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Bummer: And Other Stories
A clever and engaging collection of “darkly funny, sexy, and very smart” stories about women on the brink of disaster—and the edge of grace (Tom Perrotta).
The women featured in these stories have one thing in They’re all having a terrible day. There’s the housewife so entranced by the pristine order of her neighbor’s belongings that she can’t stop herself from breaking into their home. There’s the mother easing her young son through the trauma of a murder, suddenly confronted with the reappearance of his father. There’s the middle-aged woman stuck in a coffee-chain job alongside snotty college kids, the talent manager supervising a corral of misguided young stars, and the spiky-haired artist who literally dumps her slacker fiance—from a moving car—before engaging in an ill-advised fling in Vegas.
Janice Shapiro has created a cast of utterly distinct outsiders, yet her earthy warmth and asymmetrical humor ring through them all. Her gift for pitch-perfect dialogue—along with her instinctual ease in writing about such fraught topics as commercial sex, death, and the everyday tragedies of growing older—makes her voice one to be tough-minded, sardonic, intimate, and free.
The women featured in these stories have one thing in They’re all having a terrible day. There’s the housewife so entranced by the pristine order of her neighbor’s belongings that she can’t stop herself from breaking into their home. There’s the mother easing her young son through the trauma of a murder, suddenly confronted with the reappearance of his father. There’s the middle-aged woman stuck in a coffee-chain job alongside snotty college kids, the talent manager supervising a corral of misguided young stars, and the spiky-haired artist who literally dumps her slacker fiance—from a moving car—before engaging in an ill-advised fling in Vegas.
Janice Shapiro has created a cast of utterly distinct outsiders, yet her earthy warmth and asymmetrical humor ring through them all. Her gift for pitch-perfect dialogue—along with her instinctual ease in writing about such fraught topics as commercial sex, death, and the everyday tragedies of growing older—makes her voice one to be tough-minded, sardonic, intimate, and free.
- GenresFiction
208 pages, Paperback
First published October 10, 2010
3 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Janice Shapiro
5 books4 followersJanice Shapiro studied film at UCLA where she won first prize in The Samuel Goldwyn Screenwriting Competition. The short films she directed were screened widely at film festivals around the world and she was a recipient of an AFI Filmmakers Grant. She has written scripts for numerous studios and independent producers including the cult film, Dead Beat that she co-wrote with her husband, Adam Dubov.
Janices short stories have been published in The North American Review, and The Santa Monica Review. A graphic memoir of hers was included in the anthology, What Were We Thinking? published by St. Martins press. Another graphic memoir appeared in The Seattle Review. Bummer and Other Stories is her first book.
She is currently working on a novel, Bad Baseball, a second collection of short stories, a collection of food essays entitled, Eat Like Me, and a book length graphic memoir, Crushable My Life In Crushes From Ricky Nelson to Viggo Mortensen.
Janice lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son and dog.
"
Janices short stories have been published in The North American Review, and The Santa Monica Review. A graphic memoir of hers was included in the anthology, What Were We Thinking? published by St. Martins press. Another graphic memoir appeared in The Seattle Review. Bummer and Other Stories is her first book.
She is currently working on a novel, Bad Baseball, a second collection of short stories, a collection of food essays entitled, Eat Like Me, and a book length graphic memoir, Crushable My Life In Crushes From Ricky Nelson to Viggo Mortensen.
Janice lives in Brooklyn with her husband, son and dog.
"
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 8, 2013
Here’s a collection of very readable stories about female characters, ranging from a kid hoping her noncommittal father will put in a backyard swimming pool to an aging manager coping with neurotic Hollywood film stars.
The stories are all very strong in evoking depth of character and presenting situations that make you sit up and take notice. I enjoyed the self-described loser who unexpectedly finds out what it’s like to win. I became extremely uncomfortable with the housewife’s compulsion to sneak into a neighbor’s house when no one is home. My favorite piece is probably “Small,” a take-off on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” In most cases, I think, the important thing is not so much what happens. The narrative arc is far less apparent than the portrayal of the characters’ lives. Because each of those lives is pretty much a mess, and in most cases is not likely to get much better, readers expecting a resolution may be disappointed. On the other hand, forcing a happy ending would not be realistic or even satisfying. These stories are both.
The stories are all very strong in evoking depth of character and presenting situations that make you sit up and take notice. I enjoyed the self-described loser who unexpectedly finds out what it’s like to win. I became extremely uncomfortable with the housewife’s compulsion to sneak into a neighbor’s house when no one is home. My favorite piece is probably “Small,” a take-off on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” In most cases, I think, the important thing is not so much what happens. The narrative arc is far less apparent than the portrayal of the characters’ lives. Because each of those lives is pretty much a mess, and in most cases is not likely to get much better, readers expecting a resolution may be disappointed. On the other hand, forcing a happy ending would not be realistic or even satisfying. These stories are both.
June 13, 2025
I sought out this book after reading Janice Shapiro's excellent graphic novel, Honoria. This collection is totally different, but strong and smart. The stories are all (I think?) first person and voiced by women who tend to be hard and rebellious (secretly or overtly), bumping up against life's sharp edges and vast dull surfaces. At times they bled together a bit, but overall I dug this book and felt inspired to play around with first person, plainspoken voices in my own writing.
July 19, 2014
In screenwriter Janice Shapiro’s collection of short stories Bummer and Other Stories, women and girls face life’s disappointments and their very own failings. In other words, these ladies’ lives are just one bummer after another.
Bummer starts out strong with its opening story called “Bummer.” It’s the 1970s and the punk rock scene has made it to America. Alison finds herself pregnant and about to marry her boyfriend in Las Vegas. She and her betrothed bonded over their local punk scene, so of course, they are meant to be.
Or are they? Sadly, Alison’s mohawked Romeo turns out to be a dud and they break up before they can say their “I dos.” Soon after that unfortunate episode, desperate Alison hooks up with a Latino high roller who pays her for a night in the sack. Are these misfortunes a foreshadowing of Alison’s future? Struggling as a single mom and being mistaken for being a hooker? We can only guess and hope Alison gets it together.
In the following story, “1966,” a young girl is becoming aware of the world around her, and it’s not very pretty. Not only does her mom look bad in bathing suits, life as a housewife isn’t always sunshine and daisies. Her babysitter states she wishes she had never been born. Also, the shocking murder of several student nurses in Chicago by one Richard Speck has the nation both riveted and horrified. Is this what women can look forward to, stifling domesticity at best and brutal murder at worst?
Other stories follow the same depressing meme. Women’s lives are a collection of crappy decisions, regrettable mistakes, disenchantment and desperation, low self-esteem and other tales of woe. In “Maternity” the protagonist just has an inkling she’s going to fail and be a crappy mother. In “Night and Day” a Hollywood talent agent has focused so much on her career, she wonders if she has neglected her personal life too much, especially her love life. She soon realizes she has, but instead of being upset, she realizes she just doesn’t care. In “Ennui” one woman’s collection of lovers is nothing to brag about, but she can’t help but make the same bad decision after another when it comes to relationships. And in “Death and Disaster” one woman accidentally kills her neighbor’s pet bird.
These women are losing their men, losing their looks, losing their dignity and losing their grip. And despite Shapiro’s strong skills as a writer, Bummer is way too repetitive. After a while, I felt as if I was reading about the same character at different times in her life. And I also wished for some ray of hope for these characters, some light at the end of a very long, dismal tunnel. I guess with a name like Bummer, I shouldn’t hold out for a happy ending.
Two stories do stand out, one bad, the other good. In the fantasy-like “Small” a middle-aged woman looks back at her younger self when her roommates were seven men of short stature who ran a pot farm. Based on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” the story “Small” is a fractured fairy tale that should have worked but falls rather short (sorry). Shapiro can write straight fiction, but should leave the fantasy type writing to someone more versed in the genre like Francesca Lia Block.
However, “The Old Bean” does work. In Bummer’s final story, a middle-aged woman finds herself working at a local coffee shop with workers who are half her age and are fully disrespectful. She is also dealing with a husband who is working overseas and daughter who doesn’t want to talk to her. There is one awkward bright spot, a cute rocker co-worker, who may be young enough to be her son, but actually flirts with her in his own clumsy way. The protagonist of “Old Bean” is both weirded out and somewhat flattered by this young man’s attention. She also has a bit more humor and pluck than the other women of Bummer, and she shows some gumption when she tells her millennial co-workers that if a chair is available during the shop’s down time—it’s hers! She’s got some tired, middle-aged feet that need some rest.
Bummer starts out strong and ends strong. It’s the middle that is a bit of a slog to get through. I kind of wished Shapiro would have combined the opening and closing stories into a novel, showing the same character in her messed up early years and then later, in her still messed up middle-aged years. Perhaps that would have made a much stronger and more interesting read.
In the end, Bummer is the perfect title for a less than perfect book.
Originally Published at the Book Self:
http://thebookselfblog.wordpress.com/...
Bummer starts out strong with its opening story called “Bummer.” It’s the 1970s and the punk rock scene has made it to America. Alison finds herself pregnant and about to marry her boyfriend in Las Vegas. She and her betrothed bonded over their local punk scene, so of course, they are meant to be.
Or are they? Sadly, Alison’s mohawked Romeo turns out to be a dud and they break up before they can say their “I dos.” Soon after that unfortunate episode, desperate Alison hooks up with a Latino high roller who pays her for a night in the sack. Are these misfortunes a foreshadowing of Alison’s future? Struggling as a single mom and being mistaken for being a hooker? We can only guess and hope Alison gets it together.
In the following story, “1966,” a young girl is becoming aware of the world around her, and it’s not very pretty. Not only does her mom look bad in bathing suits, life as a housewife isn’t always sunshine and daisies. Her babysitter states she wishes she had never been born. Also, the shocking murder of several student nurses in Chicago by one Richard Speck has the nation both riveted and horrified. Is this what women can look forward to, stifling domesticity at best and brutal murder at worst?
Other stories follow the same depressing meme. Women’s lives are a collection of crappy decisions, regrettable mistakes, disenchantment and desperation, low self-esteem and other tales of woe. In “Maternity” the protagonist just has an inkling she’s going to fail and be a crappy mother. In “Night and Day” a Hollywood talent agent has focused so much on her career, she wonders if she has neglected her personal life too much, especially her love life. She soon realizes she has, but instead of being upset, she realizes she just doesn’t care. In “Ennui” one woman’s collection of lovers is nothing to brag about, but she can’t help but make the same bad decision after another when it comes to relationships. And in “Death and Disaster” one woman accidentally kills her neighbor’s pet bird.
These women are losing their men, losing their looks, losing their dignity and losing their grip. And despite Shapiro’s strong skills as a writer, Bummer is way too repetitive. After a while, I felt as if I was reading about the same character at different times in her life. And I also wished for some ray of hope for these characters, some light at the end of a very long, dismal tunnel. I guess with a name like Bummer, I shouldn’t hold out for a happy ending.
Two stories do stand out, one bad, the other good. In the fantasy-like “Small” a middle-aged woman looks back at her younger self when her roommates were seven men of short stature who ran a pot farm. Based on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” the story “Small” is a fractured fairy tale that should have worked but falls rather short (sorry). Shapiro can write straight fiction, but should leave the fantasy type writing to someone more versed in the genre like Francesca Lia Block.
However, “The Old Bean” does work. In Bummer’s final story, a middle-aged woman finds herself working at a local coffee shop with workers who are half her age and are fully disrespectful. She is also dealing with a husband who is working overseas and daughter who doesn’t want to talk to her. There is one awkward bright spot, a cute rocker co-worker, who may be young enough to be her son, but actually flirts with her in his own clumsy way. The protagonist of “Old Bean” is both weirded out and somewhat flattered by this young man’s attention. She also has a bit more humor and pluck than the other women of Bummer, and she shows some gumption when she tells her millennial co-workers that if a chair is available during the shop’s down time—it’s hers! She’s got some tired, middle-aged feet that need some rest.
Bummer starts out strong and ends strong. It’s the middle that is a bit of a slog to get through. I kind of wished Shapiro would have combined the opening and closing stories into a novel, showing the same character in her messed up early years and then later, in her still messed up middle-aged years. Perhaps that would have made a much stronger and more interesting read.
In the end, Bummer is the perfect title for a less than perfect book.
Originally Published at the Book Self:
http://thebookselfblog.wordpress.com/...
March 13, 2017
Very well written. had some very nice language. I enjoyed all of the stories. One downside is that, evident per the title, each story is quite depressing. I found it hard to read more than one at a time, hence why this short book took me longer to read. I suppose that's a compelling argument for the skill of the writer.
August 16, 2011
I'm pleasantly surprised to find a collection of short stories that contains so many unique, well-developed worlds and lives, that manages to maintain the same emotional center. Each woman struggles with identity, sex, history, and that dangerous comparison with others. But each one, in their own, way, has a fully textured, complete, and individual point of view. Very easy to slip into the next story, so the book flies by. I found myself thinking that she could turn any of these short stories into a full novel; but perhaps that's her magic, that she leaves the rest to our imagination.
December 26, 2010
This is a strong collection. Though I don't think the first story--about a pregnant punk-rock girl in the 80's--is an accurate portrayal of the rest of the collection. In consecutive stories the voice shifts, the plots are better rendered, and the author hits her stride.
July 28, 2011
Adverb-laden and full of characters that never seem fully developed. There are a few moments of strong images or powerful moments but they either aren't enough to save the story as a whole or they get overturned in some way as the story chugs along.
December 4, 2010
Review to follow.
December 8, 2010
each story written with a precise and well developed female voice. humility and wackiness with a dollop of realism written with confidence.
July 25, 2011
Dark, funny, sexy, excellent.
December 2, 2012
Captures an era! I read this last month--it inspired me so much, I started a new book about the 80's!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews