The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing

THE GIRLS GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING by Melissa BankOctober 7, 2004THE GIRLS GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING is not a novel. It's a series of stories (some that had been published previously) centering on Jane Rosenal, starting from the age of fourteen through middle age. Each story reveals something different about her, puts her in different situations, and in nearly every single story, it is told with a lot of wit and sassy humor. I found myself chuckling through some of the earlier stories, and found myself empathizing with her in another story (about her father dying from cancer).I don't know of any other way to describe this "novel". It isn't a novel and so there was no climax or high point at the end of the last chapter. However, I did feel a sense of "ending" with that last story, feeling that maybe Jane had finally found someone that she may love for the rest of her life, or maybe as she said "We are just two mayflies mating on a summer night". Very profound.My overall feeling about this "book" is that I loved it, mainly because it is not what I had expected. With a title such as THE GIRLS GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING, I expected a tale centering on a teenage girl living in Wisconsin, for instance. What I did not expect was a coming-of-age series of short stories, chronicling the life of one woman from New England, along with her desires, thoughts, and opinions. I found it unique and it kept my attention throughout the entire book.The middle story, which many readers have questioned, bothers me as well. But, from what I feel after reading this book, it was just a "lull", a transition story, in which Jane had moved into her deceased aunt's apartment, and it signified a big change in her life (her starting her relationship with her aunt's friend Archie). It was a rather weird blip in this series of stories, and that is only my guess as to why it appeared in the book. Other than that, I have no real complaints about THE GIRLS GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING. With that said, I don't think this is a book that any reader can enjoy. One needs to be in a certain frame of mind, and come to the book not expecting anything in particular, or you may be disappointed.

The stories in this book lead you on a winding path that never leads you where you think you are going. The Hemingway-like style of writing reels you in like the fish Banks hoped to catch and does. By the end of the last story, you fold the book closed and try to figure out why you are feeling so many different emotions and realize that this was a book you should have read a long time ago.

This book is like a period piece of 1980s/1990s New York. It is about affluent people with minor life crises. I enjoyed reading it for what it is, and it kept me wanting to read more.

This is not a review of the book (which is wonderful) but of the vendor who sold me the used book. It was listed as "good" but the product arrived on time and the book itself is almost new.

Someone gave this to me when I was a teenager, and it was like a light in the dark, murky world of insecurity and dating. The author is an incredibly versatile writer, mostly following the life of one character (Jane) but weaving in other stories as well. Overall the theme is about looking for love and dating, but instead of the usual "woman seeks Mr. Right and finds him at the end," the main character very frequently has to say goodbye to men she loves, because she is with them for the wrong reasons or it just doesn't work out. The book, and her story, isn't ultimately about finding Mr. Right at all - but about maintaining integrity as a person in the awkward, self-conscious quest that is dating.The second-person-voiced chapter on overcoming breast cancer was over my head as a teenager, never having experienced any health problems of my own. I was mostly struck by the unusual shift in narration. Someone who has been through an experience like that will find it incredibly meaningful - and familiar. "Too late, you realize that your body was perfect - every healthy body is."

I found this book over a decade ago somewhere. It had been placed there on purpose and I was grateful it found me. I believe I was in a stage most youths go through...Unable to pursue change in a positive manner and focused on being stuck in confusion with where I wanted to be in life. This book shows that It’s ok and that life is suppose to be like this (stagnant) For a while. So when change comes it should be embraced because it’s required for growth. If you just trust the process and embrace it all (even the parts that make you cry) that silver lining was everything it needed to be to make you the strong beautiful person you are today. Take advice for what it’s worth but always go with your gut. No one knows you better than you know yourself

I purchased this book because I just read The Fault in Our Stars, and needed a light-hearted read. I assumed by the cute cover, title and vague description, “captures in perfect pitch what it's like to be a young woman coming of age in America today,” that it would probably be a cute story about an awkward teen at summer camp trying to get the guy and ultimately learning that all she had to do was be herself. Well, it was not.There was no summer camp or cute, clumsy youthful scenes. It was a metaphor, for a desperate WOMAN trying hunt and catch her guy. Jane was, I’m assuming a 20-30ish woman awkwardly navigating the NYC dating scene. She was that obnoxious office colleague that won’t let you work, instead forces you to listen to their blow-by-blow dating drama, all the while you are thinking what a complete idiot she is and wish she would just shut-up.The book is divided into small vignettes – two of which do not even relate to the story (but you keep waiting for them to). The vignettes weren’t that cheerful; in fact I found most of them pretty depressing –(spoiler alert) alcoholic boyfriend, dying dad, breast cancer and extreme insecurity. It was an easy read, I finished it in three hours, but left me drained.

This is one of the finest books I’ve read. I was hooked from the first sentence. Great story, great characters, really well written.

I remember hearing this book discussed and the reviewer saying not to let the title put you off, so I didn't and read it. I enjoyed it but there was something about the writing that I found quite difficult. Every evening when I picked it up the book I had to read the previous chapter to remind myself what was going on. I'm really not sure why that was, what it was about the writing because I once I got into the reading again then it read quite easily. The central character is Jane and you read her life story through her relationships. All of them are stand alone stories with their own characters. The final story, when she was in a relationship with Richard and playing 'hard to get' following a book, 'How to meet and marry Mr Right' I found extremely frustrating and rather patronising as a woman myself. Women don't behave like that any more. Even writing a book to suggest that they should really frustrated me. Jane was a lovely young woman, she was attractive because of who she was and didn't need to play hard to get. Yes, it backfired on her and Richard didn't like the woman she portrayed; he liked who she was. The chapter just really annoyed me, it's like woman playing dim because they don't want to intimidate potential suitors - completely unnecessary and unpleasant chapter.

Heard about this book on Radio4’s A Good Read described as not “chick lit”and up until c. 80% of it, it was a good read but last bit read like a rom-com. Nonetheless I have given it 4 stars because it was a good read and surprised that it isn’t yet a movie...or has it?

Gets rave reviews but I can't see why. Not much story indeed it is more like a series of essays about one woman at various stages of her life plus one totally unconnected story in the middle. All about relationships and the woman's troubles in finding a man_ fine if that's what you want

This is a wonderful book. I devoured it and ever since I've been recommending it to all my friends. It's full of larger-than-life characters and witty one-liners. It just read like 'the truth' to me and I did wonder how much of it was autobiographical. Melissa Bank's writing is very economical and deceptively simple but it draws you in and you just want to keep reading!I agree with another reviewer that I wasn't too sure about the chapter on the neighbours. It's even written in the first person - but not by Jane, our heroine - which was confusing. I kept thinking some of those characters would turn up later in the book, but they never did. That was a bit odd and in some ways spoiled what was, for me, an almost perfect read.

This is one of those books that surprises you. The title gives nothing away which is part of it's charm really. It's funny, gripping and beautiful.