Calendar Girl

I honestly wasn’t expecting much from this book. I can’t even explain why because I have no idea. I was hoping I would enjoy it, but I just didn’t think I would. I really wish I knew why that is. All I can say is that I’m glad I was wrong. Boy was I wrong. Guys, I really, really liked this book.

I absolutely loved Saz. She was by far the best character. The others were okay, but there was something about Saz. There is this one part, and I wont spoil it, but it made me laugh out loud. I couldn’t believe she got herself into that situation and I loved how she got out of it.

This book might not be for everyone, but I definitely think everyone should pick it up and give it a chance.

An annoying narrative strategy mars this, the first in Stella Duffy's series of crime novels featuring the private detective Saz Martin. I thought that "Calendar Girls" also suffered from a peculiar inconsistency of tone: social comedy set in the lesbian community in 1990s London, alternating with a rather tepid "gambling, drugs, and call girls" plot. This was Duffy's first published novel; I imagine that her later books are more convincing.

When Saz is asked to look into the disappearance of a woman that's not a strange or new thing, but when the guy she's looking for doesn't know the name of this woman or even where she lives her curiousity is piqued.
She searches for this girl in both London and New York, finding both complex issues and drug trafficking. Soz leans on her friends, finding that her target has links to the lesbian community.
While the story is narrated by two people, the two voices weren't exceptionally distinct and I had to re-read the starts of some chapters to be sure who I was reading. When the two stories started to intertwine it became more interesting but I really wasn't moved by this story.

I didn't like this book. I lost track of who was who and married to who or son/daughter of who. There was no depth to the characters - yes I realise this was a true story but I just didn't like the way it was written. It was tedious.
The concept was good for the ladies concerned to raise funds. The book seems to have been written to justify the film.
This book could have done with a good editor.