Customer Reviews

Some Girls

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I LOVE this book! Why isn't Kristin McCloy writing more novels? The characters just came to life for me. Jade is just this staggeringly hip New York City chick, and Claire is like the everyman, or everywoman...she's like us, insecure, not sure if she's in the right relationship, trying to find herself, and she moves to the Big Apple to do it. I really didn't see this a a "gay" or "lesbian" themed book at all, even though some of the characters are. Like Such says, "Sometimes you just get a hard-on for someone's soul." He means that love and attraction can go beyond gender, homosexuality, or any other labels society puts on people.

I love the stuff the characters in the book do...eating Chinese food for breakfast, dying their hair blonde in an airplane bathroom...it just makes you want to be 22 and unmarried and free and living in New York with some money to spend.

And if you are all these things already...I'm jealous of you.

This novel grabbed me instantly. McCoy's prose is crisp and succinct, yet extremely vivid. The way she turns a phrase and sets a scene is amazingly original. I felt like I was working my way through the mass crowds at all of the night clubs and I felt like I was in the back seat with Jade and Claire in Mexico.
When I stared reading this, I had no idea that it was about a same-sex relationship. And after finishing it, I would not describe it as such. It is about one woman slowly and somewhat reluctantly shedding her idealism. That is what living in Manhattan does to you. The city is raw, confusing, sometimes disturbing. But once you find those connections, it can become a place of self discovery and eventual comfort. You'll never leave Manhattan the same as when you came. This was Claire's journey and I loved every second of it. Jade was someone Claire seemed to idolize more that love or even like. I felt like Jade was a time bomb ready to explode, and that is what compelled me to keep reading -- to see how the aftermath would affect Claire, the protagonist. The end chapters offered some breathtakingly beautiful prose and self realization. Definitely worth more than one reading.

Perhaps the fact that this book hits close to home is what keeps it a treasure for me but the truth cannot be hidden that this is well written and engrossing. McCloy enables the reader to acknowledge that the world lies far beyond the small neighborhoods we consider it to be made up of. The characters are engaging and though I was disappointed by the "secret" that Jade hides it does not diminish the value behind the characters tales. Well worth the small amount of time it will take you to read... go for it!

I found this book searching through the fiction section at the library. I thought it would be a fu fu book for fun but it ended up revealing some things about my personality and the relationship I was having with a friend of mine. The main character, Claire is a southern gal who is somewhat conservative and sheltered before coming to NYC. When she gets there she meets Jade and uncovers some romantic feelings she has for her while also being scared of admitting them to herself. The only part I didnt like about the book is the few months where there was no Jade at all and Claire was putsing around the city being bored without any friends and nothing interesting was happening. I recommend this book to anyone who is unsure of their sexuality. This book made me feel like having feelings for someone of the same sex isnt dirty; it's a beautiful thing.

I love this book! I've read it more than once and it still is one of the very few books that I hate to reach the ending. Kristin McCloy did a great job telling this story - her writing style is so descriptive without being too wordy. The characters are really interesting and she draws you into the story from the very beginning. I agree with another reviewer that the lesbian part of the plot isn't what's important about the relationship between Claire and Jade - it's more about how they meet and the roads their relationship takes throughout the book. I read Kristen McCloy's other book "Velocity" and enjoyed it but nowhere near as much as "Some Girls". If you like fiction you should give this book a try.

Story of a young girl moving from a small New Mexican town to New York, where she falls for her enigmatic neighbor. Claire struggles with finding herself in this new environment where her experiences are far beyond what she could have experienced had she stayed in NM. She struggles with coming to terms with her relationship with her friend-lover (a hip, beautiful and insecure dancer - a woman), and we follow her as she makes independent and daring decisions in her new life. This is a well told story about a girl leaving her old self behind to be more daring and embrace a life of her own, while struggling with her newfound independance, homesickness, and who she is becoming. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but I finished in a a couple days once I got going.

The most interesting thing about the book is the author's writing style with conversations -- she does not use quotation marks, making it difficult to discern when a character's statement ends and a description of the character begins. While it sounds like it could be distracting and pretentious, it works, and it gives the narrative a continuous, dreamy quality. The story itself is a very entertaining journey of self-revelation and culture shock, and an exploration of the relationship between two women. Ultimately, the "big secret" does not seem as shocking as it is played up to be compared with things that seen and done along the way, and the significance of the ending is difficult to grasp. But overall it is a very worthwhile read -- its emotional portrayal of a journey started by ambition, followed by shock, loneliness, work, and culminating personal growth will leave you thinking for some time. It would be nice to see more books from this author.

I first picked up this book 4 years ago at a library and soon after, bought my own copy. I haven't stopped reading it since! I love the story of Claire and Jade and how they found happiness. I like reading stories about people who leave their old surroundings to seek something new and different. Claire Stearn is one who did - and then some! She fights hard against accepting Jade's love. But then realizes that she has no other choice.

Some Girls plays as a sort of love song to New York City, while capturing Claire's discoveries of ambiguous friendship and her own inner strength and freedom. Each character is beautifully, lovingly drawn and McCloy's prose is vivid and captivating. I did not want this story to end.

Trading the open spaces of New Mexico for a crowded overgrown New York City would be quite a transition. For Claire, 23, the move reflects not only a spatial adjustment, but also a journey through her ambitions, values and sexuality.

After the move, Claire registers with a temp agency, and tries to fit in to the New York atmosphere. The city seems so distant, the days become a monotonous blur. Claire's dull, temp work-filled life becomes all the more vibrant when she meets her neighbor Jade. Jade seems all Claire strives to be: self-assured, well-traveled, a true New Yorker.

The twosome embark on a journey of not just friendship but love. Claire comes to question everything she values and relies upon, including her heterosexuality.

Some Girls is a poignant, touching novel that focuses not just on the coming-of-age of a young woman but the self-definition of a being. The novel is erotic in its writing, but not pornographic. The scenes ring true to life. Rather not just base sexuality, the novel touches on the issues of humility, exploration and trust.