Stop That Girl: A Novel in Stories

by Elizabeth Mckenzie

From the first story of Elizabeth McKenzie's beguiling debut collection, we are drawn into the offbeat worldview of sharp-eyed, intrepid Ann Ransom. "Stop That Girl" chronicles Ann's colorful coming-of-age travails, from her childhood in a disjointed family through her tender adolescence and beyond.

In the captivating title story, our eight-year-old heroine is sent by her pregnant mother on a whirlwind jaunt to Europe with her iconoclast grandmother—known even to her family as Dr. Frost—and comes home to find her family completely reconfigured. In "SOS," Dr. Frost returns to haunt Ann in college, her visit colliding with a famous poet's appearance on campus. "We Know Where We Are, But Not Why" is set during a summer at the Grand Canyon and contrasts Ann's angst-ridden yearning for a philosophical schoolmate back home to her mother's happier pursuits of a lively Australian activist.

Along the way, Ann discovers the absurdities that lurk around every corner of a young woman's life, by way of oafish neighbors, overzealous boyfriends, prurient vegetable salesmen, and sour landlords.

In these keenly funny, highly original stories, Ann and the people around her are forced to reassess their complex relationships and, along the way, find happiness on the brink of calamity. "Stop That Girl" is a brilliant examination of the exigencies of love and the fragile fabric of family, and heralds the emergence of a remarkable new voice in fiction.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 2005

Reviews

[Shawn Mooney (Shawn Breathes Books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

My love for McKenzie's The Portable Veblen bordered on the obsessive, so I was excited and nervous to try this, her first novel (in stories). What a delight it was, too! Brash, spunky Ann captured my heart straightaway; days after finishing, I'm still wrapped around her little finger. (The adult Ann stories were slightly less engaging.) Three generations of dysfunction, probed with humor and insight: a big gulp of zany, fresh, literary air.

[Paul Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have to read this book!! It's magic

Just to add to that comment... Reading from a Creative Writer's point of view. What strikes me most about it is the dazzling writing... you don't get any better than this... I've been teaching creative writing for many years and loved every turn of phrase every metaphor in this book. Just open the book at any page and read aloud and you'll see what I mean.... let me try.. ummm page 123 "the water turned the color of old broccoli..." Marvellous.

It's also doing very interesting things in terms of genre. It reads like memoir because the writing and the sharp observations are sharp and insightful. The Fiction/ Memoir debate. Try writing memoir and you end up writing fiction. Try writing fiction and you end up sneaking in slices of your life in there. It's blurry.

Elizabeth has written what is now fashionably called the Composite Novel.She calls it a Novel in Stories. If you write your life story, you don't write out your whole life: you choose a slice or slices of meaningful fragments and examine those. Certain moments of your life shape who you are, or like splinters, worry and fester until you dig them out.

And for me it is the gaps between the stories that have the most resonance.

So if you are a creative writer, you must read this book if you want to learn about good writing, playing with genre and sheer mastery of the written word.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of 9 vignettes make up Stop That Girl: A Life in Stories. I loved Ann from the very beginning, and her dysfunctional family. Each vignette is a story from Ann's life. It's written chronologically, starting when she's around 8 years old, with stories of adventures with her crazy grandmother, her time at school and then college, all these stories random but highlighting the adult she will become. I found the end somewhat disappointing as it jumps from her college days to her being married. It could have worked had the book been longer but finished with just 2 chapters/stories of her life after college. Overall I loved the book and found it funny and at times incredibly sad, her relationship with her mother is a complicated one, Ann is often manipulated by her mother but she is also very protective of Ann. As I said complicated

[Pilar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was great I didn't understand at first because they skip a few things but if you reread what you read then you will understand. I will recommend this book to someone that likes mostly drama about family. The main character is that type of person that will be your friend forever and stay by your side.

[Sophie Brookover · Rating 4 out of 5]

A GSTBA would-be nominee. Compulsively readable, with a truly winning, messed-up heroine. A small gem.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very engaging. Though it is a work of fiction, it reads like a memoir and is just crazy enough to be believable.

[ShannonCC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it 4 stars but it really should be 3.5. It was really good for most of it, a great story with really interesting characters I felt invested in. And then when the main character was an adult it just sort of petered out. I was really disappointed when I realized I was actually at the end since it really felt like it wasn't an ending.

[Constance · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to read this after Veblen and to see how Mckenzie has developed as a writer. Each story is a gem in itself. I loved the idea of taking the same characters and developing them in different stories.

[Jon-michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

the begging tells it all.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't stand this book. It was touted as hilarious and original in reviews, but I thought it was just odd, disjointed, and completely uninteresting.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting. I enjoy her writing style in the chapters, but the leaps between chapters are disjointed - I found myself frustrated with not knowing what happened to various characters who are introduced and given great significance one chapter and then never mentioned again. However, I also enjoyed creating my own narrative in my mind for what happened in their own lives. I felt sad for the younger version of Ann (main character) and the dysfunction that kept impacting her. I felt the book showed Ann struggling over one hardship after another and I was looking forward to the shift in the book where she becomes this really solid, happily-ever-after sort of individualized human being in spite of her hardships - but that is not where the book takes us. Instead, it seems life just kept happening to her and she just.. exists through it? No real surprises. No real character breakthroughs. No real happy endings. I suppose this is a bit like real life for some.. maybe that’s why it made me sad? Ann’s life ends up anticlimactic and appears to be following in the same monotonous, depressed steps of her mother. I wanted better for Ann and will spend the next few days mulling over her, her family, her ex-boyfriends, and the life she could have had if I were the author. I’m glad I read it. I learned things about myself from reading it, but I do not think I’ll read it again. I just wanted better for Ann.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved its really excellent depiction of a particular kind of mother-child relationship that is subtly manipulative and abusive but also cut with love so that in the end it takes years of backwards looking and trying to locate yourself in your own shoes just to identify what happened. Reading the earlier chapters, written largely from the perspective of the narrator as a child/young person, felt like doing that backwards looking work and reminded me of the Buddhist practice that involves imagining a conversation between your present self and your younger self. Except you never have to confront your actual history here, just Ann's.

[Jeanette Prince · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a very entertaining read, I actually had a hard time putting it down. The stories were great, but lost momentum as Ann grew into adulthood. Unfortunately the end was completely dissatisfying, feeling open ended and wan.

[Joe Canas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[BB · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't care for short stories but I was really enjoying this book. Each chapter is a vignette, an event in the life of Ann as she grows up with her mentally fragile mom, stepdad, little sister and her estranged grandmother they call by her formal name of Dr. Frost. Quirky, yes, but liked All until the last two chapters that skipped ahead in time and didn't really transition well. I guess mental illness is hereditary but was unexpected and unwelcome here.
"As I've said, it was windy yesterday. But I like weather. It's one of the few things that can make everything seem different when you're in exactly the same place."

[Jenni · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole story felt unresolved and anti-climactic. It bordered on boring. I felt like I should like it due to the pages of "great reviews" prior to the first chapter, but that didn't even sway my opinion. The main character, Ann, came from a dysfunctional family, which came from a dysfunctional family, and then created her own dysfunctional family. These characters seemed to pass on a fear of commitment, paranoia, etc. like a family heirloom to each other. The style of writing felt scattered and bland. It was hard to tell when she was reminiscing the past or speaking in the present. The story ends with just as much excitement as started with... not much. So, what did I learn, hmmm, live your life, if you're not happy change something, and take advantage of the moment, otherwise you'll end up bored, unresolved, and dysfunctional.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this with the library book group and the author came to speak to us. She said the book was largely autobiographical and described how many of her relatives were just, well, weird. Read dysfunctional here. The book was disjointed but it made sense when the author said it was originally a series of stories but the publisher had her unify them to be about one person. Lots of humor but not a compelling read.

[Kori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't LOVE it, but will give it four stars because I think the things I didn't love had more to do with aesthetics than the quality of the writing. The stories were great and the linkages were a lot of fun - it was fascinating to see the family dynamic evolve as the main character and her sister age. I read it mainly, as has been the case for a lot of my books of late, as a study in novels in stories, and structure and contentwise, it didn't do a ton for me. But I much enjoyed it anyway.

[Lesa Parnham · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I hadn't read the Portable Veblen first I may have liked this book more. You can see the character progressions that The Portable Veblen builds its characters around. This book comes off as a rough copy of The Portable Veblen. A lot of people thought that it was funny. I thought it was good, but I didn't see any laugh -out- loud moments that some other reviewers wrote about. Very confusing.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and somewhat inconsequential read...I'd seen good reviews a while back of this memoir via short stories, and picked it up for half price at Green Apple. It entertained me through my two recent flights, but in the end was not terribly memorable. I think it's out of print now, so perhaps this review is also inconsequential...

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some funny parts but really, this book was kind of depressing to me. A series of dysfunctional adults passing on their neurosis to their children. Kidnapping, depression, agoraphobia, psychotic episodes, issues with men, the list could go on. I was really looking forward to more of a light, comedic read. Maybe next time...

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this book for xmas--it's definitely entertaining--if you like good writing, and it is a story of a girl growing up that I could relate to. My niece(a high school junior) is reading it now

[Books Inc. in Mountain View · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, poignant, full of the absurdities of life-- a great coming-of-age novel.

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

no comment.

[Melissa Oleszek]

I dont have a rating for this book. Not my favorite but I didn't hate it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it tremendously.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

fiction (coming of age; short stories). These were interesting, but I was expecting more of a cohesive novel rather than fragments of the character's life as told in short story chapter.