Shy Girl [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Stark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1999

Shy Girl, Elizabeth Stark's first novel, plumbs the ambiguities of relationships in ways that speak to all of us.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The indelible experience of first love and the haunting presence of secrets that cannot be shared are the central issues in Starks probing, candid, often touching but somewhat overdesigned debut novel. At 23, butch lesbian Alta Corral still yearns over her former next-door neighbor and best friend, Sasha Shy Mallon. Six years ago, Shy suddenly fled their small Northern California town for Seattle. Alta, who was shocked at Shys departure, remains bitter because, despite the intense intimacy they had shared, Shy has never contacted her. Though Alta has become a prominent participant in the San Francisco lesbian community (she rides a motorcycle, has shaved her head, works in a tattoo parlor and brings many women to her bed), she has not been able to forget Shy, and when her mother calls to say that Shys mother is dying, Alta knows she must find her former lover and convince her to come home. When Shy does return, reluctantly, the womens reunion is both tender and contentious. Having decided not to identity herself as a lesbian, Shy has a boyfriend back in Seattlewhom she may or may not marryand a baby on the way. Alta is unable to accept Shys apparent sexual reversal, but what begins to take precedence over the unresolved troubles between them are the undisclosed secrets of the comatose Mrs. Mallon, who apparently fabricated her past. When Alta tries to interest Shy in uncovering her mothers true identity, she sees that her friend is an experienced accomplice at silence, at secrets, and she must find the answers alone. While the mystery of Mrs. Mallons background adds drama and suspense to the narrative, it also seems schematic and is not entirely convincing. Starks evocation of gay San Francisco will not be a novelty for readers of lesbian fiction. On the other hand, her refusal to let her characters mend the past tidily or sentimentally is impressive. At the end, the characters are wiser but not necessarily happier, and the ambiguities of their lives are unresolved.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Alta and Shy were each other's first lovers as teenagers. Estranged for five years and now in their early twenties, they have been brought together to tend to Shy's dying mother. They seem to have become polar opposites: Shy is pregnant and living with a man, Alta is a cartoonish San Francisco Nineties lesbian: a buzz-cut butch body piercer who has the femmes of the city at her feet. What is conveyed affectingly here is the dreadful limbo of terminal illness, where death comes not as a relief but as an anticlimax. Shy's mother has a terrifying past, the discovery of which is supposed to provide tension, but the lack of characterization and jarring shifts in time and perspective provide tension of a different, presumably unintended kind. This poorly edited effort by a first-time author should have incubated longer. Not recommended.AIna Rimpau, Newark P.L., NJ
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T); 1st edition (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374263523
• ISBN-13: 978-0374263522
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,651,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All right, but not what I'd hoped for, February 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Shy Girl (Hardcover)

While there's no doubt that Shy Girl is well-written and, at times, compelling, ultimately I was disappointed. I found the character of Alta an annoying caricature of an SF butch, and the gratuitous sex scenes and references to the dyke S/M scene distracting and contrived. I do think the portrait sketched of Shy is a profound one, though, and I also liked the way Stark conveyed the horrors of the Holocaust, relaying emotion without being either cliched or overly Spielberg-esque; I wish she'd started with the exploration of this theme earlier in the novel, along with gradually disclosing more information about Alta's mother. This book has a lot of potential, but I felt that its zenith was never reached, as is the case with too much contemporary lesbian fiction.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read Shy Girl -- not the reviews! Save the mystery!, September 25, 2000

By 

JaniceMNC (Nazareth, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shy Girl (Hardcover)

Elizabeth Stark's novel is a fast read that is compelling and beautifully written. Hang onto the mystery -- and see how much we are alike -- and how our differences still are more accentuated and divisive than honored! The context of this novel is a MUST for the message. The author pulls the reader in -- and holds on! If you can't read this -- ask yourself why not and then finish it for the answer! Most of all, don't read the reviews (like the ones printed above!) that give the mystery away. You'll love it anyway, but will miss the ironic twist that Stark so eloquently delivers.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silence's power, March 13, 2001

By 

"blissengine" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shy Girl: A Novel (Paperback)

Stark's first novel is an astonishing story of the power of secrets and things left unsaid. Sasha ("Shy") left abruptly years ago, and Alta still hasn't gotten over her. When Shy's mother has a stroke, Shy is forced to come back. The out lesbian Alta and the pregnant Shy struggle to reconnect and together they face the things they left unsaid between them, as well as the secrets harbored in Shy's family. After Shy's mother dies, Shy discovers her true heritage and finds herself finally understanding her mother. By being witness to this, Alta connects to aspects of herself and her relationships (lovers, her mother, her friends). The story is beautifully rendered, and reminded me of Allison Green's "Half-moon Scar" and Aryeh Lev Stollman's "The Far Euphrates". A potent and moving story of surviving the past, and the cost of this to our present and future lives.