The Terrible Girls

i don't know that i understood all of this but i can say that she's doing something really unusual and interesting here, and something that although it was written in 1990, feels so fresh and alive and boundary pushing, even today. she's talking about (maybe? i think?) the burdens women carry, the line between metaphor and reality, unhealthy relationships, and way more that i didn't understand. the stuff she's doing by toeing this line between reality and speculation is really interesting, though. like the burdens (of womanhood?) are being literally carried around in a bag, so what is real and what is metaphor. also, the first half of these stories don't seem to relate, but then you realize that they do, but how? there are repeating show more motifs and characters but in how many stories? all of them? a few of them? how many women are in these stories? 3? the same 3 or different 3? i don't know. but i'm interested. show less

The girls on the prowl in The Terrible Girls are indeed terrible-relentless in love, ruthless in betrayal. These thematically linked stories depict a contemporary Gothic world in which body parts are traded for love, wounds never heal, and self-sacrifice is often the only way out.

The girls on the prowl in The Terrible Girls are indeed terrible-relentless in love, ruthless in betrayal. These thematically linked stories depict a contemporary Gothic world in which body parts are traded for love, wounds never heal, and self-sacrifice is often the only way out.