The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine

A Girls' Guide to Work and Grief
A review of the Pocket Penguin 70 paperback (2005) which is a short story excerpted from [book:The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing|33926] (December 29, 1998).

I wanted to read Melissa Bank immediately after seeing Berengaria's outstanding 4.5 rounded up to 5 star review of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing. As luck would have it, a nice used copy of this short story excerpt was available and I snapped it up right away.

As B says, the titles here are deceptive and are not really descriptive of the contents. The Worst Thing ... is about a young editorial assistant making her way in the publishing world while dealing with a dying parent on the one hand and a rekindled relationship with an older man show more on the other.

The writing throughout is excellent and often insightful and humorous about life and its foibles. The portrayals of the boss editor, the boyfriend, the father and the rest of the family is in turns funny, poignant and precise. It was really a joy to read. Thank you again for the discovery B!

Trivia and Link
This edition is part of the Pocket Penguin 70 series which are 70 short samplers of various novels, short stories or essays in order to promote works by writers whose books were published by Penguin Books. show less

This is a very short book, 58 pages, which was originally published as part of the book The Girls' Guide to Hunting in 1999. It tells the tale of the author's conflicts with an unsatisfactory job, a dying father and an alcoholic boyfriend. Do not let this put you off- it is not a 'woe is me' misery memoir. Bank is very witty author who doesn't do self-pity. My only complaint is that this book definitely feels like an excerpt. It is a very good advert for the full length version, a lot happens in the 58 pages, but I felt it was not a stand-alone book.