Serious Girls

by Maxine Swann

Sixteen year olds Maya and Roe form an intense friendship when they find themselves cast as outsiders at an all girls boarding school. Sharing their life stories, and curiosity about the adult world, they wonder how they might become "people" with style and character as opposed to school girls. When they move beyond the enclosed world of the school to experience the city, and relationships with men, both girls test the line between an emerging sense of self and its total disintegration.

Genres: Fiction, Coming Of Age, Young Adult, Contemporary

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Maxine Swann (born February 11, 1969) is an American fiction author.
Swann grew up on a farm in southern Pennsylvania, before attending Phillips Academy and then Columbia College, where she studied under Mary Gordon.
She pursued her graduate studies at the Sorbonne, Université de Paris VII, earning her master's degree in 1997 with a thesis on the style of Marcel Proust. She now lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
She has won the O. Henry Award and the Pushcart Prize.
She is a Founding Editor of the bilingual literary magazine "The Buenos Aires Review."
She has taught creative writing at Barnard College and also works as a private writing coach.

Reviews

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little nervous at first after reading some reviews about the lack of plot line in this book, but I actually loved it. It was because of the normal almost boring story idea that drew me in. I feel so close to the girls, almost like Maya was narrating my story. She was in my soul. And that type of connection with a book is unbreakable.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

It didn't have a plot. A short story can get away with not having a solid plot, but a novel can't. It was hard to read because it wasn't interesting or at least there was nothing interesting promised. Not an entertaining read; I didn't like the story or the author's writing style. Also, the character's depth of thinking and self-reflection seemed too advanced for their age; not a realistic portrayal of adolescent psyche. Not even "serious girls" know how to articulate their thoughts that well at 16 years of age.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sixteen year old girls contemplating the meaning of life anchor Swann's debut. Out of context, it seems as though this would be a rather twee sort of story, full of slumber parties, kiss-and-tells, and phrasing so out of date it takes on a humorous quality. Fortunately, that's not the case.

Maya and Roe, two outsiders at a boarding school, connect nearly immediately upon meeting. The girls share everything, as 16 year olds should. And, in that way that precocious girls possess, Maya and Roe question each other: "What makes a person a person?" "When does life begin?" The two then set about to collect as much life experience as possible. This leads Maya to New York City and a man twice her age; Roe finds herself falling in love with a teenager that beats her.

The story centers around the two girls and other characters are kept at an austere minimum--the teacher is as teachers tend to be, Roe's father is as sixteen year old girls' fathers tend to be, Maya's rich grandmother is what you think rich grandmothers should be. This works for this novel because Maya and Roe are so richly illustrated--there is no need to waste words on describing how pedantic the teacher is, how father-knows-best the widower father is, or how sumptuously outfitted the grandmother is. Swann forces you to think for yourself, hedging the poignancy of the novel by eliminating the superfluous.

With little reference to the modern world--no cell phones, no computers, no "Roe listened to her iPod while waiting for Jesse to call"--the story takes on a timeless quality. It's easy to feel as if you've just been plopped down in the middle of a story, the background information there but unseen. Flies on the literary wall, you are able to focus on the pain and uncertainty of being painfully intelligent and 16 without falling to the distractions of other characters.

A quick read (on the heels of the 800+ page MacDonald novel), this novel will please those that prefer clean-edged yet somehow amorphous writing. Swann has a short, yet impressive literary résumé and is sure to join the ranks of other powerful novelists.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet, but sad coming of age story. One of the main characters was (slightly) based on my aunt who died in her twenties, who was friends with the author. It was sweet getting to know little aspects of her through the pages.

[Michael Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maya and Roe are serious, all right, about practically everything. Both girls are sixteen, students at a boarding school in New York. (Maya has a wealthy grandmother paying her way while Roe is on a scholarship from Georgia.) Both of them are lonely and when they discover each other they become instant best friends, trying to explain their thoughts and fears and desires to each other, wondering what comes next in their lives, and when they will become actual “people.” But, as they confess to each other, they’re both afraid of practically everything. They go into the city, where they buy cigarettes (and get sick on them) and beer (and get tipsy), and where they meet Arthur, a writer and art critic exactly twice their age. Somehow, Maya sheds her fears and begins an affair with the guy, going into the city alone on the weekends, seducing both him and herself. At the same time, Roe meets Jesse, a boy her own age in the town adjacent to their school and has a much more believable fling. There’s a visit to Maya’s grandmother for Christmas and New Year’s, and then back to school. And then the year’s over and Maya flies to Paris with Arthur and Roe (eventually) hits the road with Jesse.

And that’s sort of where the plot breaks down, unfortunately. At the end of the book, they’re pretty much back where they started. These two are both far more naïve than I would believe (for a book published in 2003), and also far more adult, and this disparity doesn’t quite wash. Moreover, it’s not clear exactly when the story takes place. There’s never any mention of computers or cell phones, only of “the war” and a guy in a ponytail, which make it seem like the 1960s or ‘70s. The girls certainly aren’t 21st-century types. And I can’t imagine even a New York deli selling them beer today without seeing their ID first. Swann has won several short story awards, but this was her first novel. Her style is smooth and rippling and the characterizations are intriguing, and I’ll be checking for subsequent works.

[Lezlee Hays · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot has potential. The writing holds promise. Even moments of a stark, bare bones brilliance. But ulimately I end up feeling as though I've read an outline, an attempt, or a portion, of the real novel. Swann has some very sparing and eloquent prose at times, but somehow too much is left up to our own imagination. Ends are left a little too loose, and the reader is left a little frustrated thinking about how it could have been, rather than being satisfied with how it was.

[Delia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the language of this book -- the prose was very well-written. It's a coming-of-age story about two girls who meet at a boarding school -- both from different backgrounds. Serious but fast read. Definitely worth picking up, even though the ending was a little disappointing.

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought I would like this. Intense girls! At boarding school! But is was very wooden & blah. This author really puts "die" back in dialogue. The first three quarters of the book are readable & then it takes an inexplicable turn & I had to struggle to finish it.

[Jacqueline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the language and writing style of Maxine Swan. However, the story was slow and boring. I was unsatisfied. A very overrated novel.

[Xian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Painful to read. Main character is annoying. But helped me understand that kind of annoying people.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be a brooding 16 year old again.

[Astrid A.N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was pretty fast paced and a good quick read for getting back into reading. I don’t understand peoples issue with the plot or lack of- as if everything has to follow Freytag’s overdone pyramid in order to have substance.
I do feel it accurately captures the mind of a young girl- the contradicting severity or lack of severity on an issue when maybe it should be the opposite, and a search for the self in an unforgiving way.

[Carli · Rating 1 out of 5]

No importa cuánto me cueste leer un libro nunca me resigno a dejarlo sin leer (no sé si esto es una virtud o un defecto), pero en este caso siento que perdí completamente el tiempo. Es una historia en la cual todo lo que sucede está completamente mal y no lleva a ninguna parte.

[Cole Slaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awfully boring. No plot. Just plain boring writing.

[marcie · Rating 4 out of 5]

sumptuous, addictive prose

[IM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prose felt glum, not lyrical. Not much was crafted.

[bOOks_for_lOOks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much of a compelling story here. Had to force myself to finish this one.

[Misha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book captures just perfectly what it's like to be a teenage girl and a bit of an outcast (although doesn't everyone feel outcast as a teen?). Two sixteen-year-old girls meet at an East Coast boarding school and strike up a friendship. They wonder what life will bring them and decide to jump into life instead of waiting for it to find them.

Unfortunately, the book as a whole didn't live up to its initial promise for me. The author put her main characters into some situations that I felt didn't quite mesh with my sense of the girls. Or maybe it's not what I wanted to happen to them, to be honest. One meets a 32 year old man in New York and has an affair. The other gets into an abusive relationship with a local drop-out. When the narrator starts drifting and becoming discontent in her relationship with the older man she recedes in some ways that made me hate her and find her whiny.

Swann is an amazing writer, and I hear that her new novel, Flower Children, is amazing. But her debut disappointed me. I think I wanted it to be a different book. I wanted something more about the interior lives of these girls, more about their friendship. I just wanted more of something different than what I found. Maybe that's a fault I shouldn't place in the book. I just wish I knew someone else who's read this so I could hash it all out.

[Susan Liston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because it fell off the shelf at the library when I pulled out another book. I thought it might be a sign that I would love it. It wasn't. A bit pretentious, a bit boring, a bit, oh, come on. Seriously, a 16 year old from a strict boarding school gets on a bus alone every week and goes to New York City, based on a phony note? And easily buys liquor and pursues a 32 year old man? Well, I shouldn't complain because that was pretty much what passed for a plot. I realize the point of this was to showcase the author's lyrical and poetic writing, which was fine in spots, but often just felt like someone trying to be lyrical and poetic. I wasn't that I disliked this- polished it off very quickly- but it was not memorable.

[Mimi Scarpulla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maya and Roe meet at boarding school. Both feel on the outside all of the other groups of girls. They don't fit in with any of them. They only fit in with each other. They are both trying to figure life out, when will their life will really begin? When they will feel like "real people"? Their bond leads to a year of deep exploration and a search for new experiences. Maya has an affair with a much older man and Roe with a boy from town. Maxine Swann writes a beautiful book. The story is both deep in it's understanding of the emotional struggle of teenage girls and also light, as the story glides in it's storytelling. I loved the ending.

[Lawrence Snouffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spare but elegant. A book almost of images, all presented with splendid, often surprising clarity, constantly following close upon each other, a poem in prose sort of. There is not much of a plot and nothing much happens; the thoughts and reflections of the protagonists are the main substance of this book. Faintly reminiscent in places of Jean Rhys.

[Patti · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very 'slow' to get into book. I had a hard time staying interested but part way through things 'broke' and I was able to stay focused on reading.

Bar far not the greatest book I have read and cannot see what all the 'hype' about it in People Magazine was about.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Flower Children but still a thoughtful and poignant story about two creative 16 year old girlfriends at boarding school searching for meaning and purpose. A little boring at times but still a pleasant read.

[Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't know if this was really worth it. It was a really fast read, but the scenarios these girls get into, Maya especially, seem pretty implausible. Oh & her name is actually Maya, although you wouldn't be able to tell if you hadn't read the book jacket.

[Wall-to-wall books - wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not care for this book at all! I am not into provocative teenagers! It was just ICKY to me, I felt embarrassed to be reading it, like "this shouldn't be happening". I did get all the way to page 152 before giving up - so this was a DNF (did not finish).

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Kathy for this one! Loved it.

[Sage Suorsa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I'm a little bit old for this book. It's about 2 girls at a boarding school who get involved in some complex situations b/c they can't wait to grow up.

[Gina · Rating 1 out of 5]

ugh - putting this one on my 'given-up-on' shelf. yuck.

[Valerie F · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just too bizarre for my tastes. Read fo XO Alumnae book club.

[Maury Giauque · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stupid. I skimmed the last half because I was really sick of it. I can't remember where I got this recommendation, but I wish I could remember so I can ignore that source in the future.