The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine

by Melissa Bank

When Penguin published Melissa Bank's debut The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing in 1999, it was an immediate bestseller and was garlanded with praise by critics for its unique, honest and appealing voice. In this piece, Jane tells us about her relationship with a man who will never use her name.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Chick Lit

58 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Melissa Bank was an American author. She published two books, "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing," a volume of short stories, and "The Wonder Spot," a novel, which have been translated into over thirty languages. Bank was the winner of the 1993 Nelson Algren Award for short fiction. She taught in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_...

Reviews

[Alan (the Lone Librarian on semi-hiatus)) Teder · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Girls' Guide to Work and Grief
A review of the Pocket Penguin 70 paperback (2005) which is a short story excerpted from The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing (December 29, 1998).

I wanted to read Melissa Bank immediately after seeing Berengaria's outstanding 4.5 rounded up to 5 star review of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing. As luck would have it, a nice used copy of this short story excerpt was available and I snapped it up right away.

As B says, the titles here are deceptive and are not really descriptive of the contents. The Worst Thing ... is about a young editorial assistant making her way in the publishing world while dealing with a dying parent on the one hand and a rekindled relationship with an older man on the other.

The writing throughout is excellent and often insightful and humorous about life and its foibles. The portrayals of the boss editor, the boyfriend, the father and the rest of the family is in turns funny, poignant and precise. It was really a joy to read. Thank you again for the discovery B!

Trivia and Link
This edition is part of the Pocket Penguin 70 series which are 70 short samplers of various novels, short stories or essays in order to promote works by writers whose books were published by Penguin Books.

[Dyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only 58 pages long, but it took me on an emotional roller-coaster for the good two hours that it took to read it. This story is touching and witty at the same time. Just when I had tears brimming in my eyes I'd suddenly burst out laughing with a well-placed witticism. For someone who is somewhere between a limbo and a precarious place, I can totally relate to the idea that all the bad things that are happening could just be 'the worst thing a suburban girl could imagine,' meaning it's insignificant once you realize you're just one person in a world of billions. Makes it easier to pick oneself up and carry on or dare to do something different.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant short story on life, death, illness, family, love and love lost. What more could you ask for in 50 odd pages?

The book is filled with delightful, insightful passages on the small details in our lives that matter so much. These are the books I generally love; ones in which a sentence or thought encapsulates beautifully the small mundane lives that I as a middle class human being tend to live in. I won't give a spoiler from this book but will instead use an example from Safran-Foer's- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close in which he equates our lives to 9/11 - "Everything that's been born has died, which means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they're all on fire, and we're all trapped."

In this novella there are a few such paragraphs and thoughts.

An excellent read and highly recommended!

[Felix Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I already read this story, but given the new title I thought it was something different. Either way. I loved her two previous books, so it was no let down to reread the story with Archie. I think it's one of my favorites of her.

[Patrick McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Penguin novella / short story “The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine” by Melissa Bank is quite enjoyable. It’s the story of a witty intelligent girl trying to make her way in the city and in publishing. It is sort of first hand account of her relationship with an older editor and former alcoholic that she previously had a relationship with, but it’s more than that, it also about finding your niche in the politics of work and family among other things. I really enjoyed this story and might seek out more written by Ms. Banks.

[Jade Maree · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this as a joke (funny title) but it was really good!

[Ida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sally Rooney; bitte wer?

[Coenraad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, containing one long short story by Melissa Bank, proves the power of the Penguin celebratory sets: introducing readers to authors they would not usually encounter or read (hence my strongly worded complaint about the unnecessary repetition of texts in the Anaïs Nin and Gabriel Garcia Marquez books in the Pocket Penguin 70s set). Bank depicts the city life of a young woman, Jane, who deals with a number of the 'worst things' in a person's life: her father's disease, her complex relationship with an older man, her disillusionment with her career. Told in straightforward prose, the story promises more joys in the other publications from Bank's pen.

Melissa Banks beeld die lewe uit van 'n jong vrou in New York wat verskeie 'ergste dinge wat ooit met jou kan gebeur' binne 'n kort tyd die hoof moet bied. Die onopgesmukte taalgebruik en oortuigende karakters laat my daarna uitsien om meer van dieselfde skrywer te lees.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down to 3. I was struggling to find a book to read by an author with my first or last name for the PopSugar Reading Challenge and stumbled across this one. At its climax the emotion is very real, but the end sort of peters out. I liked the progression of the story and its flawed characters.

[Darinka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful short novel! In only a so few pages it touches you and makes you think. It's a story about life, love, passion, lost and so much more. It's about finding the strength to go through "the worst thing a suburban girl could imagine" and picking yourself up. I also found it very fascinating to read about working in book publishing, to have kind of an inside look into that world. I'm sad that Jane and her loved ones were only with me for about 60 pages, but her story - even though it's short - is an excellent read.

[Mary Arkless]

Read this while on holiday. The story is told in the first person, describing a woman's relationship with her father, what happens when he becomes seriously ill, and her relationship with her on-again-off-again boyfriend.



I enjoyed the writing style.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the climax of the book while I was commuting home. That was the fifth time I've ever cried on public transport. Let's continue imagining the worst things that can happen to us

[Talyah]

read it here

[Claire Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This apparently reprises the character of Jane who first appeared in Bank's debut novel, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, which I haven't read. And now I am going to go and buy a copy because I loved this! It's only 58 pages long (a long short story really), and was part of Penguin's celebrations at 70, published in 2005. The writing is wonderful - succinct and clear-eyed and funny - and Jane is a great character. She gets back together with her ex-boyfriend just as her father tells her that he has had leukemia for many years. There are so many brilliant lines. I thought it was witty and funny and sad. A contender for my books of the year.

[Joana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whatever happened to Melissa Bank? I've loved all her books I could find (2 + this short one) but nothing has been published for a long while now, it's a shame. This is a short novella (I guess) about a woman doubting her place in the publishing world but most of all dealing with her father's illness and a relationship with a much older man. I really enjoy the writing style, very matter of fact but with flashes of hilarity. It's touching but funny too and there are never too many books like that.

[❄ Pixelflocke ❄ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 - 2,5 ★

Die Kurzgeschichte erzählt einen Ausschnitt aus dem Leben der jungen Jane. Sie lebt in New York und arbeitet als Fachredakteurin in einem Verlag , ihr Vater hat Leukämie im Endstadium und mit ihrem deutlichen älteren Freund Archie (28 Jahre!!!) ist sie in einer zum Scheitern verurteilten Beziehung.

Die Geschichte wirkte auf mich größtenteils eher emotionslos und monoton erzählt. Ich mochte die kleinen Momente zwischen jane und ihrem Vater, aber das war's auch leider im Großen und Ganzen.

[zee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like I was somewhat missing a chunk of the book then realized this must either be a short story of a novel or continuation of sone kind, turns out i was right but other i actually had fun reading this and plan on reading the novel

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more of a short story than a book, but it’s a great one.

[Carima Behardien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully told in only a few pages.

[Private · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it i still think about it every now and then and it's been over a year since i read it.

[Karan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this short read - so many great one-liners in Jane and Archie's conversations. Thanks Alan!

[Piet van Dongen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, very touching, and funny.

[Shaha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great title and that’s all the book has going for it

[Vivienne Strauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've read A Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing - no real need to read this which appears to simply be an excerpt from the novel.

[Josien · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHERE DO I FIND THIS BOOK????