The Wonder Spot

Melissa Bank's second (and last) novel, THE WONDER SPOT (2005), was an absolute pleasure to read, its narrator Sophie Applebaum a memorable character, funny and likable, the middle kid in a Jewish family from suburban Philadelphia, her father is a Judge. Sophie tells us, serially, of her relationships with men, starting in junior high and, briefly, Hebrew school. Then her college years in upstate New York, followed by her NYC years, initially searching for a job and living first with her brothers, then with her grandmother, while she teaches herself to type, trying to find an entry job in publishing, which she finally does, and then later works as a copywriter in advertising. The story follows her into her forties and through several show more different men, none of them ever quite a good match. Sophie herself is something of a hoot, with a dry, self-effacing sense of humor that often cracked me up. As in once, when only half listening to an architect friend talking about "tongue-in-groove" construction, she says she thought he was talking about sex.

We also learn much about her own famiy, the judge, her mother, her womanizing older brother Jack, and her younger brother, Robert, a perfectionist physician, and his very kosher wife, Naomi. And there are a number of other odd secondary characters, her best friends, her co-workers in publishing and advertising, jobs she never really loves.

Whatever I might say here, I can't begin to convey what an entertaining read this book was. And, sadly, it wasn't anywhere near as successful as her first book, THE GIRL'S GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING (1999), an international bestseller that I read and enjoyed a dozen or more years ago.

I was left feeling a bit sad as I finished this book, because Bank had some very bad luck while writing that first book. She was hit by a car while riding her bicycle, and suffered a concussion with long-lasting effects - short term memory loss and aphasia. So its amazing that she was even able to finish that first book (which took her nearly twelve years), let alone a second one. Bank died from lung cancer in 2019, at 61. THE WONDER SPOT is a wonderfully entertaining book - intelligent, moving and often very funny. I loved it.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

Melissa Bank’s always witty, occasionally hilarious follow-up to her best-selling novel The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing finds Sophie Applebaum coming to maturity in east-coast urban America of the 1970s and 1980s. Sophie is the middle child of a well-to-do Jewish family from suburban Surrey, Pennsylvania: her even-keeled father a judge, her anxious mother a housewife. Older brother Jack is ambitious, full of ideas, but unreliable; younger brother Robert is ultra-smart and the family’s rule-follower. The eight stories in The Wonder Spot follow wise-cracking, insecure Sophie from childhood to her late thirties and chronicle her efforts to a) find a satisfying job, and b) find a satisfying man (not necessarily in that order). show more From the outset, we realize that Sophie is the kind of person who mostly does what she’s told, who second-guesses her clothes/makeup/behaviour, who often masks an almost debilitating lack of confidence with self-deprecating humour, who can’t help but envy (and feel inferior to) those around her who seem to know their place in the world and aren’t afraid to speak their mind. Her search for love dominates much of the action as she develops into a young woman who, if a desirable man makes eye contact, her imagination goes to work and in seconds has conjured a life together: children, grandchildren, companionable old age. A hopeless romantic, frequent disappointment leaves her cautious, but just short of overtly cynical. Sophie’s search for a fulfilling career follows a similar pattern (one many will recognize): falling into a position because it’s available, boss from hell, survival mode. Later, as she leaves her twenties behind, family returns to the spotlight. She remains close to her brothers and after her father’s death her relationship with her mother deepens, becoming mutually supportive and almost compassionate. The Wonder Spot was initially criticized for straddling the fence: reviewers couldn’t decide if it was serious literature or chick lit. Readers are advised to dismiss categories and simply read the book. Fiction this entertaining doesn’t come along very often. show less

"I confess a bias against coming-of-age stories, largely because of the inevitable adolescent existential angst, but this one just barely escapes that. I liked how Bank told the story between the breakups and job changes, instead of during them. I generally don't have much sympathy for characters as clueless and mediocre as this one, but there was something still appealing about Sophie as she tried to find her place in life. And I can relate to the way people just come in and out of her life, and she's not sure where they belong in it."

At first I didn’t think I was going to like The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank, because I didn’t like its protagonist, Sophie. Sandwiched between a cute and popular older brother, and a hardworking genius younger brother, Sophie is the middling middle child. The book begins with Sophie at about age twelve and follows her into adulthood. Each chapter could stand alone as a short story, which is in fact how I first encountered the title story, in the collection Speaking with the Angel, edited by Nick Hornby.

Sophie is not particularly good at anything, and doesn’t particularly want to be. She fails at school, at work, at friendships, at relationships. At times you want to shake her and say, “Just do something! Anything!” But show more what’s appealing about Sophie is her utter honesty. Not with others, but with herself. As she describes every pose she assumes, she shares her inner motivations, and we recognize ourselves. It’s a well written collection, funny and moving. show less

I picked up Melissa Bank’s The Wonder Spot because I had seen copies of her novel, The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing, and I thought, this might be amusing. And it was. The Wonder Spot is an episodic novel told in the voice of Sophie Applebaum. The first chapter introduces us to Sophie, a young Jew growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, sandwiched between two brothers, daughter to a judge and a homemaker. Sophie feels keenly her inability to fit in with her peers at school and at synagogue, and this lack follows her throughout her young adulthood and the novel. She goes to college, finds employment, and bounces around trying to find herself and her soul mate.

Sophie is extremely likable, witty and sardonic. Some of her show more insights induced a laugh from me. Although her struggles, especially through young adulthood, resonated with me, at some point, I became frustrated with her very passive approach to life. Sophie rarely initiated any of the major events in her own life, though she always felt them deeply. Even the seemingly smallest moments were noted by Sophie in sharp and amusing detail. The best and most engaging parts come from Sophie’s interactions with her family, especially with her brother Jack and her mother (her younger brother and father aren’t as clearly drawn). In the end, the stories are enjoyable, but I could never say that they coalesce into a novel. Indeed, the book is missing an overall theme other than woman drifting through life and men. Almost nothing is resolved, though the final story appears to try to convince the reader that Sophie finally does find some conviction in herself, and thus, acts as a conclusion to the novel. Unfortunately it comes seemingly from nowhere, and is unconvincing.

The novel is read by the author, which really gave me the feeling that I was reading a thinly disguised autobiography. She does an excellent job giving Sophie as strong a voice as Sophie could ever have. show less

The story teller here is Sophie Applebaum. First chapter starts with 12 year old Sophie describing her experience going to a bat mitzvah for the “perfect” Rebecca who is a friend of the family. You learn Sophie has with two brothers, a father who is a judge by profession and a mother who worries about what other people think. You start to get the character development and personalities of the brothers and parents right away.

It’s not an extraordinary coming of age story but an honest depiction of this family unit and how they interact with one another for years. The book starts when Sophie is 12 and by the time it’s ended, I am guessing she is about 37 /- It’s not gooey chick-lit. It’s not a romance. Nor is it drama. Some of show more the scenes with her brothers are described in realistic detail. Their conversations are peppered with teasing, loyalty and concern which many siblings go through in their adult relationships with one another. Not riveting but believable…..and that’s what kept me reading this book. It was believable.

There are a few chapters in which you get a more intimate glimpse of what’s going on in her mother’s head. Things you don’t want to think about with your own mother. There is a close friendship which is left by the wayside, a casualty of adult jealousy regarding a man. Scenarios which are not dynamic but things that actually happen to some of us.

In my opinion it ends rather abruptly but I came away with the impression Sophie finally realized she doesn’t always need to be on the hunt for the perfect mate. Life is what it is. It’s rarely the exciting car-chase, romance of a century, families coming together in perfect harmony experiences. It just isn’t.

I enjoyed it and I would certainly read more by Melissa Bank. More to be found at my site Novel Meals:
http://novelmeals.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/the-wonder-spot-by-melissa-bank/ show less

After I read Melissa Bank’s first book , The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing, a few years ago, I added Ms. Bank to my list of authors to watch for. Her second book, The Wonder Spot, lives up to her first and is a satisfying read. I rarely read straight, plain ‘ol fiction, but writers like Melissa Bank give me hope that maybe there is some good, unpretentious stuff out there.