Now in their forties, six midwestern women have enjoyed a close personal friendship for years, sharing the intimate details of one another's lives until the marriage of one of their number and her husband crashes violently. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
First-novelist Kagan is literate and intelligent, but her attempt at commercial fiction leaves a lot to be desired. The six "girls" who grew up together in Kansas City are now in their 50s, but they and their former boyfriends and current husbands have remained closely knit. When Jessie Chickery shoots her flagrantly womanizing husband Pete, each of the "girls" relates her version of the event, which entails recounting memories of their shared pasts in minute and often irrelevant detail. A thread through their stories is their secret relationships with Pete, who is variously depicted as cold and manipulative or caring and generous, having seduced and cruelly dropped some of the "girls" but made others feel loved, beautiful and needed. Kagan's attempt to delineate Pete's complicated personality via each character's first-person narration results in long monologues that sustain a note of histrionic self-indulgence. Though she tries to vary their voices, the women all sound alike, speaking in identical repetitive phrases and short, choppy sentences. One character says: "I was drunk. I was." Another emotes: "I can't do this. I just can't." A third: "I knew I was alive. Alive for the first time." There is a sameness to their lives, too: they have all been sad and desperate and have had serious emotional breakdowns. A ridiculously melodramatic funeral scene seems written for a TV movie. 50,000 first printing; Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This absorbing, cleverly crafted first novel begins and ends with the killing of Pete Chickery by his wife, Jessie. In between we learn just who he was from many points of views. Each chapter carries the distinct voice and perspective of friend or family as they gather for his funeral in Kansas City, Missouri. They share remembrances of all-American high school days, reveal shifting relationships, and recount the successes, losses, and betrayals of ordinary lives. The character of Pete develops through each reminiscence, materializing as the glue that holds the story and these lives together. He emerges as interestingly, realistically complex: adoring family man; irrepressible philanderer; abusive, controlling husband; traveling salesman; and devoted friend who is both thoroughly engaging and maddeningly oblivious to his wife's increasing despair. Recommended for fiction collections.
- Sheila Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Sheila Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not a bad idea, but...,
By
This review is from: Girls (Mass Market Paperback)
I really tried to get into this book, but infortunately, it never reached the point of "flowing" for me. I thought the plot was well conceived. In "The Girls," we get to know four women, who have been friends for decades, through the death of one man, Pete Chickery. One of "The Girls" was married to Pete, but all of them had a relationship of one type or another with him. After he is killed, the story of who Pete was, what he meant to each of them, and their relationships with one another come into focus. While this core group intrigued me, the peripheral characters - children, parents, housekeepers, etc., really gummed up the works for me. The story was simple, but the more characters that I was intoduced to, the more my interest waned. I also didn't particularly care for the structure of the first three "chapters," when each character was speaking directly to another person to whom we had not been introduced. Yet, when we finally meet that person, she is simply a part of the story, and not the omniscient presence that I was prepared to meet. Perhaps the reason that the story failed to "flow" for me, was due to that fact that once I became accustomed to one voice, it changed dramatically into another, then another. It never had the rythym that it needed to keep me turning pages.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Once started, I couldn't stop,
By A Customer
This review is from: Girls (Mass Market Paperback)
What can I say, this book was surely one of the best and most thrilling, I've ever read. During the first few pages I hadn't got a clou what the hell all this was about, but once I had the point, I couldn't stop readin. I wanted to know all about the girls, about the different characters, their lives, fears and their relation with Michael. You should go to the next bookshop and get it. Thrilling, funny and excellently written. If there were mor than 5 stars, I'd give more
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book for a reading group,
By A Customer
This review is from: Girls (Mass Market Paperback)
I stumbled across this book at the library and checked it out on a whim. I am so glad I did ... This is a book you want all your friends to read so you will have someone to discuss it with -- was Pete a bad guy or a good guy? Was his death justified? All things considered, did these people treat each other the way friends are supposed to, especially 'the girls'? Bottom line: An Excellent Book.
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