Great, solid, funny, readable short stories. a greatly satisfying read! ( )

this book was terrible. i am very into short stories, and i picked it up based on praise. i just could not get into it. she makes even interesting stuff seem dry. her story about a teacher in love with a student could have been more climactic. i wish i could have gotten through this book, but i could not. i'll still check out other writings by this author, i'll never turn down a book without trying. ( )

Reminds me of Lorrie Moore's writing style. ( )

Found the stories mediocre. ( )

It's hard to write a review about a book of short stories. I liked some of them better than others. In all honesty, this was an accidental find. I was looking for books that had some mention of Amherst or Northampton, MA and this book came up in my search. Turned out only one of the stories mentioned those towns, and eh... it wasn't my favorite in the bunch. The title of the book intrigued me enough to get the book from Interlibrary Loan, but I'm not sure I would spend money on it in hindsight. One reviewer on Amazon mentioned that the stories are all about different places, but the reader doesn't necessarily get drawn into feeling like he/she is in those places. I won't argue about that, but I think the book is more about relationships than about Northampton, Martha's Vineyard, Wisconsin, New York State, California, Florida, or wherever else. It was an interesting read, and I did find myself eager to read it once I got going but I'm not about to go running out to read the author's other books either. A very middle-of-the road experience for me. ( )