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Summary
Summary
Melissa Bank's runaway bestseller, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, charmed readers and critics alike with its wickedly insightful, tender look at a young woman's forays into love, work, and friendship. Now, with The Wonder Spot, Bank is back with her signature combination of devilishly self-deprecating humor, seriousness and wisdom.Nothing comes easily to Sophie Applebaum, the black sheep of her family trying to blend in with the herd. Uneasily situated between two brothers, Sophie first appears as the fulcrum and observer of her clan in "Boss of the World." Then, at college, in "The Toy Bar," she faces a gauntlet of challenges as Best Friend to the dramatic and beautiful Venice Lambourne, curator of "perfect things." In her early twenties, Sophie is dazzled by the possibilities of New York City during the Selectric typewriter era -- only to land solidly back in Surrey, PA after her father's death.The Wonder Spotfollows Sophie's quest for her own identity -- who she is, what she loves, whom she loves, and occasionally whom she feels others should love -- over the course of 25 years. In an often-disappointing world, Sophie listens closely to her own heart. And when she experiences her 'Aha!' moments -- her own personal wonder spots - it's the real thing. In this tremendous follow-up to The Girls' Guide To Hunting And Fishing, Bank again shares her vast talent for capturing a moment, taking it to heart, and giving it back to her readers.
Author Notes
Melissa Bank won the 1993 Nelson Algren Award for short fiction. She has published stories in the Chicago Tribune, including Zoetrope, The North American Review, and Other Voices and Ascent. Her work has also been heard on "Selected Shorts" on National Public Radio. She holds an MFA from Cornell University and divides her time between New York City and Sag Harbor, New York.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Fans of the megasuccessful Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, rejoice. Bank is back with an equally entertaining first novel, starring Sophie Applebaum, a sarcastic, self-deprecating middle child from a suburban Jewish family who moves from a fish-out-of-water adolescence to a how-did-I-get-here adulthood. Likable Sophie's (mis)adventures in life and love include an attempt to use lyrics from Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me, Babe to argue against the necessity of attending Hebrew school and a penchant for imagining her future life with men she barely knows (a potential beau's ability to cook fish becomes a metaphor for the hard things we will face together). A slightly cynical yet romantic optimism grounds Sophie and gives Bank plenty of opportunities for clever quips: cribbing a career objective in publishing from a rEsumE handbook, Sophie diligently copies exercises found in the long-overdue library book 20th Century Typing, including Know Your Typewriter, and she agrees to a blind date with a pediatric surgeon by noting that she possesses her own pediatric heart. But this isn't just another urban chick-lit bildungsroman; Bank's work also features the intriguing transformations of the other Applebaums: a grandmother's slip into senility, Sophie's mother's dip into infidelity, a brother's turn toward Orthodox Judaism. Through it all, Sophie never quite escapes the sense of being a solid trying to do a liquid's job, a feeling as frightening as it is familiar to those struggling to achieve a grownup self-awareness. Engrossing, engaging it's a wonderful return for Bank. 12-city author tour. Agent, Molly Friedrich. (June 7) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Bank's debut, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing 0 (1999), was a standout in a genre that was finding its footing at the time; six years later, her follow-up should also gain her both attention and acclaim for the stark frankness with which it looks at modern relationships. Unlike the polished, ambitious heroines of more typical fare, Sophie Appelbaum isn't especially driven or lovelorn; she's an astute observer but often finds herself, by choice or by accident, in the background. When readers first meet Sophie, she's 12 and a reluctant attendee of Hebrew class; she's soon ditching to hang out in the bathroom with a girl who is even more rebellious. In New York, with a college degree but no typing skills, Sophie drifts from residence to residence until she finally lands a job as an editorial assistant working for one of her brother's ex-girlfriends, but this seemingly ideal first job doesn't lead to the promised publishing career. There are men in Sophie's life, too, but none of them seems to be the "one." Bank resists the urge to overromanticize modern-day relationships, recognizing the ordinary, mundane side of life and love. --Kristine Huntley Copyright 2005 Booklist
Guardian Review
The cover, which features a girl in a nice dress looking beatific against the Manhattan skyline, suggests that Melissa Bank's second novel might be no more than traditional chicklit: indeed, with a vague but aspirational heroine who is caught up in a succession of dull jobs and imperfect men, The Wonder Spot has occasional echoes of the focus group. This followup to the heartily praised Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing concerns Sophie Applebaum, a thoughtful girl from the suburbs who seems forever doomed to play second fiddle to friends who are more rebellious or beautiful than she is. There's Margie, who smokes in the toilets when she should be learning Hebrew; Venice, who has been to Europe and buys luxurious dresses on impulse; and Dina, who skates with aplomb. You spend much of the novel wondering if Applebaum will do anything besides comment drolly on others' foibles. Thankfully, Bank is a sharp, engaging writer, and she gives Applebaum some great one-liners. Avoiding wish fulfilment in favour of a believable mix of happiness, grief and drudgery, this is a witty, rueful and appealing book. Caption: article-Bank.1 The cover, which features a girl in a nice dress looking beatific against the Manhattan skyline, suggests that Melissa Bank's second novel might be no more than traditional chicklit: indeed, with a vague but aspirational heroine who is caught up in a succession of dull jobs and imperfect men, The Wonder Spot has occasional echoes of the focus group. - James Smart.
Kirkus Review
Another engaging, ruefully funny saga of a young woman growing up without ever quite fitting in, from the author of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing (1999). Sophie Applebaum introduces herself to us en route from her home in suburban Philadelphia to a cousin's bat mitzvah. At 12, she's already witty, mildly insecure and determined in her aimless way not to do anything she doesn't want to. These character traits will be familiar to Bank's previous readers, and the author again favors the interlinked-stories format as she drops in on Sophie at various life-defining moments. "Boss of the World" sketches out the family dynamic: quiet, much-loved father; anxious, hectoring mother; unreliable but charming big brother Jack; follow-the-rules little brother Robert, and Sophie in the middle, vaguely discomfited by them all. In subsequent stories/chapters, she drifts through a mediocre college, makes something of an effort to land a job in publishing (actually learning to type), negotiates complex friendships with women usually more assured than she, and meets any number of Mr. Wrongs, who range from self-absorbed to philandering to nice-enough-but-not-The-One. (That constitutes progress for Sophie.) Robert marries aggressively orthodox Naomi; Jack flits from woman to woman before settling down with a well-connected real estate agent--"he would work to be part of Mindy's family as he'd never worked to be part of our family," his sister comments sardonically. After her father's death, Sophie grows more tender toward her mother, acknowledging their shared vulnerability. She even learns to love her maternal grandmother, once critical and difficult but considerably softened by a stroke and an impending date with the Grim Reaper. Though the Applebaums all get off plenty of good wisecracks, the overall tone here is faintly melancholy. The last snapshot is of a 40ish Sophie, who has a new job and a decade-younger boyfriend, but isn't exactly dancing in the aisles. Very appealing, but more mature insights don't entirely compensate for the fact that both heroine and storyline greatly resemble their predecessors in Bank's best-selling debut. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Pitched as both literary fiction and high-class chick-lit, this follow-up to Bank's blockbuster The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing features feckless Sophie Applebaum of Surrey, PA. With a 12-city tour. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
