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What She Saw...: A Novel Hardcover – September 12, 2000

by Lucinda Rosenfeld (Author)

64 customer reviews

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Beginning in fifth grade, Phoebe Fine, the daughter of an oboist in suburban New Jersey, finds that love is a risky game to play. There is Roger Mancuso, who offers Phoebe her first cigarette, her first kiss, and her first experience of loss. There is Spitty Clark, the frat boy and inveterate party animal who's a possible criminal but also somehow a man of honor. Later on, as a young woman living in New York, Phoebe crosses the path of arrogant Pablo Miles (né Peter Mandelbaum), who licks her hand moments after they meet. And so it goes, as Phoebe struggles to reconcile her conflicting desires for safety and adventure, sympathy and conquest. Lucinda Rosenfeld relates Phoebe's serial, seriocomic encounters with freshness, range, economy, and emotional precision:

"She understood the jealousy emaciation aroused in other women."
"She couldn't persuade herself to spend an entire hour's salary on a piece of bread and three zucchini rounds."
"Their first date was more like an appointment. To screw."

Unexpected, absorbing, and likely to elicit strong identification among men and women alike, What She Saw . . . serves up acute observations and serious ideas--Phoebe's recognition of her complicity in the disenchantments she endures, the intersection of Eros and ambition--with stealthy charm. The sum of these parts is an intriguing, funny, sharp, and occasionally devastating rendition of that most basic and crucial of human stories: growing up. The vision in What She Saw . . . is perfect.

What She Saw...: A Novel

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Product Details

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (September 12, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375503757
ISBN-13: 978-0375503757
Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.5 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #954 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Single Women
- #34940 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary
- #99311 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States

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Customer Reviews

3.3 out of 5 stars

5 star		25%
4 star		25%
3 star		20%
2 star		19%
1 star		11%

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Top Customer Reviews

A wild ride...

By Dianna Setterfield on January 7, 2003

Format: Paperback

I really enjoyed What She Saw.... I thought it was a very well-written piece of work, despite the fact that the main character, Phoebe, has serious issues. Lucinda Rosenfeld has done a wonderful job with this novel, and I will be sure to look out for her next offering.
Phoebe Fine begins her story in the late 70s during her fifth grade year in school. The boy's name is Roger "Stinky" Mancuso, and Phoebe has a crush on him that won't quit. However, Stinky becomes more than just a dream for Phoebe, in ways both good and bad, and this experience becomes the stepping stone for a long and twisted journey.
What She Saw... takes the reader through the odyssey that is Phoebe's love life. It is interesting to watch Phoebe grow up before our eyes, beginning with a sweet, curious kid to a messed-up adult still in search of love and fulfillment. The men that come into Phoebe's life sometimes stay, most often go, but always leave behind a piece of themselves that Phoebe carries with her. It is also interesting to see how each relationship develops and how, ultimately, they crumble. By the book's end, readers are left wondering about Phoebe -- does she make it; does she find true love; does she finally mature and realize that she is more than just the other half of a man?
I recommend this novel with confidence. However, it won't be for everyone. Phoebe is not a wholly likeable character. She is quite frustrating at times. But she is also human with the most basic of desires -- to find love and be loved in return. I could relate to Phoebe on this level, and I think that is the part that cinched the book for me. What She Saw... is indeed a wild ride, but definitely one worth taking.

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Pretty good, but not seamless

By A Customer on October 23, 2000

Format: Hardcover

I read Lucinda Rosenfeld's "What She Saw..." in one night, and it was like riding a roller coaster. At times, it was exhilirating and refreshing, funny and insightful, at other times it dragged beyond belief, and I couldn't wait to move on to the next chapter/guy. Not surprisingly, the characters and stories Rosenfeld clearly spent more time and thought developing (Spitty Clark, Humphrey Fung, Bruce Bledstone -especially Spitty Clark!) were the best and most interesting aspects of the book. The others (i.e., Kevin McFeeley, Arnold Allen) should have been left out completely; instead, they were brushed over in perfunctory, seemingly obligatory fashion. Certainly a better read would have been one that narrowed the list of ex-boyfriends to the few who played important roles in the character development of Rosenfeld's protagonist, Phoebe Fine. That way, their interrelation could have been explored and examined in greater detail. Nevertheless, Rosenfeld is a terrific writer, and I found myself laughing out loud at times. She just has to work on putting it all together in her next work, which I look forward to reading.

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Sharper than Bridget Jones

By A Customer on September 14, 2000

Format: Hardcover

This book reads like a cross between Welcome to the Dollhouse and a John Hughes movie. It is funny and brutally honest look at the trouble in looking for yourself in relationships. This has a great, self knowing heroine and is an andedote to all of the glossy girls dating books out there. The eighties stuff is hilarious to anyone who lived through roller disco, pac man and leg warmers. This is not a perfect book, but it sure was quirky, smart and fun to read.

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SHEILA LEVINE IS BETTER

By bowery boy on May 20, 2002

Format: Hardcover

Soon after I read this book, I tossed it out along with my retro polyester pants and orange creepers. The concept of the novel is a clever one and it starts out as being cute and funny. Even as a gay male, I could identify with Phoebe and a lot of her unwise choices in men.
Then somewhere along the line, the book loses what little bit of charm it has and suddenly you're finding yourself not liking Phoebe that much. As each man revolves his way through her life, you begin to dislike her and her choices more and more. Some of the boyfriends listed aren't even boyfriends but rather fantasy characters, penpals and in the case of Arnold Allen (the only Black guy who stereotypically appears on her list) a criminal. By the end of the novel you're thinking that she deserves everything that has happened to her. Some guys aren't good enough, others are too good and why doesn't she have any friends? One word for you Phoebe: THERAPY!!
At first I thought this was going to be a Sheila Levine for the new millenium. Whereas Sheila's self-depreciating humor and poor choices in men endeared you to her, Phoebe's self depreciating humor had you hoping she would grab a bottle of sleeping pills and end it all. I guess Mrs. Rosenfeld is a fairly talented writer as she was able to evoke such dislike for her protagonist from me, but overall this novel went absolutely nowhere and was a complete waste of my time. I liked Bridget Jones better and that's a stretch. I wouldn't really recommend this to book anyone. If you can find a copy, check out Gail Parent's 'Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York'. Although it's well over trhity years old now, it still maintains a crisp, hip, cutting edge feel to it unsurpassed by any other writer writing in the same vein as What She Saw.

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What we see in Lucinda Rosenfeld ...

By M. Yung on November 2, 2000

Format: Hardcover

Though extremely refreshing and witty during the first few vignettes, Rosenfeld's tiring dissertation in her repertoire of ex boyfriends and crushes become rather dreary and flat towards the end. I began to dislike the main character more and more as I witnessed her self-loathing and over self-analysis throughout the pages. At one point you just need her to start loving herself and get over it, so to speak. Perhaps its not about what she saw in Spitty Clark "The Gentle Rapist" or Humphrey Fung or Jack Geezo, but rather what she doesn't want to see in herself. Rosenfeld however does exhibit great moments in her prose when she is able to capture the awkwardness and timidnes of sexual intimacy, especially during the formidable teenage years. She also has a great hand at characterization. Nonetheless, a fair read (especially for post-break up times) even if one doesn't read all the way through.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Not too bad.

Well written but not remarkable.

Published 1 month ago by Andrew Wolf

Five Stars

A+++++ fast shipping

Published 6 months ago by john pfeifenroth

Two Stars

What she saw was very interesting but I had some issues with the ending.

Published 8 months ago by Kaylee Rudolph

Loved this book

Loved this book. I felt like I really connected with the characters and author. Great read for someone in their mid 20's.

Published 15 months ago by Stephanie

pretty good, early parts funny

I rather liked the first two-thirds or so of this. Once she graduated from college and her life became messier it sort of wandered off.

Published 19 months ago by P. Bolton

Ugh

I waited 285 pages for this girl to have some kind of revaluation, and it ended up being 285 pages of a woman lowering her standards to please men. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Laura Carroll

Hard to get into

Reminded me a LOT of Chelsea Handler's "My Horizontal Life", without the funny. I read the first couple of chapters and kept hoping that the book would get better, but it... Read more

Published on September 24, 2013 by Cara N. Snyder

Booo.

This book is super boring. I never found myself engaging with the characters at all. I really wouldn't recommend it.

Published on August 22, 2013 by Megan

It Was Ok

The book was alright. I appreciated the weird men she attracted but it just ended suddenly. Her friends were a little funnier than she was.

Published on July 16, 2013 by Megan Nicole

Easy read to pass the time

I liked Lucinda Rosenfeld's writing, but I found the female protagonist very frustrating. Phoebe's character development didn't seem to go very far and I found it very difficult to... Read more

Published on July 12, 2013 by Amazon Customer