Such a Girl

by Karen V. Siplin

Book Overview

Karen Siplin, whose first novel, "His Insignificant Other, " earned her critical praise from her peers and fans, presents "Such a Girl" -- a sexy and engaging new novel. In "Such a Girl, " Siplin... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743475542
• ISBN13: 9780743475549
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 307 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A cute, modern love story that avoids being chick-lit!

Kendall Stark is the lovely, underachieving heroine of the novel. Kendall is a telephone operator at a very high-end hotel in New York City, where she barely gets along with most of her coworkers, except for the cute married coworker that she sleeps with from time to time. She's single, in debt, and lives with a roommate who is also an old college friend. Then a blast from the past walks into her life - the love of her college life, Jack Sullivan. The twist: Kendall broke his heart nine years ago, when her friends persuaded her that Jack was simply a bad boy who was headed nowhere in life. Either because she believed her friends or because she was scared at the intensity of the relationship, she let Jack go. Now, she barely knows how to face him. Years later, only one of these college friends has actually done something successful with his life, and the rest, including Kendall are broke and without any visible career. But Jack Sullivan is a millionaire. And suddenly he's staying at the hotel in which Kendall works, reconnecting with Kendall's friends from college - who never liked him when he was broke - all with the unstated and slightly benign purpose of throwing his success and wealth in their faces. From the beginning of this cute tale to the end, I have two recurring thoughts. One: How does a college graduate wind up working as a hotel switchboard operator nine years after graduation? Just how in the world did Kendall Stark get there, and didn't she ever want to be anywhere else? And it isn't the fact that she's broke - because many, many college graduates live check-to-check and can barely afford to pay rent. But Kendall she has a college degree, and she answers phones! That just seemed crazy to me. She doesn't appear to have plans or aspirations to do anything else. My second recurring thought: Kendall Stark = K.S. = Karen Siplin. Is there an element of autobiography here, or pure coincidence? Overall, I enjoyed the book. My confusion about Kendall's complete lack of professional ambition really blurred the comparison between Such a Girl and Jane Austen's "Persuasion." I understood how a Jane Austen heroine could have no professional ambition or a career. The part of the plot doesn't transfer to this day and age.

Such a book

Karen Siplin's second novel is a witty and engaging modern 'Persuasion" with a multicultural cast and more depth and soul then most chicklit novels about relationships. The class conflicts between the chic clientele and the telephone operators behind the scenes of a fancy Manhattan hotel are priceliness and worth the price of admission alone. I found myself rooting for Kendall and her ex-boyfriend Jack and was pleased that a book with such a cynical realistic edge could also wind up so satisfying and romantic.

lisen to your heart

This book is one of the best bok I have read this year.I think that every female from the age of 13-39 sould read this book.I bought this book on my to the capital trip, and let me tell you that as soon as you read the first sentence you will want to know more about characters of the story

Such A Girl

Such a Girl is a reflectively told novel that will grasp the mind of any reader who has ever questioned the choices they have made and the path that they have followed to bring them to the place where they are today.Karen Siplin gives us the story of Kendall Stark, a phone operator at posh hotel with celebrity clientele. When one of the guests turns out to be the former boyfriend she dumped years before?with the approval of her friends, who thought that he was going nowhere fast and taking her along for the ride?it brings about a lot of questions for Kendall. Aside from the love that she is struggling not to still have for a now highly successful and engaged Jack Sullivan, Kendall now struggles with thoughts of her dead end job, her relationship with a co-worker who is a married man, her purpose in life and the choices she?s made to get there. She evaluates the ?unsuccessful? lives of herself and her friends as her ex comes back to gloat before the woman he never stopped loving and her judgmental friends.Siplin writes in blow-by-blow motion that makes no to attempt to create a world for the reader, but rather states things as-a-matter-of-factly and leaves the rest up to the reader?s imagination. Her talents are so great that she is able to do this and allow the words and motion to convey strong tensions and emotions between and within the characters. However, because of this writing style, some of the pivotal characters, namely Amy, Nick, and Gary, do not come off the page and tend to blend into one another or do not come across as uniquely as they possibly could.Such A Girl is a moderately paced thought provoking novel as well as a subtle love story. This minimal drama story is a great alternative read from a writer with a highly distinctive and enchanting voice in fictionReadincolor ReviewersCherlyn Michaels

delightful treatment of Jane Austen's PERSUASION

Nine years ago at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Kendall Stark heeded the advice of her friends by ending her two year relationship with Jack Sullivan because everyone insisted he was a loser. Now, Kendall is a thirty-one year old single living in Brooklyn, working as a communications operator at a popular luxurious Manhattan hotel, and having a nowhere affair with a married man.Kendall feels contented until she sees Jack, owner of New England?s very successful Sullivan Brewery who is staying at the hotel. Kendall handles herself reasonably well during the encounter, but as he leaves his look back is filled with disappointment that shakes her to the core of her essence. Kendall realizes what she lost when she stopped being Sullivan?s Ken; she decides she must try to win back his love. However, Jack not only has to forgive, he wonders if she desires him because he is a success?As CLUELESS DID TO Jane Austen's EMMA, SUCH A GIRL provides the same delightful treatment to the author?s PERSUASION with Ken being Anne Elliot and Sullivan is retired naval officer Frederick Wentworth. The enjoyable second chance at love story line reflects a realistic social order that though the plot takes place in the twenty-first century could have easily been in the early 1800s. Sullivan is a wonderful protagonist as he wants his Ken back in his life, but doubts he can trust her with his heart. Ken regrets the error that shaped her life, but shows courage as she decides to prove she is his significant other forever. Together they make an intelligent and witty tale.