Instant Love: Fiction 
asked by markymark on November 2, 2006 2:46 PM
“We are all walking around this city with our hearts sadly swimming in our chests, like dying fish on the surface of a still pond. It’s enough to make you give up entirely.” —from Instant Love
But we don’t give up. We keep trying. We’re either too stupid to learn from our mistakes or we honestly believe that the next time will be different; it’s hard to say which. Driven by the mad hopefulness that is part of the human condition, we are constantly falling in and out of love with a slightly different version of the person who came before. Jami Attenberg chronicles those exact moments with heartbreaking realism in her powerful debut, Instant Love.
Told through the eyes of three young women and their friends and lovers, Instant Love explores what it means to be in love, what it means to be lonely, and what it means to be both at the same time. Holly turns to computer dating to find love even as she thinks wistfully of a former boyfriend who loved her well and fed her ice cream. Maggie recounts the story of her one crazy summer to her disbelieving husband and feels the distance between them grow wider than the void across their king-sized bed. And Sarah Lee remembers the one who got away and the one she ran away from, all the while moving toward the one she can actually love.
As Holly, Maggie, and Sarah Lee move through the rituals of modern love, they have to decide who is worth taking a chance on in a world where things don’t fall into place easily, people are often difficult, and disappointment is the rule. Through their stories, Attenberg presents a rare, honest look at love.
Also available as an eBook.
But we don’t give up. We keep trying. We’re either too stupid to learn from our mistakes or we honestly believe that the next time will be different; it’s hard to say which. Driven by the mad hopefulness that is part of the human condition, we are constantly falling in and out of love with a slightly different version of the person who came before. Jami Attenberg chronicles those exact moments with heartbreaking realism in her powerful debut, Instant Love.
Told through the eyes of three young women and their friends and lovers, Instant Love explores what it means to be in love, what it means to be lonely, and what it means to be both at the same time. Holly turns to computer dating to find love even as she thinks wistfully of a former boyfriend who loved her well and fed her ice cream. Maggie recounts the story of her one crazy summer to her disbelieving husband and feels the distance between them grow wider than the void across their king-sized bed. And Sarah Lee remembers the one who got away and the one she ran away from, all the while moving toward the one she can actually love.
As Holly, Maggie, and Sarah Lee move through the rituals of modern love, they have to decide who is worth taking a chance on in a world where things don’t fall into place easily, people are often difficult, and disappointment is the rule. Through their stories, Attenberg presents a rare, honest look at love.
Also available as an eBook.
Reviews
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Attenberg offers a group of stories that roughly turn out to read like a novel. Her characters are either searching, or pillaging for, or avoiding the tight clench of love. At her best, Attenberg writes with a hard edge similar to A.M Homes, and her characters are likable working-class anti-heroes.
reviewed by davedriver on November 26, 2006 12:11 PM
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Jami Attenberg has a real ear for dialogue as well as an ability to articulate the common experiences of women. Her characters are well drawn and engaging and their stories are rich with detail and emotion.
I particularly like that these stories have edge - there is no predictable action or resolution and the characters' thoughts and actions are at times dark, cynical or flawed.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a reprieve from the dull parade of chick lit out there.
I particularly like that these stories have edge - there is no predictable action or resolution and the characters' thoughts and actions are at times dark, cynical or flawed.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a reprieve from the dull parade of chick lit out there.
reviewed by drvale on November 24, 2006 10:31 AM
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Jami Attenberg is a journalist who has published short stories.
Instant Love, a collection of love stories, and "ending of" love stories, is cleverly interconnected. The principal characters are Maggie and her sister Holly, and Melanie and Sarah Lee; and their assorted boyfriends, conquests, one-night stands, and husbands. Maggie and Holly's father, a famous author, is in one of the stories.
The stories jump from character to character, many not repeated; and are told from various points of view. They drift though relationships, marriages, and friendships, trying to connect with other human beings, and most often failing.
Incredibly real vignettes of life--like putting on makeup at age 17 and making out for the first time on a leather couch; working as a waitress in a country club with obnoxious customers; and a woman who visits a friend who has left her husband, and coming home to an empty house because her husband has left her.
Sad without being maudlin or pathetic; dark without being despairing or oppressive, Attenberg reflects the disjointed attempts at communicating and connecting in this age of Internet dating and first dates in noisy bars.
Attenberg has been compared to Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood; she is definitely a writer to watch. This might make an interesting book club choice; it would be intriguing to see how readers of different ages react to the book.
Armchair Interviews says: So-real stories that anyone can relate to.
Instant Love, a collection of love stories, and "ending of" love stories, is cleverly interconnected. The principal characters are Maggie and her sister Holly, and Melanie and Sarah Lee; and their assorted boyfriends, conquests, one-night stands, and husbands. Maggie and Holly's father, a famous author, is in one of the stories.
The stories jump from character to character, many not repeated; and are told from various points of view. They drift though relationships, marriages, and friendships, trying to connect with other human beings, and most often failing.
Incredibly real vignettes of life--like putting on makeup at age 17 and making out for the first time on a leather couch; working as a waitress in a country club with obnoxious customers; and a woman who visits a friend who has left her husband, and coming home to an empty house because her husband has left her.
Sad without being maudlin or pathetic; dark without being despairing or oppressive, Attenberg reflects the disjointed attempts at communicating and connecting in this age of Internet dating and first dates in noisy bars.
Attenberg has been compared to Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood; she is definitely a writer to watch. This might make an interesting book club choice; it would be intriguing to see how readers of different ages react to the book.
Armchair Interviews says: So-real stories that anyone can relate to.
reviewed by imtheboss on November 25, 2006 6:53 AM