Stupid Boys Are Good to Relax With

by Susan Swan

Book by Swan, Susan

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Womens, Short Stories, Anthologies, Canada

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Journalist, feminist, novelist, activist, teacher, Susan Swan’s critically acclaimed fiction has been published in twenty countries including the US, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, and Russia. She is a co-founder of the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, the largest literary award in the world for women.
 
Swan’s new book, Big Girls Don’t Cry: A Memoir about Taking Up Space, was published by HarperCollins in Canada and Beacon Press in the US in May 2025. Big Girls Don’t Cry tells the story of how Swan’s Amazonian size shaped her life. To be tall is to be big and to be big is a no-no for women of all sizes, Swan writes. Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk says of Swan’s writing that it offers “not only an enjoyable read but the chance to think and reflect on the vast complex living entity that is the world.” 

Swan’s other books of fiction include The Dead Celebrities Club (2019), a fascinating account of a Toronto-born tycoon jailed for fraud in the US; The Western Light (2012), a story about a girl’s love for a dubious father substitute who is also an ex-NHL star and convicted murderer; What Casanova Told Me (2004), a novel that links two women from different centuries through a long-lost journal about travels with Casanova in Italy, Greece and Turkey; Stupid Boys are Good to Relax With (1996), a collection of short stories about young women and how they relate to men; The Wives of Bath (1993), an international bestseller about a murder in a girls’ boarding school; The Last of the Golden Girls (1989), a novel about the sexual awakening of young women in an Ontario cottage country; and The Biggest Modern Woman of the World (1983), a saucy portrait of the real-life Victorian giantess Anna Swan who exhibited with P.T. Barnum.

A retired professor emerita at York University, Swan mentors creative writing students at the University of Toronto. As York’s Millennial Robarts Chair in Canadian Studies, she hosted the successful Millennial Wisdom Symposium in Toronto featuring writers and historians debating the lessons of the past. As a former chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada, Swan brought in a new benefits deal for Canadian writers and self-employed Canadians in the arts.

Susan Swan makes her home and garden in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood.

Reviews

[ayanami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be honest: I read this book but I am not sure exactly what to make of it. It's a collection of short pieces about women and their relationships with men-- with their boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, husbands, acquaintances, one night stands, random strangers, etc. The first half of the book contains short stories in a more traditional format while the second half, titled "Cyber Tales", is a collection of internet postings by famous historical women (Aphrodite, Marilyn Monroe, Catherine the Great, etc.) in a chat room where they discuss their love lives. I love the idea of the "Cyber Tales", it's incredibly imaginative and I liked this section better than the first half of the book. As for the stories themselves, I found them sometimes funny, sometimes quirky though I felt some of them went over my head or I had trouble relating. I have a sneaking suspicion I'd enjoy this book a lot more if I was older and had more life experience.

[Emily Sledge · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first of Susan Swan’s works.

This was recommended in my Pinterest feed months ago and I came across a used copy pretty surprisedly.

I enjoyed the structure of this and will be no contrarian to those who say the second half, Cyber Tales, is stronger than the first. Unfortunately, my interest in this work took a steep plummet as I couldn’t get all that invested in any of the characters, their plights, or the bridge between the two sections of the text.

In Issue 21 of Miracle Monocle, we published two experimental works of writer Taylor Sykes (Edie Sedgwick, 1967 & Edie Sedgwick, 2007), the former of which functioned much better than the latter but ultimately encompassed a similar style and effect of Swan’s Cyber Tales. Having read these previously and been moved much more by the strength of Sykes’s efforts, I was that much more disappointed with Swan’s work especially given she had the wonderful chat room format with the brilliant *Row Man.CITY* and the ever-evolving technological environment that was the 90s to play with. Regardless, I’m a big fan of how Swan interweaves perspectives and ways of being a woman throughout a myriad of years and social positions in this text.

As a young woman just falling between the ages of that recommended for women readers of the Stupid Boy Handbook (“ages twelve to twenty-two”), I found this work to be witty, applicative, and somewhat experimental but mostly (and most disappointedly) lacking in something that I can’t quite put my finger on. That, ironically, is precisely the problem. Swan’s speakers are pronounced and specific, but perhaps so much so that readers find difficulty in identifying with them… or maybe, I just do.

Lovely cover. Fun to have on the shelf.
Perhaps I’ll revisit Swan’s work and/or read her others with more open eyes.

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like i could write a term paper on this book. I struggled with it so much. The first half of the stories are very blah, very autobiographical seeming, but Swan doesn’t have much to say with them; relationships, aging, children, sexuality. They all kind of run together (i swear there were two featuring yoga that read the exact same way). BUT THE SECOND HALF. THE CYBER STORIES. I LOVED THOSE. I loved the concept of the Row. Man City website and all the Greek heroes mixed with historical figures. It was very fun, a little Anne Carson, ‘Autobiography of Red’ vibey. The last story about the sex robot might’ve been my favourite, even if Swan’s heavy handed storytelling at times had me rolling my eyes.
I don’t really know what to think of this collection. I can’t decide if I loved it or if I’ll forget about it by the end of the year.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book from a secondhand store without knowing anything about it because the title intrigued me. I liked the second part of this short story collection much better. The first half was mostly composed of glimpses of semi-autobiographical moments while the second offered interesting perspectives on love through emails sent between different historical and fictional characters. Some stories felt like they were written for shock value more than anything else.

[Dona Jazrawy · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really ate up the first half of this but the second half i just did not get. i feel like i needed more knowledge on historical figures to get the jokes. need to find more books like this tho.

in conclusion:
“Stupid boys suck up ALL your energy until nothing is left but a pathetic little thing that used to be you.”

edit: wait i’m actually embarrassed bc all the reviews say they liked the second half better like did i miss something???

[Morgan Barrett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Content didn't stick with me and I found the book hard to get through - I didn't find myself eager to continue reading in the least. I am in my early twenties and I found this book to be very juvenile. Perhaps it is meant for a preteen-teen audience but with the numerous sexual references I am not convinced that would be the target market either.

I appreciate the uniqueness of this book in it's format. The quirks in concept and formatting make it more memorable. The writing quality and stories fall short. Couldn’t force myself to finish it.

[Carrie]

I bought this book because of the title. I liked how (at the time) the formatting was slightly novel and unusual. In all honesty, none of it stuck with me. I can't remember what it was about, what happened, not a single thing. I think I enjoyed it as a way of passing the time, and didn't not like it.... but it made zero impact.

Not sure if that says more about the author, or about me.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept.
Not a bad book, a very quick read.

[Nat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of short stories. I liked the first half better than the second half. The second half didn't age as well - ex. the references to "cyber space" and Newt Gingrich.