Single, Carefree, Mellow
by Katherine Heiny
"Her name is Paisley,” Billy says. “And she’s lovely. Paisley is lovely.” He seems to like saying her name, which is remarkable because if Josie had a lover named Paisley, she would never ever say her name out loud, not even if Paisley were about to step in front of a truck.
A little funny, a little harsh, a little cynical? Well, if your boyfriend you met on Facebook was leaving you for a woman he met on Twitter, would you mentally criticize her name? In a nutshell, that’s the running theme of Single, Carefree, Mellow.
Katherine Heiny has written and compiled eleven short stories in this book, and while they are enjoyable, and some passages are absolutely laugh-out-loud funny, I think you really have to be in the right mindset to enjoy it. I’ve never read a book so entrenched in the “New York state of mind”. If you are a New Yorker yourself, there will be no adjustment period when you start reading these stories. I am not, and sometimes I find that attitude abrasive and rude. I really didn’t like the first story, but then I took a break, told myself to accept the extreme cynicism, and continued reading. With fresh eyes, I enjoyed most of the stories.
In case you’ve never met a New Yorker, I’ll explain the tone of the book. All eleven stories are written in present tense, and they alternate between third person and second person, interestingly enough. It’s very easy to imagine that all the female protagonists—there are no male leads—are the same person. They are all extremely cynical, fickle, quick to judge, and vacillate constantly between feeling content with their current lover and wanting someone else. There’s lots of infidelity in this book, and in fact, the majority of the stories include a married man or woman.
I’m not a mother, and at the moment have absolutely no desire to become one, so while I can chuckle at the realism of the mothers with their children, I can’t really identify. If you have children, you might fall in love with the short story “That Dance You Do” about a mother hosting her son’s birthday party. She simultaneously loves and hates her life, appreciates and complains about her children and her job as a mother. Some of it is very funny, but, like all of the stories, it’s cynical and pretty depressing.
With all that warning on my part, I actually did enjoy the book. Just be sure you’re in the right mindset before you read it. If your husband’s just left you or you’ve just gotten your heart stomped on, you might want to wait.
It’s time for the magic show and you call all the children in and settle them in a group on your living room floor. When [the magician] Manny enters in all his pale blue splendor, your younger son says “Lady!” in exactly the same fearful whisper as the first time he saw the Easter Bunny at the mall and said, “Mouse!” But everyone else seems pretty unimpressed, and Caleb asks him to move out of the way so they can see the television.
So Manny has to explain that they’re not going to watch television, they’re going to have a magic show, and he begins. You are not sure you’ve ever seen a public performer or any variety, even the dog obedience school teacher, with less charisma than Manny. It’s depressing, actually, and you wish he were home with his loved ones instead of traipsing about suburbia, humiliating himself.
A little funny, a little harsh, a little cynical? Well, if your boyfriend you met on Facebook was leaving you for a woman he met on Twitter, would you mentally criticize her name? In a nutshell, that’s the running theme of Single, Carefree, Mellow.
Katherine Heiny has written and compiled eleven short stories in this book, and while they are enjoyable, and some passages are absolutely laugh-out-loud funny, I think you really have to be in the right mindset to enjoy it. I’ve never read a book so entrenched in the “New York state of mind”. If you are a New Yorker yourself, there will be no adjustment period when you start reading these stories. I am not, and sometimes I find that attitude abrasive and rude. I really didn’t like the first story, but then I took a break, told myself to accept the extreme cynicism, and continued reading. With fresh eyes, I enjoyed most of the stories.
In case you’ve never met a New Yorker, I’ll explain the tone of the book. All eleven stories are written in present tense, and they alternate between third person and second person, interestingly enough. It’s very easy to imagine that all the female protagonists—there are no male leads—are the same person. They are all extremely cynical, fickle, quick to judge, and vacillate constantly between feeling content with their current lover and wanting someone else. There’s lots of infidelity in this book, and in fact, the majority of the stories include a married man or woman.
I’m not a mother, and at the moment have absolutely no desire to become one, so while I can chuckle at the realism of the mothers with their children, I can’t really identify. If you have children, you might fall in love with the short story “That Dance You Do” about a mother hosting her son’s birthday party. She simultaneously loves and hates her life, appreciates and complains about her children and her job as a mother. Some of it is very funny, but, like all of the stories, it’s cynical and pretty depressing.
With all that warning on my part, I actually did enjoy the book. Just be sure you’re in the right mindset before you read it. If your husband’s just left you or you’ve just gotten your heart stomped on, you might want to wait.
It’s time for the magic show and you call all the children in and settle them in a group on your living room floor. When [the magician] Manny enters in all his pale blue splendor, your younger son says “Lady!” in exactly the same fearful whisper as the first time he saw the Easter Bunny at the mall and said, “Mouse!” But everyone else seems pretty unimpressed, and Caleb asks him to move out of the way so they can see the television.
So Manny has to explain that they’re not going to watch television, they’re going to have a magic show, and he begins. You are not sure you’ve ever seen a public performer or any variety, even the dog obedience school teacher, with less charisma than Manny. It’s depressing, actually, and you wish he were home with his loved ones instead of traipsing about suburbia, humiliating himself.