Saturday, May 4, 2013

~book~ Blueprints for Building Better Girls

Blueprints for Building Better Girls: FictionBlueprints for Building Better Girls: Fiction by Elissa Schappell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I had to describe this book in five words it would be: beautiful, heart wrenching, real, haunting. It has been a long time since I couldn't put a book down without great difficulty. Schappell has written a series of short stories that is so intimately relatable that it's impossible to feel for these girls.
There are some reviewers who were bemoaning and wanting to know where the "strong" women were in this anthology and the point of this was that these were not strong women. They were real broken women who had real broken things happen to them. These are the thoughts that anyone whose ever been outcasted by peers or their own experiences are afraid to voice. These are not women who make great decisions, but make the best decisions they can to cope with what they're given.
This is something short of a novel and something more than a short story collection. Characters are reintroduced and experiences are shared from different perspectives. The first story and the last are told by the same woman, at the beginning and end of an evolution. It ties the interconnected stories up in a neat little bow.
I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't see myself in several of these characters, but the way she writes about how mothers' feel in the face of their children's destruction was perhaps the most affecting. My children are still young enough that it's not something I deal with yet, but someday they will break my heart and that is the potential this collection made me feel.
If there was only one story you read in this anthology it would be "The Joy of Cooking". It encompasses how difficult mother/daughter relationships are from both ends. No matter how perfect they may look from the outside. "On her first birthday I made my baby girl a carrot cake and she fed herself with her fist. She squealed with delight. I thought: So, this is love." What more perfect thought is there from a mother looking back on a daughter whose struggled with anorexia her entire life?

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Thursday, May 2, 2013

Best BFF Movies of All Time

[So, Nylon magazine had this poll up about the best BFF movies of all time. Most of the answers were obviously "girlie", but it did at least give me an idea for this blog. Finally. Since I have had serious idea block on that lately.]

The buddy movie is old as time. Whether it's Thelma and Louise flying off a cliff together or Abbott and Costello coming up against your favorite Universal Monster, some of the most iconic film moments haven't been in romances, but in buddy movies. Now, I present to you, my favorite friendships of film history. They may not all be iconic, but they are all in some way or form close to my heart.

1. Romy and Michelle
So, let's be honest, who didn't feel like Romy and Michelle in high school? If you didn't, then you had a far better high school experience than I did. I was awkward and pretty picked on. But I had my best friend Alexa and she was the best person in the world. More than my first boyfriend (who I was with for a year), she did so much for my self esteem to show me that I was worth it. We drifted apart over the years, but I will always adore that girl and have a place in my heart for her. We actually went and saw this in theaters at the end of senior year. It quickly became one of our favorite movies, because it was us, with the ultimate retribution of being more fabulous than anyone by the end of the movie. Which you're only truly fabulous once you embrace who you really are and stop living up to anyone's standards. And that, kids, is perhaps the best moral of all time.

2. Wayne and Garth
Ironically enough, this was the movie that defined much of Alexa and mine's friendship before Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion came out. I don't even know how many times we watched it, but a ridiculous amount. I don't know about her, but I can't watch it without at least a moment of thinking of her and hoping her life has gone as fantastic as she deserves. (Sorry, I'm mushy right now. It's the best friend talk.) On point though, who doesn't love Wayne and Garth? They're clueless boys with hearts of gold. It certainly doesn't help they're portrayed by two of the best comedic actors of the 90s (in this blogger's humble opinion), but underneath all the silly and the funny, there's just so much heart.

3. Harry and Ron
Oh, Harry and Ron are what we all want to find in friends. Someone who will disagree with you, tell you you're completely wrong about something and stand by your side at the end of the day anyway. That's really the charm of their friendship.

4. Mal and Zoe
We live in a society that thinks everything is When Harry Met Sally. You can't be friends with someone of the opposite sex (if you're straight) and not have sexual tension. Mal and Zoe are the anathema to that. Friends until the end (and perhaps beyond), there is not a shred of sexual tension between the two. Just camaraderie and understanding. Which is what we need to keep us afloat. I'm also positive there's conversations on understanding how the male and female brain work that Joss never showed us. Which Mal should probably start taking more notes from.

5. The Muppets
Why? Because everyone loves the Muppets. If you don't, you're not human. Also, I spent a large majority of my formative years listening to punk and hanging out with that crowd. Which is basically hanging out with the living rendition of Muppets: loud, colorful and always having a good time.