Customer Reviews

Normal Girl: A Novel

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

As far as I can discern, there is nothing likeable about this book, or any of the characters or situations therein. The main character, Miranda, is a spoiled 19-year-old who can't seem to get her life together and uses an arsenal of prescription, non-prescription and illegal drugs, not to mention booze, as a crutch. She is impossible to empathize with, and plot turns such as her trip to rehab offer nothing to increase interest. The plot is thin to the point of being nonexistent in many places, and none of the characters offer anything of merit to the story. If this rampage is an example of the way the "other half lives," they can keep it; I'll stick to being a poor college student rather than trade in my run-of-the-mill neuroses for Miranda's prize-winning ones.

Do we need another book about a young, rich, spoiled, witty, "beautiful" New Yorker doing too much drugs, parties, sex?? Oh, then goes to rehab and learns the Meaning of Life? Oye. This territory has all been covered many times before by other, much better writers. Jong-Fast is not a "bad" writer. She's learned a few things from her famous mom and writer friends (who all write high-praise blurbs on the book jacket). Jong-Fast's hip-chic-world-weary-at-19 "voice" is fast-paced and amusing at times, (enough to keep a reader vaguely entertained for a 2 hour plane trip), but it's such a hollow book, the main character without any redeeming characteristics. She's just one, big fatal flaw, with nothing in her spirit to root for. (We're supposed to have sympathy for such a person--a rich, pretty gal who has it all and does this with her life? Well I had little patience and zero sympathy for such a loser.) We don't even see her struggle in rehab or recovery---Jong-Fast writes that off with two lines: "There's no point in describing an AA meeting; it's like a car accident or the Grand Canyon, always lost in the translation." Indeed, a better writer could have described it. Where's Mom when you need her?

I agree with all the other negative reviews that this book has received. There is no plot. The main character, Miranda, is unlikeable to the point that I didn't understand how she had any friends. Nothing happens for the first 97 pages of this 195 page book, then Miranda goes to rehab, where we still get no insight into anything, then nothing happens for the rest of the book. The cover is the best part.

This is Erica's daughter. Erica Jong. Let's start by speculating that if she was not the daughter of a known and highly connected novelist, that this manuscript would have ended up being covered with coffee grounds in the trash can of the junior publishing screener.

This trashy and tawdry journey into the depths of substance abuse was written by someone too lazy to research (the Minneapolis airport was "tiny and cold?????"), too elite to speculate that her character needed some, slightly plausible source of her endless finances, and too untalented to realize that the hopelessly enabling boyfriend and ditzy mother she created were pathetic and unrealistic. The nihilistic, overdose-level drug-induced stupors, needle events, nosebleeds, vomiting sessions and mindless description of sinking into despair while attempting wit and humor were simply too much for me. I needed to wash after reading this...and finished it because I knew I wanted to tell other readers to avoid it, and couldn't be credible until I said I had read the whole thing. Save your money, save your time. Read "girl interrupted," or even Carrie Fischer's first hand account. It is better.

To give Jong-Fast her due, Normal Girl is a remarkable achievement for a twenty-one year old. Having said that, I don't believe this book would ever have been published if it wasn't for Jong-Fast's literary connections.

While she shows moments of great talent and promise, Bret Easton Ellis she ain't. Not yet anyway.

Aside from the shallow and cliched story-line though, the worst aspect of the book is the appalling editing. Take the last sentence in the book for example:

Because I'm off into the daylight. .'

What sort of punctuation is that? There were missing and misspelled words throughout the whole book (and I'm not talking about American spelling standards such as 'center' instead 'centre'). I had to re-read a lot of sentences.

By the end of the book, I wondered why I should care about it when it was quite clear that the writer, editor, agent, publisher and anyone else involved in the production of it, didn't.

The main character of this book is Miranda . . . a shallow, rude, over-indulged, self-absorbed, self-loathing "wanna be" who should have read GO ASK ALICE. Literature . . . not.

"Normal Girl" has an annoying, unlikeable heroine, tons of unfunny "humor" and cliches, and scads of underdeveloped characters and situations. It's really too irritating for me to even recommend it as a beach read. I realize that, because Molly Jong-Fast is Erica Jong's daughter, publishers were probably lining up to buy this manuscript. They should've held off. Molly Jong-Fast also should've held off on publishing a novel until she'd acquired a little more wisdom and writing skills. This should've remained in her bottom drawer or the pages of her journal, the unpublished novel that led to better work but was never seen by anyone. Too bad she had to go and show it to people.

This book would never have been published had it been written by an unknown author, or, I should say, an author with unknown parents. The characters are completely unlikeable and utterly boring. I found myself hoping the protagonist would die an embarrassing death. Normal Girl makes Less Than Zero seem like Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

I am meaning no offense to the author of this book, by I am saying this right now. This book definetly sucks in my opinion. I usually only give good reviews about books, but I dragged myself here to tell the world not to read "Normal Girl." Basically, this book goes on and on, and I kept telling myself not to stop reading because something interesting has to happen sooner or later, but nothing did..It doesn't only lack character development, it doesn't even have a plot. Don't get me wrong, I am not dissing this author, I am just saying, maybe next time she should think of a plot before she starts writing her next book. Because in my opinion, this book basically is worthless. Save your money for a better interesting book, if you are looking for a good book that somewhat relates to this but is way better...maybe you should try the "Alice" series...

When I first heard about this book I was interested to read this book and thought it would be a quick and intersting book. I was wrong.. well it was a quick read but interesting that it was not.

The charactors in this book have no depth or life to them. Well besides there rampate drug usage and partying. Miranda was a whining 19 year old girl.

There was no real plot for this book. It just went from one end to the other and back again. The story line could have better if there was more depth to it but I just don't think it would have made the book any better.

I had to force myself to finish the book after putting it down. Overall I hope that this author picks another subject to write on and possibly puts some more time into it.

I can't really say I would give this book to anyone.