Shop Girl, The Brooklyn Follies

I finished Shop Girl about a week ago I think. I read it all in one day. It was such a touching story, which somehow reminded me of myself (even though I have not much in common with the heroine) and how hard it was to deal with being early twenty-something. Also it surprised me how serious a book it was for having been written by someone whom I think of as a funny-man. Like most romantic comedies, there was a significant role reserved for fate or chance or coincidence. But the personal development of the characters remained the most important thing. Nothing happened to them that was really beyond the pale of what they deserved. And in the end it turned out to be really satisfying.

Bought The Brooklyn Follies on impulse in the airport and read it on the plane. It was fairly light and charming, although it did not always hit the mark. The parts I liked least were the pontifications on politics and on private worlds. Those were uncomfortably jarring. The rest was all right. I mean, certainly it kept me turning pages, though if you ask me to point to some favorite section or aspect I'm not sure that I could. It was the "fascination with people's stories" thing, which was narratively a little too foregrounded. It's just not always as interesting on a meta-level as writers sometimes think it is. On the other hand, I did really enjoy the idea of an entire compendium of follies, which the first person narrator occupies his spare time compiling. I also liked the multi-generational "lost sister" motif, which seemed like an homage to The Sound and the Fury (a book I only just recently read). In any case, as airplane reading, no complaints.