Take a look at the cover of this book and you will be foolish not to believe it is brilliant. It is covered in boasts about being a number one best-seller, praise from magazines and quality newspapers and comparisons to Bridget Jones and Sex in the City. Just my kind of book, I thought but how wrong I was.

It is Melissa Bank’s first novel and a closer inspection of the publishing information shows that the novel has been previously published as a collection of short stories in various American magazines. In my opinion, the novel should have stayed that way as the chapters do not gel to form a novel, yet are insufficient as stories in their own right.

The majority of the novel centres around the life of Jane (Janie) Rosenal from being 14 to middle aged, and her eternal quest to learn and understand love. Unfortunately the story is confusing due to the way it flits through time and even switches from first person to third in places. Overall the conversations and thoughts of the central character are lacking in explanation which gives the whole novel a very confusing voice.

Overall
Had this book been marketed as a collection of short stories, I would probably have enjoyed it a lot more as the content is in the main well written. It is just that I was expecting a novel, one tale if you like, and it’s approach has spoilt my feelings towards the book. It is hard to recommend it as a novel but if you enjoy short tales then by all means go ahead!

* Warning*
The remainder of this review will spoil the book for those who were intending to read it.

Chapter One - Advanced beginners
If the whole book were to continue like this chapter, it would be brilliant. The story starts with Jane at 14 taking an avid interest in her brother’s love life. A kind of learn by example story, if you like. It is well written and very focused around the characters actions, thought and feelings. It is well written and a page
turner.

Chapter Two - The Floating House
This is where it all starts to go wrong! Jane is suddenly much older and living with her boyfriend. The initial jump in time is difficult to comprehend as the writer offers no explanation to her age or what has happened in between the chapters.

Jane and her boyfriend visit his ex-girlfriend and her new husband whereby Jane learns about jealousy and lust. The continuity of the main character almost maintains the tale, but due to the unexplained jump it feels like you are starting to read a completely new book without finishing your current one.

Chapter Three - My Old Man
Again the tale jumps across time to start this chapter and I presume it is backwards as Jane is 16 and staying with her Aunt Rita. Rita introduces her to Archie Knox, an older man who is to become Jane’s love interest 25 years later. Not surprisingly, the chapter jumps across these 25 years halfway through. This chapter would stand well on it’s own but seems to be written in a different style to the previous two.

Chapter Four - The Best Possible Light
This is probably the most confusing chapter of the book. It starts off with t he central character talking in the first person about her son and daughters. As you have kind of got used to the missing chunks of the book, you assume it to be Jane but alas no! Roughly halfway through the chapter you realise that the central voice is actually that of a lady who lives below Jane’s apartment. She hasn’t been mentioned previously in the book, and none of the characters are mentioned again, On the whole the chapter is irrelevant and it’s short story does not stand well on its own.

Chapter Five - The Worst Thing A Suburban Girl Could Imagine
This chapter is quite moving as it describes the death of Jane’s father. In some way it follows on from chapter three but the continuity is spoilt by the presence of chapter four. In it
’s defence it is well written although the conversations which occur seem a little insufficient to understand what is going on.

Chapter Six - You Could Be Anyone
This is another very confusing chapter. It is written in the second and third person which leaves you wondering if the character is question is Jane. The voice always refers to ‘you’ when discussing the character and ‘he’ about her current love interest. It is also written in the passive voice which makes it seem completely out of place in the novel.

Chapter Seven - The Girl’s Guide To Hunting And Fishing
At this point the novel goes a long way to redeem itself. We are back with Jane and her non-existent love life at the point when she resorts to a self help manual called ‘How to meet and marry Mr Right’. The tale is brilliantly funny as the writers of the manual become imaginary friends of Jane’s everyday life. If you were to read just one part of the novel I would recommend this one, and for that reason I wont spoil this tale any further…;)