks of language or form. Instead you will find a pleasing and plainspoken account of the interior lives of men and women intelligent enough to warrant stories as richly rendered as these. Jones is a master of the difficult machinations of the close third person point of view, and as we upshift and downshift the distance between the exterior world of the telling and the interior world of the teller, we do it so seamlessly that we're hardly aware we're doing it at all, and the effect upon the reader is an extraordinary immersion in the character in the midst of his or her place, which here isn't a pile of sticks and rocks and dirt, but is instead a way of being in the working class world of western Kentucky, where, if these stories are to be trusted, the people are fierce, generally good-hearted, and inclined to do the things they know will undo them, knowing full well their deeds will undo them, because they are somehow or other compelled, the way all of us sooner or later are, to whatever degree.

Most of these stories wrap themselves around some high event: a violent act, a glimpse at the shocking, a life-altering memory. But the stories are not lurid or Gothic in any sense. This isn't Flannery O'Connor. The preoccupation of the stories, instead, is a long and steady gaze at what reckonings with the extraordinary will do to ordinary people, and how they do and don't settle back into their lives in the aftermath.

A couple of the stories (notably "Life Expectancy") read like what most often finds its way into Best American Short Stories: the multi-crotted single movement story with an epiphanic ending. But the broader impulse of the collection is toward a deeper complication, a move away from adherence to the Aristotelian Unities and toward a more layered and textured and less time-bound narrative -- the kind of story we're used to seeing from late-model Alice Munro. The effect is extraordinary, and the stories that achieve it deserve a second look to see how Jones manipulates time and structure, and interplays scene and exposition. It's also sort of a miracle the way she lands these stories. The reader feels as though he or she has read a novel -- no small achievement.

One last thing worth mentioning: In some of the reviews that have already appeared here at Amazon.com, and also in other outlets, the reviewer has given Girl Trouble high praise but complained that all the stories are set in the same place. This doesn't make any sense to me. (Would one complain that an entire novel is set in the same place?) Reading these stories, there isn't really anything much repetitive except the worldview of many of the characters, particularly the fatherly figures, which with some exceptions seem mostly of a piece, and which are to some degree romanticized (but not so much that it undermines the story -- these aren't cartoon characters, they're fully rendered characters that are complicated enough to satisfy even an itchy reader like me.) But the stories are remarkably varied in their attention to event, in their structural and point of view strategies, in their lengths, in the ways in which they construct meaning. Place serves as an anchor and a unifier. It's true: This is a book, not just a random assemblage of this and that part. The stories speak to one another, and they are intelligently ordered and assembled. The reader can construct a narrative throughline from beginning to end, and where characters from one story appear in another, there is a further amplification of pleasure.

If you enjoy reading books, and you don't have time to read very many, Girl Trouble by Holly Goddard Jones is one that is well worth your time.

Discovering a writer whose work I really admire is one of those sweet little things that make life worth living. I'm happy to say I've found another one of those sweet little things with Girl Trouble. The only quibble I have with the book (and it's a very, very small quibble since I actually like the cover and have always enjoyed a moderate amount of girl trouble when I could find it ) is the title combined with the cover and the fact that the author is a woman at first gives the impression that this book might be "chick lit." Believe me, Girl Trouble is not "chick lit." In fact, it's as far from being "chick lit" as the 64 year old man writing this review is from being a chick.

Though definitely not "chick lit" (not that there's anything wrong with "chick lit"), there are a number of strong, well imagined female characters in Girl Trouble. For example, Libby in "Retrospective," who, upon hearing that her ex husband is going to build a new home on the land where she once lived with him, begins looking back upon a marriage that ran off the tracks years ago. Libby is portrayed so well in this story, I felt I was reading about a neighbor who lives down the street from me. Then there is Dana in "Parts," who narrates the story and pulled me inside her own private hell after the murder of her daughter. But my favorite female character in this book is the tender-hearted thirteen year old, Ellen, in "Theory of Realty." The mounting tension in this story is palpable as Ellen's sweet nature makes her extremely vulnerable to making decisions that could ruin the rest of her life.

But what is amazing about this book is the male characters. They appear so real on the page, I couldn't help but wonder how the young woman whose picture graces the back cover could know so much about men. How could she imagine how it feels to be Jacob in "Good Girl," a man with his best years behind him and his wife dead, having a chance to heal his wounds in the arms of a good woman as he tries to clean up the debris left by the sociopathic son he raised? Or Theo Burk, a high school girls' basketball coach, on the brink of disaster because he is having an affair with, or worse, has fallen in love with, one of his students--the wonderfully self-centered and fickle Josie (Whoa, talk about girl trouble). In "Proof of God," the author not only probes the psyche of Simon Wells, the murderer of Dana's daughter in "Parts," but traces his background and the chain of events that inextricably led to the senseless killing.

Another thing I liked about Girl Trouble is the fact that the stories are fairly long ones (thirty or forty pages) in which something actually happens that transforms the lives of the very believable characters that inhabit the book. I can't wait to see the world this writer will create in the space of a two to three-hundred page novel. Well, I guess I'll have to wait. But I'll sure be on the lookout for it. And when it comes, I know it will be sweet.

The stories in Girl Trouble grabbed me by the shoulders and made my heart quicken in a way that no single short story has done in a very long time. Holly Goddard Jones is a young writer whose deep sensitivity, empathy and generosity belie her years. Every one of the stories in this collection is imbued with such startling wisdom and insight, but especially heartbreaking were "Good Girl," "Parts," "Retrospective" and "Allegory of a Cave." One question posed by the ex-husband to his ex-wife in "Parts" actually brought tears to my eyes, as did several lines and scenes in "Good Girl" and "Retrospective."

These stories have such a richness and scope to them that they often give the impression of a novel rather than a short story. This is deep, emotional writing that can't help but affect you as it plumbs the depths of grief and loneliness and despair, as it portrays the loss of innocence. While the characters in Girl Trouble are small-town folk, they speak to denizens of both the small town and the big city, as many of them lead lives compromised by compromise, and their passions, though quiet, come across loud and clear to us--heartwrenchingly so.

I could continue with this gushing, but let's leave it at this: Goddard-Jones has something to say, and we are much the better for listening.

In internet fashion, I came to the book in rather circuitous way. I was reading one of my favorite blogs ( [...] ) and came upon a link to an intro by Claire Messud at Guernica ( [...] ) which led me to a novel excerpt by Holly Goddard Jones which led me to some online versions of some of Holly's short stories which drew me to the local Borders to buy my own copy of the collection. Just finished this collection and I have to say that it blew me away. I came to the Amazon link so I could share it with some friends and I was happy to read the positive reviews especially the one by Kyle Minor since I know him (Hi Kyle). And I have to agree with Kyle. This collection is the work of a master and it's the kind of fiction I like best because the author is clearly writing outside her own personal experience. She convincingly details the inner lives of people she may or may not have know in "real" life but the reader recognizes these people as real and true. In the first story she's inside the head of a man who has to deal with many things in addition to coming to terms with his son being a rapist. In the next story she's realistically depicted the character of a basketball coach conflicted over his relationship with a pregnant student. And on it goes . Each protagonist is clearly drawn from story to story to story. Another thing I'd like to emphasize is that these are STORIES in the true sense of the word. Things happen in these stories. There is forward momentum. There is very little of interior rumination leading to epiphany that seems to common in literary short fiction. I think I've been thinking along these lines more lately because I've been rereading Faulkner's short stories and come to realize how much story is central to "A Rose for Emily," "Barn Burning," "Wash,"and "That Evening Sun." Like Kyle, was impressed by the novelistic scope of these stories and Alice Munro came to my mind as well. I will say that "Retrospective" is the one story in the collection that may have a bit too much interior rumination, for my taste at least, and I wonder if it could have been improved by either expansion to novel length or by condensation. I don't know. I still enjoyed the story which means I enjoyed every story in the collection which is not something I can say about most short story collections. I'll end by saying this is the best collection of short stories that I've read in a long time and I just hope it's the beginning of a long career. I want to read more stories like these if Holly Goddard Jones has more stories like these to tell.

This is a review addendum. I own the hard copy version of "Girl Trouble" and I reviewed it back in February of 2010. I recently downloaded it to my iPad through iBook to have a more portable version. I used the highlight and notation tools in iBooks to really analyze the stories in terms of structure and theme to see how Jones does the amazing things she does in this collection. After doing this with "Life Expectancy" I was even more impressed by what a great story this is. Even more impressed than when I read the hard copy version of the story which is also heavily highlighted and annotated. "Life Expectancy" is just a great, great story whether you're reading it just to read a great story or reading it to see how a writer writes a really great story. I'd love to teach this someday or have a writers discussion group of just this story. I, obviously, highly recommend this story and the book.

This eight story collection "answers" the Beatles question in Eleanor Rigby: "Where do all the lonely people go?"; they go to Roma Kentucky. Each tale focuses on a person(s) who has personal moral issues relating to others that bring their own ethics into question like the father of a son accused of rape (title tale) or married with a newborn basketball coach's star pregnant with his child ("Life Expectancy"). The entries are quite good, but the locale can feel repetitive as it limits the environment; as such this reviewer suggests reading GIRL TROUBLE over a couple of weeks. The best short stories especially worth reading together are the insightful duality entries of "Parts" and "Proof of God"; the same incident the vicious murder of a young girl is told by her mother and her killer. The townsfolk make Holly Goddard Jones's compilation worth a visit to Kentucky.

Harriet Klausner

I've been familiar with Holly's work for a little while now, having read "Parts" online. I can't remember the last short story collection I read that was as powerful and emotional as this book. Every story ends not with a whimper or subtle realization but with a bang. I showed "Parts" to my wife, who isn't really a big reader, and she loved it, even though she cried three times. Buy this book, you will not regret it, there is not a weak story in here, and it touches on all of the emotions that we've all been though - regret, loss, anxiety, hope, love, lust, betrayal...you name it. Excellent work Holly, I can't wait to read your novel.

In these stories Holly Goddard Jones has a way of putting one humble sentence after another to create something extraordinary. The result is true artistry, an invisibility impossible to categorize or imitate. Perhaps this is one reason all the reviews and articles have overemphasized the regionalism of the stories -- the seamless prose is hard to explain except to say, gee it's really good. For me the stories are universal rather than regional. There's a wisdom and compassion here that makes me want to read more of her work.

The writing is terrific, hard to put down. However the subject matter is tough. (and I'm a therapist that has dealt with years of woman's trauma) I'm not sure why this was recommended to me by Amazon.

the book was in good condition. i expected it sooner seeing as i paid for expedited shipping.