Rules for Saying Goodbye
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- نقد و بررسی
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نقد و بررسی
Katherine leaves tacky Fresno for a swanky East Coast boarding school, where she learns about kissing, character assassination, and cocaine. Then it's on to New York City, magazine writing, lots of booze, and one bad man after another. As narrator, author Taylor's voice is pleasing. She reads with an easy grace, becoming charming, bright, smarmy, cheerful, or sardonic, as called for. Taylor's coming-of-age novel is autobiographical--her protagonist's name is Katherine Taylor, and she has a sharp wit and a barbed tongue, too. Taylor's writing isn't self-indulgent--it's painfully honest and playfully ironic. RULES FOR SAYING GOODBYE (there are 11) is a witty primer for posh 30-somethings and a smart, sassy listen for everyone else. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
March 5, 2007
Katherine Taylor's debut features a narrator named Katherine Taylor, whose rebellious mother sends her from Fresno to Manhattan's fictional Claver prep at age 13. The madcap, fast-forward shenanigans that follow read like Auntie Mame à la A.M. Homes. Rich Claver friend Page gets pregnant and develops a coke habit. Katherine gets a Columbia M.F.A. but lacks drive, tending bar at an exclusive hotspot while trying not to deal with her abrasive mom. Katherine's brother, Ethan, a gay actor, rooms with her in her cheap uptown digs until he becomes "the face of Diet Coke." There's ambivalent romance that involves a move to London. Claver friend Clarissa gets cancer as she turns 30. When a nutty neighbor threatens to kill Katherine, police advise vacating, but "giving up a rent-controlled apartment to save your life is as ridiculous as living in Queens." While a lot of what Katherine does is familiar, Taylor is a superb satirist, eviscerating everyone in her Katherine's path. In the middle of the novel she drops a list of "rules for saying goodbye"; it's extraneous, even precious, and it's the best thing in the book: e.g., "Once you are gone, be gone for good." Taylor manages to make worn New York yarns feel fresh again.
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