Such a Girl: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Karen V. Siplin (Author) "He's standing across the street, waiting for the light to change, but I know it's him even before he starts walking in my direction..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Sam Ripper, Sullivan Brew (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
...a witty, fast-paced novel about lost love and the possibilities of what can happen further down the road. -- Zane

Solidly grounded in the backstairs culture at posh New York hotels…'Girl' gives a hilariously eye-opening account of…celebrity-crazed hotel workers… -- The Boston Herald

Review
ZaneSiplin has done it again. Such a Girl is a witty, fast-paced novel about lost love and the possibilities of what can happen further down the road. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Atria; 1st Atria edition (March 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743475542
• ISBN-13: 978-0743475549
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,199,438 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful treatment of Jane Austen's PERSUASION, March 20, 2004

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Nine years ago at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Kendall Stark heeded the advice of her friends by ending her two year relationship with Jack Sullivan because everyone insisted he was a loser. Now, Kendall is a thirty-one year old single living in Brooklyn, working as a communications operator at a popular luxurious Manhattan hotel, and having a nowhere affair with a married man.

Kendall feels contented until she sees Jack, owner of New England?s very successful Sullivan Brewery who is staying at the hotel. Kendall handles herself reasonably well during the encounter, but as he leaves his look back is filled with disappointment that shakes her to the core of her essence. Kendall realizes what she lost when she stopped being Sullivan?s Ken; she decides she must try to win back his love. However, Jack not only has to forgive, he wonders if she desires him because he is a success?

As CLUELESS DID TO Jane Austen's EMMA, SUCH A GIRL provides the same delightful treatment to the author?s PERSUASION with Ken being Anne Elliot and Sullivan is retired naval officer Frederick Wentworth. The enjoyable second chance at love story line reflects a realistic social order that though the plot takes place in the twenty-first century could have easily been in the early 1800s. Sullivan is a wonderful protagonist as he wants his Ken back in his life, but doubts he can trust her with his heart. Ken regrets the error that shaped her life, but shows courage as she decides to prove she is his significant other forever. Together they make an intelligent and witty tale.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Such A Girl, March 23, 2004

By	Angelique C. Henderson "Ms. Jordy's mom" (Cumberland, RI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Such a Girl is a reflectively told novel that will grasp the mind of any reader who has ever questioned the choices they have made and the path that they have followed to bring them to the place where they are today.

Karen Siplin gives us the story of Kendall Stark, a phone operator at posh hotel with celebrity clientele. When one of the guests turns out to be the former boyfriend she dumped years before?with the approval of her friends, who thought that he was going nowhere fast and taking her along for the ride?it brings about a lot of questions for Kendall. Aside from the love that she is struggling not to still have for a now highly successful and engaged Jack Sullivan, Kendall now struggles with thoughts of her dead end job, her relationship with a co-worker who is a married man, her purpose in life and the choices she?s made to get there. She evaluates the ?unsuccessful? lives of herself and her friends as her ex comes back to gloat before the woman he never stopped loving and her judgmental friends.

Siplin writes in blow-by-blow motion that makes no to attempt to create a world for the reader, but rather states things as-a-matter-of-factly and leaves the rest up to the reader?s imagination. Her talents are so great that she is able to do this and allow the words and motion to convey strong tensions and emotions between and within the characters. However, because of this writing style, some of the pivotal characters, namely Amy, Nick, and Gary, do not come off the page and tend to blend into one another or do not come across as uniquely as they possibly could.

Such A Girl is a moderately paced thought provoking novel as well as a subtle love story. This minimal drama story is a great alternative read from a writer with a highly distinctive and enchanting voice in fiction

Readincolor Reviewers
Cherlyn Michaels

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'm persuaded - it's a nice adaptation., April 8, 2005

By	BMAR (Northern USA) - See all my reviews

I picked up this book because of its description as being loosely based on Jane Austen's Persuasion. I happen to like Austen originals, as well as movies and books based on her works. This was no exception. "Such A Girl" is the conduit for Kendall Stark's life story. Almost a decade ago while in college, Kendall broke up with her love Jack Sullivan because her upwardly mobile college friends saw him as someone going nowhere FAST. Jack was a loafer, but one who was determined to enjoy life even if things like classes got in the way. After many breakup-to-makeup periods, Kendall walked out of his life and didn't look back.

Now she's living a life that passes as satisfying. She's a 31-year hotel telephone operator who lives with one of her aforementioned college friends, now an aspiring writer who works as a waiter. When Jack walks into her hotel one day, she's hit right in the fast with her unresolved history. Jack is now a successful owner of a beer manufacturing company. It seems that Jack is living the life that Kendall and her friends were struggling to attain years ago. Though they missed the mark, Jack is sitting pretty - with a fiancée to boot. Kendall, who is involved in an affair with a married man, must face her lingering feelings for Jack as she struggles to understand what Jack is doing in "her" hotel.

It's a nice adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion with all the social commentary on the differences in classes and love lost due to superficial reasons. I enjoyed the novel. My only criticism is that the tales of Kendall's life as an operator and her interactions with co-workers and neighbors were often too many and too detailed for me. I was particularly distracted by her ongoing conflicts with her neighbors, which distracted from the overall flow of the novel at times. It was annoying, but it didn't interfere greatly with my overall enjoyment of the story and its underlying romantic themes.