"The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster." Elizabeth Bishop's poem, which begins Melissa Bank's "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing," seems to echo sounds of pain and one's reconciliation to it. One soon discovers, however, that the novel is far more about simply enjoying a pleasurable read than plumbing new emotional depths.
The book consists of a collection of short stories centering around a young woman named Jane Rosenal. As the novel chronicles her life from childhood onwards, Bank depicts Jane as a character who wants to embody all modern ideals of success. But "Guide'"s appeal is not limited to modern times - the reader soon learns a young New Yorker's contemporary emotions are the same ones women have experienced for generations.
The first short story takes place when Jane, who is still very young, is forced to vacation in a spot far away from the memories of past great summers. This first section is aptly titled "Advanced Beginners." Jane wants to sound intelligent, cherish her older brother's visit, and get a job. More than anything, she wants to be an adult.
The emotions portrayed here are certainly real, and Melissa Bank accurately expresses all of the bitterness of today's teenager, such as when Jane says "If there were any ghosts in this one, they weren't moaning about husbands lost at sea but slamming doors over modern, trivial matters, such as not being allowed to go water-skiing." Such feelings, however, easily can be skimmed through; what Jane considers catastrophes never have the depth to really require serious reading. After all, each experience is something that could have happened to any of us.
As an adult, Jane finds herself working in publishing, an ironic job for the the novel's central character. Perhaps Bank truly has seen the ins and outs of the business. They always say authors tend to write about what they have experienced the most.
A second life-altering moment comes when Jane begins to fall in love with an older, more established publisher. The title of this short story, "My Old Man," proves an appropriate pun. Bank implies that within all relationships, joy can always be found when there is someone in your life saying "I love you," but there are usually greater issues to handle. Jane's affair with the older Archie ends like any reader might expect it to. The novel Archie writes about the two of them, however, ends in a cliched note common to many modern romances. "Most of it is true, too, except that the hero quits drinking and the girl grows up. On the last page, the couple gets married, which is a nice way for a love story to end." Bank covers all of the emotions here, but strangely enough, despite the differences in plot endings, manages to make both a little too obvious.
Despite how formulaic the book may seem, it does revolve around more than just love. The fifth short story, "The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine," is about Jane's father. A doctor who was diagnosed with cancer years earlier, he refused to tell his own children until it was almost too late. Perhaps a reader could see this as perfect love for one's children, but the novel is not that idealistic.
"The Girl's Guide" is stunningly realistic even when it fails to provide any true depth to a situation. "She clicked around the kitchen in her high heels and talked to my mother about who was coming and how many people and - Remember Dolores Greenspan? She called. I thought that my grandmother couldn't bring up my father. But then I realized that she was trying to help: make everything appear fine and sooner or later it would be." While this image is incredibly believable, readers already know how families react to death and its aftermath. None of this comes as any big surprise.
By the sixth short story, Jane starts to grow up a little. "You Could Be Anyone" means exactly what it says, and Jane starts to realize that she's not exactly the standout being she always saw herself as. So she deals with issues at work, with her boss, with her own ideals and with the previous image of what she wanted to do with her life. Jane is easy to relate to considering most people do exactly the same thing at some point in their life. Readers can commiserate with Jane's moment of crisis, but it never truly helps them unearth or figure out their own problems.
The title of the novel comes directly from the collection's final short story. Perhaps the term "hunting and fishing" is synonymous with dating, meaning "good men have to be hunted down." Ironically, Jane picks up a guide to dating and emotions, a generic book that almost seems to parallel "Guide" itself. Jane figures out the negligible worth of such a guide; "Guide" never realizes that, as a novel, it provides the same kind of routine information.
However, as a first time author, Bank made publishing news in 2000 by securing a six-figure advance for "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing." Clearly, publishers received the book with high expectations.
English majors and literature enthusiasts will cherish Bank's references, some of the best moments of the novel. "I got up and went outside to the dock in my nightgown. I looked out at the lagoon, hoping to see a green light. But nobody's dock was lit up. Only one house had any lights on, and the light was just the blue of the television set." These subtleties say a great deal more about the human emotions than some of Bank's more obvious passages.
There are great passages in the novel, and Melissa Bank shows promise as a writer. As it stands, however, she attempts to talk to readers about emotions instead of really illustrating them to her audience. Many of her images, especially one comparing dating women to seahorses bobbing around, at first seem creative, but later lose their novelty, as they become mundane and overused.
"The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" is not about finding one's self, or even about discovering the hidden emotions of Jane Rosenal. There is nothing to unearth in "Guide." Everything is laid out clearly for readers. It is not the "great American novel," and it will not help you discover any truths. The stories are, however, great for helping you live vicariously through someone who ends up fairly happy. After all, any reader can sympathize with Jane via common emotions.
"The Girl's Guide" is not exactly college literature class material. More likely to appear in a bag packed for Spring Break, than on a list of modern classics, "Guide" is a refreshing and fun read.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
