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Out of the Girls' Room and Into the Night: Stories
“These stories abound in a rich life, holding sad, awkward, edgy contemporaneity in their generous embrace. They do not soothe or forgive or reassure; they love the creature as it is. There is great originality and great freedom in Thisbe Nissen's approach to her subject, a kind of classicism in her lucid and compassionate interest in the ways of this present world.”—Marilynne Robinson
“Moving from the chaotic world of adolescence and into adulthood is the theme that links Nissen's bittersweet collection of 25 fierce and quirky short stories, the winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award. Familiar issues are dealt with innovatively—young women (and some men) deal with eating disorders, illness, death, infidelity and love. The cast is an eclectic crew of original, sometimes bizarre, yet recognizable characters with names like Silver Tarkington, Wing MacArdle, Moët and Zagarella. The settings range from Santa Cruz to the Midwest, Manhattan to Paris. With self-deprecating and wry humor, Nissen's characters frequently improvise unusual answers for difficult, confusing questions. In “Way Back When in the Now before Now,” Sari, a city-savvy teenager whose mother is dying of cancer, slips into the bed of her best friend's brother, searching for comfort in “The hot sleepy boy-smell with its acrid twinge of sex.” “The Estate” charts the fleeting passage of time as experienced by a close-knit group of friends and family summering together annually at a carriage house on a large property. Other stories feature young hippies hoping to make a Grateful Dead show; a group of eight women living in a feminist co-op; a child coping with being pushed too hard by ambitious, cold parents. In these tales, as in others, Nissen displays a sharp talent for fresh detail and Barb-Jean, a soprano who conserves her voice for days at a time, communicates through scraps of paper. “When we cleaned the house…at the end of the season we'd find fragments of conversation stuck between the couch cushions and tucked into kitchen how many people? how many ears? Portuguese on her mother's side I think, Sot—5 letters—ends in a y.” Many of the stories in this warm, fearless collection trace college love affairs and exquisite, if tentative, sexual explorations between young women. Where a few tales are merely good, several of them are stellar, marking Nissen as an assured writer whose wide-ranging interest in varied people and life situations creates lively fiction.”—Publishers Weekly
“Absolutely stunning. Ms. Nissen's characters are among the most honest, difficult, endearing, expansive, and blatantly human that I have encountered on the page in quite some time.”—Jules Davis, Pendragon Books, Oakland CA, in The Book Sense 76
“…these smoothly polished little narrative gems are not about love at all so much as they are about the desire for what love placing yourself in context, finding comfort enough inside your own skin to turn your attention to the world and welcome it…With wry humor and uncommon poignancy, Thisbe distills entire emotional universes into her slim stories. You may never have lived with seven other women during a semester of nervous breakdowns and supernatural events, found yourself preferring your boyfriend's sister to your actual boyfriend, or lost a parent to a freak accident, but you'll recognize parts of yourself in Girls' Room.— Feminist Response to Pop Culture
“…an awe-inspiring collection of short stories…Nissen's characters are young and yearning, and they come together in lovely and unexpected ways…Although [her] characters are generally young and blessed—traveling Deadheads, college housemates, wealthy New York teens—Nissen bestows them with earnesty and explores their desires carefully and with gravity.”—Austin Chronicle
Out of the Girls' Room and into the Night is a spirited, offbeat collection of stories, elongated riffs on that thing we call …love. All manner of love thwarted love stories, imaginary love stories, love stories offhand and obsessive, philosophical love stories, erudite and amusing love stories.
“People don't meet because they both like Burmese food,” says one character, “or because someone's sister has a friend who's single and new in town, or because Billy's nose happened to crook just slightly to the left at an angle that made me want to weep…People don't fall in love with each other …they just fall into love.”
Everyone does women of fierce independence, men of thin character, rambling Deadheads, gay teenage girls, despondent Peace Corps volunteers, anorexic Broadway theatre dancers, the eager, the grieving, the uncommunicative. Even the confused do it. And they don't just fall in love with each other—they fall in love with certain moments and familiar places, with things as ephemeral as gestures and as evanescent as sunlight.
Quirky, real, idealistic, deluded, bohemian, and true, these are people who can—and often do—fall...
“Moving from the chaotic world of adolescence and into adulthood is the theme that links Nissen's bittersweet collection of 25 fierce and quirky short stories, the winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award. Familiar issues are dealt with innovatively—young women (and some men) deal with eating disorders, illness, death, infidelity and love. The cast is an eclectic crew of original, sometimes bizarre, yet recognizable characters with names like Silver Tarkington, Wing MacArdle, Moët and Zagarella. The settings range from Santa Cruz to the Midwest, Manhattan to Paris. With self-deprecating and wry humor, Nissen's characters frequently improvise unusual answers for difficult, confusing questions. In “Way Back When in the Now before Now,” Sari, a city-savvy teenager whose mother is dying of cancer, slips into the bed of her best friend's brother, searching for comfort in “The hot sleepy boy-smell with its acrid twinge of sex.” “The Estate” charts the fleeting passage of time as experienced by a close-knit group of friends and family summering together annually at a carriage house on a large property. Other stories feature young hippies hoping to make a Grateful Dead show; a group of eight women living in a feminist co-op; a child coping with being pushed too hard by ambitious, cold parents. In these tales, as in others, Nissen displays a sharp talent for fresh detail and Barb-Jean, a soprano who conserves her voice for days at a time, communicates through scraps of paper. “When we cleaned the house…at the end of the season we'd find fragments of conversation stuck between the couch cushions and tucked into kitchen how many people? how many ears? Portuguese on her mother's side I think, Sot—5 letters—ends in a y.” Many of the stories in this warm, fearless collection trace college love affairs and exquisite, if tentative, sexual explorations between young women. Where a few tales are merely good, several of them are stellar, marking Nissen as an assured writer whose wide-ranging interest in varied people and life situations creates lively fiction.”—Publishers Weekly
“Absolutely stunning. Ms. Nissen's characters are among the most honest, difficult, endearing, expansive, and blatantly human that I have encountered on the page in quite some time.”—Jules Davis, Pendragon Books, Oakland CA, in The Book Sense 76
“…these smoothly polished little narrative gems are not about love at all so much as they are about the desire for what love placing yourself in context, finding comfort enough inside your own skin to turn your attention to the world and welcome it…With wry humor and uncommon poignancy, Thisbe distills entire emotional universes into her slim stories. You may never have lived with seven other women during a semester of nervous breakdowns and supernatural events, found yourself preferring your boyfriend's sister to your actual boyfriend, or lost a parent to a freak accident, but you'll recognize parts of yourself in Girls' Room.— Feminist Response to Pop Culture
“…an awe-inspiring collection of short stories…Nissen's characters are young and yearning, and they come together in lovely and unexpected ways…Although [her] characters are generally young and blessed—traveling Deadheads, college housemates, wealthy New York teens—Nissen bestows them with earnesty and explores their desires carefully and with gravity.”—Austin Chronicle
Out of the Girls' Room and into the Night is a spirited, offbeat collection of stories, elongated riffs on that thing we call …love. All manner of love thwarted love stories, imaginary love stories, love stories offhand and obsessive, philosophical love stories, erudite and amusing love stories.
“People don't meet because they both like Burmese food,” says one character, “or because someone's sister has a friend who's single and new in town, or because Billy's nose happened to crook just slightly to the left at an angle that made me want to weep…People don't fall in love with each other …they just fall into love.”
Everyone does women of fierce independence, men of thin character, rambling Deadheads, gay teenage girls, despondent Peace Corps volunteers, anorexic Broadway theatre dancers, the eager, the grieving, the uncommunicative. Even the confused do it. And they don't just fall in love with each other—they fall in love with certain moments and familiar places, with things as ephemeral as gestures and as evanescent as sunlight.
Quirky, real, idealistic, deluded, bohemian, and true, these are people who can—and often do—fall...
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1999
7 people are currently reading
534 people want to read
About the author
Thisbe Nissen
17 books78 followersThisbe Nissen is the author of three novels, Our Lady of the Prairie (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), Osprey Island (Knopf, 2004), The Good People of New York (Knopf, 2001), and a story collection, Out of the Girls' Room and into the Night (University of Iowa Press, 1999, winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award). She is also the co-author with Erin Ergenbright of The Ex-Boyfriend Cookbook, a collection of stories, recipes, and art collages. Her fiction has been published in The Iowa Review, The American Scholar, Seventeen, and The Virginia Quarterly Review, and anthologized in The Iowa Award: The Best Stories 1991-2000 and Best American Mystery Stories. Her nonfiction has appeared in Vogue, Glamour, Preservation and The Believer, and is featured in several essay anthologies.
She has been the recipient of fellowships from the James Michener-Copernicus Society, The University of Iowa, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony, and was the 19th Zale Writer-in-Residence at Tulane University. She has taught at Columbia University, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Brandeis University, The New School's Eugene Lang College and in the low residency MFA program at Pacific University. These days, she teaches undergrad, MFA and PhD students at Western Michigan University.
She and her husband, Jay Baron Nicorvo, are parents of two rescue cats, many sprightly chickens, and one intriguing human child. They dream, one day, of raising goats.
She has been the recipient of fellowships from the James Michener-Copernicus Society, The University of Iowa, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony, and was the 19th Zale Writer-in-Residence at Tulane University. She has taught at Columbia University, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Brandeis University, The New School's Eugene Lang College and in the low residency MFA program at Pacific University. These days, she teaches undergrad, MFA and PhD students at Western Michigan University.
She and her husband, Jay Baron Nicorvo, are parents of two rescue cats, many sprightly chickens, and one intriguing human child. They dream, one day, of raising goats.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
July 24, 2014
Ironically, I've read that reading fiction makes people smarter and more sympathetic (even empathetic) because reading fiction allows us to somehow experience new things. To learn different ways of thinking, to see different ways of living, to feel different ways of loving, to consider different ways of being, etc. We grow by reading.
If that is true, and I think it is, then you grow a lot between the two covers of this book. You meet an older man who is nearing the scariest stages of dementia and his long-time wife, who is just a scared. You meet people with disabilities, people with eating disorders, people who are gay (more than once!), people who are smart and not so smart and happy and sad and unaware and oh so present it nearly kills them every day.
My one qualm, which nearly warranted 4 stars instead of 5, is that the tone and quality of the female characters especially remained static throughout. You like them but they are tough, different enough to stand out (for a while) and resilient, witty, confident but damaged...I don't know. They were much the same in many of the stories, and that was disappointing.
However, I stick by my 5-star rating because I will read all or parts of this book again. And that's how my rating system works.
If that is true, and I think it is, then you grow a lot between the two covers of this book. You meet an older man who is nearing the scariest stages of dementia and his long-time wife, who is just a scared. You meet people with disabilities, people with eating disorders, people who are gay (more than once!), people who are smart and not so smart and happy and sad and unaware and oh so present it nearly kills them every day.
My one qualm, which nearly warranted 4 stars instead of 5, is that the tone and quality of the female characters especially remained static throughout. You like them but they are tough, different enough to stand out (for a while) and resilient, witty, confident but damaged...I don't know. They were much the same in many of the stories, and that was disappointing.
However, I stick by my 5-star rating because I will read all or parts of this book again. And that's how my rating system works.
December 5, 2018
3.76 rounded up to 4 stars
Many more stories in this collection that I enjoyed than in most short story collections. I was pleasantly surprised and look forward to seeing what else Thisbe Nissen has to offer!
Many more stories in this collection that I enjoyed than in most short story collections. I was pleasantly surprised and look forward to seeing what else Thisbe Nissen has to offer!
September 6, 2011
Yes, a few are a little workshoppy, a few are a little "Hello, I am a mysterious 2-page short story that has no middle or end," but every story was interesting and touching in some way and struck a chord with the emotional and slightly angsty child/middle/high/college/adult in me.
Book dish: cookies.
Book dish: cookies.
September 10, 2009
An enjoyable read with some fine, fine writing. Has some political themes that are at times a little overbearing, and the structure of many of the stories - odd, fragmented plots that often leave more questions than answers - is still on my mind. Nonetheless, Nissen creates a cast of compelling, fascinating characters that kept me driving through each story. Gotta love books about hippies and Deadheads.
July 12, 2007
Among other things, Nissen is a master of Point of View, trying out every possible window that can be set up between the reader and the main character -- and she exploits all the options to incredible effect.
September 22, 2009
If the sign of a good short story is that you're annoyed when you turn the page and find out it's over because you want to know what happens to the characters tomorrow, then this collection get full marks.
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April 21, 2024another dnf for this year 🤩 idk the dude fantasizing about what his brother looks like when having sex kinda did it for me...
October 27, 2012
Thisbe Nissen's short story collection captures snippets of love. Each story is wildly different in tone, age of the characters, geographical location, and chronological era. It amazes me that Nissen is able to write with such authenticity from such divergent points of view. Almost every story points out some aspect of the human experience that I had not heretofore considered, or had maybe thought unique to myself. Nissen explores all types of love, as well, not just romantic. There is the young man taking a road trip with his younger, special-needs brother; there are the parents struggling to deal with their daughter's anorexia; there is the young lady who cannot help but adopt one more cat. Each tale is poignant and descriptive without being flowery or trying to hard to be poetic. (That's a big problem I have with capital-L Literature, I feel like its trying too hard; forcing similes and metaphors in an attempt to be inventive and artsy.)
Each story ended a little too soon, for my taste, but I was prepared for that having read other reviews, so it wasn't as jarring or crazy-making as I might have found it had I just jumped in. Fortunately, though, a couple of the stories contained in this book have been merged and extended into a later book Nissen has written by the name of The Good People of New York. I do wish she'd do more of this. I'd particularly like to read extended versions of the title story "Out of the Girls Room and Into the Night" and "The Girl at Chichen Itza."
Overall, a quite satisfying story collection. Recommended for those who enjoy Literature without being snooty, and those who can deal with a lack of closure.
Each story ended a little too soon, for my taste, but I was prepared for that having read other reviews, so it wasn't as jarring or crazy-making as I might have found it had I just jumped in. Fortunately, though, a couple of the stories contained in this book have been merged and extended into a later book Nissen has written by the name of The Good People of New York. I do wish she'd do more of this. I'd particularly like to read extended versions of the title story "Out of the Girls Room and Into the Night" and "The Girl at Chichen Itza."
Overall, a quite satisfying story collection. Recommended for those who enjoy Literature without being snooty, and those who can deal with a lack of closure.
July 14, 2010
Thisbe Nissen is a wonderful writer - real, raw, funny, sad, and sexual - can't believe this was her first book...
October 11, 2025
“The heart is acting and the head is watching, hopeful that the heart is doing the right thing”
“We lived in that house on Walnut Street as if four walls and a roof were going out of style. It was understood that graduating college was like being put out with the cat and yesterday’s empty milk bottles, and we fully expected to spend the rest of our lives pounding on the door.”
Thisbe Nissen, in 16 stories, explains what it looks like to grow up. It’s like in the cartoons when the protagonist wakes up from a deep sleep in the middle of a river on their fluffy, canopies bed and, of course, they’re heading straight for what looks like class 4 rapids. We jolt from story to story but in each character is a similar dilemma: what happens when you are forced to figure out who you are? When school is stripped away or when your relationships crumble or you start drinking more (story titled Grog) or the girl in the video rental store stops renting videos (The Mushroom Girl) or Jerry Garcia dies (Grover, King of Nebraska). “When the rain washes you clean,” what happens?
The beauty of this collection is in the simplicity of the language and the trueness of what Nissen is conveying. I think any young woman would relate to Nissen’s characters in their aimless fumble for the lights of the Real World. This was touching and stressful and wholly engaging and satisfying.
“We lived in that house on Walnut Street as if four walls and a roof were going out of style. It was understood that graduating college was like being put out with the cat and yesterday’s empty milk bottles, and we fully expected to spend the rest of our lives pounding on the door.”
Thisbe Nissen, in 16 stories, explains what it looks like to grow up. It’s like in the cartoons when the protagonist wakes up from a deep sleep in the middle of a river on their fluffy, canopies bed and, of course, they’re heading straight for what looks like class 4 rapids. We jolt from story to story but in each character is a similar dilemma: what happens when you are forced to figure out who you are? When school is stripped away or when your relationships crumble or you start drinking more (story titled Grog) or the girl in the video rental store stops renting videos (The Mushroom Girl) or Jerry Garcia dies (Grover, King of Nebraska). “When the rain washes you clean,” what happens?
The beauty of this collection is in the simplicity of the language and the trueness of what Nissen is conveying. I think any young woman would relate to Nissen’s characters in their aimless fumble for the lights of the Real World. This was touching and stressful and wholly engaging and satisfying.
March 24, 2024
Read this book on my honeymoon. Maybe it’s because of where I am in my life right now, but I really love these stories. They convey such depth and complexity in such a short time. Each story was impactful in its own way, some more tragic, some more lighthearted. After each story I had to stop for a while to collect my feelings. I really like Nissen’s writing style, and how well she describes the characters. Each person feels so real that I feel like she has lived each of their lives already and is relaying a memory. This book was absolutely wonderful. Not for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It will be a staple to revisit on my bookshelf time and time again.
-some graphic content, sex scenes, eating disorder, terminal illness, suicide, etc
-some graphic content, sex scenes, eating disorder, terminal illness, suicide, etc
June 28, 2025
2.5. Solid collection of short stories. The situations she put the characters were interesting, but the narrators/protagonists themselves were almost the same across the collection. Promising young writer though—not sure if I’d intentionally seek out anything else from her, but if I happen across her later work I’d give it a read.
February 15, 2017
AH mazing collection of short stories.
Like an NYC version of Palo Alto...with less drugs and more LGBT.
Thisbe's writing is so drawing, describing sounds and tastes with such skill, this was an absolute pleasure to read.
Like an NYC version of Palo Alto...with less drugs and more LGBT.
Thisbe's writing is so drawing, describing sounds and tastes with such skill, this was an absolute pleasure to read.
January 3, 2018
I don't really remember the stories here but I thought enough of the book that seeing the author's name somewhere made my ears perk up.
February 23, 2018
mmmm.. partially so charming it was disarming but otherwise je ne sais pas
June 28, 2021
Took me almost 2 years to actually get through but maybe just not the material I was into 2 years ago.
May 4, 2017
Not sure why I keep choosing short stories to read since I don't really enjoy that genre, but this collection was the exception. Most were interesting and actually HAD A CONCLUSION, the lack of which in so many stories seems to be my bugaboo. Of course the best thing about short stories is their length, which makes a book of them suitable for bits and pieces of reading, which is also the feature which makes them forgettable. To be honest, I cannot now remember a single one of these stories, but did enjoy them at the time.
August 30, 2012
I was close to giving this one a 5. The writing is strong, the tones and voices and perspectives were generally ambitious and appropriate to the plots and themes, and and many of not most of the plots read as original and unexpected and mature. For instance, the story about the children at Tanner School and the one about the girls in the house in college were so good; the collective narration in the latter was ambitious and impressive, and the children in the former felt real and genuine and fully realized and understood. But she displays some major tics here (it's possible that some of these have disappeared with time; this is her first collection of short stories, after all) and sometimes the language/details felt like things that should have been taken out or changed in the revision stage - like something someone surely called out in a workshop at some point as a "darling" that needed to be "killed," as they say (and I feel almost certain that this was the collection of stories she turned in as her MFA thesis turned into a book, which means that the stories were likely extensively workshopped; but if I'm right, it was a damn good MFA thesis, and it deserved to be a book).
For example, almost every character (and I agree that they often felt interchangeable - except when they didn't, and those few were great) "snorts" a laugh or in derision at some point in the story. Only one or two characters in a collection should be allowed to have the same tic. It takes you out of the story and too far into the writer's head when the same thing happens in 3/5 of the stories in a book. The female characters, especially, are typically - almost exclusively - girls who are sarcastic and temperamental but not so much so that they are unlikeable but just enough so that they're "tough" and "different," a character type that could have manifested itself in different ways and made the collection feel more varied and Nissen seem smarter. It almost felt like this manuscript was the golden child at Iowa that year (and it was; it won an award from Iowa) and no one questioned it the way no one questions more established authors when they make dodgy choices. Obviously, I'm making that up based on my own assumptions, but if it had just had a little more pushback, I think it could have been just glorious where now it's only (only!) clever and highly ambitious and powerful with a definitive point of view, yet a tiny bit muted and a little too singular in its perspective.
That being said, the stories are observant and smart and well written. They pull you in when you wouldn't think you'd be interested in that plot or that character. Nissen has a clear and strong narrative voice and instinct for language. I will read more of her work happily, but there are just a few things about this collection that disappoint me because I feel like, with just one more editorial sweep, it could have been near perfect. E
February 22, 2015
It's a rare collection of short stories that has this resounding of an impact. Disclaimers first, though: the first story was a huge turnoff to me and I almost didn't want to continue reading because of the stilted interactions and dialogue and caricatures of mysterious people. And there's certainly a limited scope in character types and subject matter and, as other people have said, several darlings to kill (e.g., for me, eating disorders made a bit too prominent of an appearance and just distracted me because I wanted to figure out the author's personal connection to them).
That said, Nissen is a master of quiet, unexpected revelations, changes, and difficult relationships with the past. She nestles huge moments into the what seem to be pretty narrow and ordinary situations. The language flows naturally and beautifully, and the sadness is tangible. She makes the ugliest and most shameful parts of us seem comprehensible.
My favorite story was "Accidental Love," which featured this quotation:"Love is an entity unto itself. There are patches of it all over the place. It's not really tangible, but it's there, pools of it. Blue pockets, swirling like eddies. People don't meet because they both like Burmese food, or because someone's sister has a friend who's single and new in town, or because Billy's nose happened to crook just slightly to the left at an angle that made me want to weep . . . People don't fall in love with each other . . . They just fall in love."
That said, Nissen is a master of quiet, unexpected revelations, changes, and difficult relationships with the past. She nestles huge moments into the what seem to be pretty narrow and ordinary situations. The language flows naturally and beautifully, and the sadness is tangible. She makes the ugliest and most shameful parts of us seem comprehensible.
My favorite story was "Accidental Love," which featured this quotation:"Love is an entity unto itself. There are patches of it all over the place. It's not really tangible, but it's there, pools of it. Blue pockets, swirling like eddies. People don't meet because they both like Burmese food, or because someone's sister has a friend who's single and new in town, or because Billy's nose happened to crook just slightly to the left at an angle that made me want to weep . . . People don't fall in love with each other . . . They just fall in love."
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August 19, 2012Out of the Girls’ Room and Into the Night: Winner of Univeristy of Iowa’s Short Fiction Award, by Thisbe Nissen, Narrated by Caroline Miller, Produced by University of Iowa Audio Press, downloaded from audible.com.
This is a series of short stories about young women, mostly living in, but not originally from, New York. Some are still in highschool. They each have, in the course of a short story an experience or are part of an event that will change their lives. The last story, the title story, is indicative. It involves a girl who had a crush on her teacher from eighth grade through highschool, but she just flirted with and did not sleep with him. But as she’s getting ready to go to college, he suddenly stalks her, always showing up wherever she is, trying to get her not to go to college away from home, in other words behaving in a rather creepy fashion. These are all extremely well written stories, and Miller does an excellent job with each of them. This book was published in 2000. It would be interesting to know what if anything the author has written since that time.
This is a series of short stories about young women, mostly living in, but not originally from, New York. Some are still in highschool. They each have, in the course of a short story an experience or are part of an event that will change their lives. The last story, the title story, is indicative. It involves a girl who had a crush on her teacher from eighth grade through highschool, but she just flirted with and did not sleep with him. But as she’s getting ready to go to college, he suddenly stalks her, always showing up wherever she is, trying to get her not to go to college away from home, in other words behaving in a rather creepy fashion. These are all extremely well written stories, and Miller does an excellent job with each of them. This book was published in 2000. It would be interesting to know what if anything the author has written since that time.
March 16, 2013
these were mostly great! it was a slightly uneven collection--some of the stories felt a little overwritten and "young author following a writing prompt-ish", but the rest were amazingly heartfelt and funny. we went to the same place for undergrad and my favorite story very, very obviously took place there. in the best way possible.
pg. 171 most aptly describes life my senior year: we thought we were prepared for anything. we communicated. we processed. we had a job wheel, and quiet hours, and house meetings every sunday morning which we'd sworn we'd never ever ever miss, no matter how late we'd been out saturday night at the black light/fluorescent body paint/no feeding yourself/marshmallow fluff party. no matter who we left sleeping in our beds upstairs or in their own across town. neither sleet, nor snow, nor freak hail storm would prevent us from convening around that kitchen table to discuss and come to consensus about the small issues that arose in the daily lives of eight woman cohabiting under one rather ancient and not thoroughly raintight roof.
pg. 171 most aptly describes life my senior year: we thought we were prepared for anything. we communicated. we processed. we had a job wheel, and quiet hours, and house meetings every sunday morning which we'd sworn we'd never ever ever miss, no matter how late we'd been out saturday night at the black light/fluorescent body paint/no feeding yourself/marshmallow fluff party. no matter who we left sleeping in our beds upstairs or in their own across town. neither sleet, nor snow, nor freak hail storm would prevent us from convening around that kitchen table to discuss and come to consensus about the small issues that arose in the daily lives of eight woman cohabiting under one rather ancient and not thoroughly raintight roof.
September 28, 2008
This is a complete waste of $$$$$$$$
This book is just not good. It was recommended to me because I bought a Judy Budnitz book (which was a gem, like all her others). But after reading about half of the stories I can tell you that this book is not worth a dime. It reminds me of critiquing someone's work in a creative writing class. I don't want to be mean and I want to tell you SOMETHING good about this collection but really...its adolescent and lacks style. You can tell that the author really tried to follow the rules. She tried to take leaps and induce a flow but the results are too workshoppy. I don't think that she had fun writing these stories. Chances are you won't have fun reading them. If you're looking for exciting female contemporaries, check out Judy Budnitz or Aimee Bender. Don't buy this book.
This book is just not good. It was recommended to me because I bought a Judy Budnitz book (which was a gem, like all her others). But after reading about half of the stories I can tell you that this book is not worth a dime. It reminds me of critiquing someone's work in a creative writing class. I don't want to be mean and I want to tell you SOMETHING good about this collection but really...its adolescent and lacks style. You can tell that the author really tried to follow the rules. She tried to take leaps and induce a flow but the results are too workshoppy. I don't think that she had fun writing these stories. Chances are you won't have fun reading them. If you're looking for exciting female contemporaries, check out Judy Budnitz or Aimee Bender. Don't buy this book.
March 16, 2012
Thisbe Nissen was invited as a speaker to my college this year, and I was given the assignment of reading at least one of her books. I was disappointed with this collection. The writing feels dead, the settings and the characters need more "fleshing out" (I barely ever knew what to visualize, because she doesn't describe enough), and I thought most of the characters were interchangeable because they had no distinctive personalities for the most part. I also found her constant use of metaphors extremely annoying, which is ironic, because this supposedly the writer's best trait.
I did like "Flowers in the Dustbin, Poison in the Human Machine" though. I also liked another one where the main character's mother was dying and she was having sex with her best friend's brother. All the other stories were forgettable and even boring.
I did like "Flowers in the Dustbin, Poison in the Human Machine" though. I also liked another one where the main character's mother was dying and she was having sex with her best friend's brother. All the other stories were forgettable and even boring.
July 25, 2013
It’s simply wonderful. Every story is engaging, every character wholly realized. One story might make me laugh, and another might make me feel like my stomach had fallen to my feet. These are tales of the perilous nights and days of youth, ranging from cold midwest college towns to the Nevada desert and Manhattan’s apartment landscapes. And I’d almost forgotten the pleasure of reading short stories; like biting into a perfectly ripe pear, with the accompanying satisfaction of finishing the whole thing in one sitting.
More here: http://rosemaryandreadingglasses.word...
More here: http://rosemaryandreadingglasses.word...
December 29, 2009
I agree with what a lot of the reviewers here have said. While I can recognize that the writing is good and that the structure is sound, the characters were often interchangable and the plot lines not all that compelling to me. Many of them felt quite dated--like they would have been really scandalous and exciting ten or fifteen years ago, but today, eh. I liked "819 Walnut" because of its collective narration. I also really enjoyed "The Animal's Best Interest". I also liked "The Mushroom Girl" and "Flowers in the Dustbin, Poison in the Human Machine".
June 28, 2013
I read the first three stories in this collection and none of them grabbed me. It feels like Nissen is trying too hard, especially to be edgy; the stories feel relatively contrived and pretty amateur--like something written by an undergrad studying creative writing. They're not bad, in terms of style or content, but they're not interesting or well-written enough for me to waste my time reading the rest of the collection. Too bad, because I really liked the titles of some of the stories, as well as the title of the book.
May 22, 2007
In general, I really really like Thisbe Nissen. I think she puts a new spin on the traditional coming of age story. I've actually given her short stories to actresses in plays I've worked on as a reference for how I think about their characters. She writes about people that are a little bit on the fringes of society and she is able to impart grace and beauty to difficult subjects and life moments.
August 22, 2007
A collection of short stories dealing with love, abandonment, hope, and security. The author does a nice job of giving a hint of resolution for the stories without going overboard. I had wished some of the characters would have been more entertaining and quirky as was in the "The Animal's Best Interest" towards the end of the collection.
June 12, 2010
This, next to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, is my favorite book of all time. It is such a compassionate book, with so much soul. I find it so strange, but in a wonderful way, that this book for me represents comfort and security. If I had nothing left but this book in my arms, I know I would be okay.
August 3, 2010
my husband gave this to me for my 23rd birthday. now i'm 32. i read it back then and remember loving it, but have picked it up to read again. will surely report back after my reread. i just remember that the third story is called "when the rain washes you clean you'll know." and fleetwood mac lyrics are always gonna get my love. now and forever.
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