Name: The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
ISBN: 9780786221684

Melissa Bank

Follows the life lessons of Jane, from defiant teenager to reluctant career girl, as she makes her way through love, sex, relationships, and workplace perils, prompted by dubious advice from a pop-psych guide to life

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing

In the critically acclaimed collection of stories, heroine Jane Rosenal embarks on a perilous and hilarious personal journey into the realm of dating, love, work, and relationships. Reprint.

** spoiler alert **
           I'm quite surprised to see the bad reviews. I read this as a teen (twice actually) and fell in love with the MC's wit. This book flows like a memoir and I like how it shows me that love is a journey. People come and go and we need to suck it up, life goes on. It's hearty, lovely, sassy, and rather substantial for a chick-lit. It honestly left quite an impression on me for a long time. It's not super super stellar, but still a 4 for the homeliness and nostalgia.

Update from my third read (210415):
I always love Jane. I hated Archie, at first. It's the age, sexism, and his overbearing mating call. He as a person was kinda endearing. In the end, I felt a bit bad for him but well it's great to see Jane knowing what she wanted and took control of it. I need to see that for me. 

One thing I notice this time, there's quite a distance between the characters and us readers, kaya di film gitu. It's clear that Jane's very thoughtful but we only get to see the top of the iceberg, and maybe a layer under. The pieces she shared were delivered in a way that made me feel she was always present intellectually and emotionally. She was always processing and I was always curious about how she would react to situations. I like this, it's rather realistic. There's a lot going on inside a person, much more than what other people can imagine. Everyone's a whole unobservable universe for the most part. It's unrealistic for readers to know everything about the characters. No one even knows everything about themselves, let alone about other people, real or not. That distance represents that depth well. That's what I love about Jane, she's real. Not sure about the other characters tho, it's a Jane-centric world. 

The chapter from the neighbor's POV was weird and random. I just skipped it this time, and maybe I will every time, if I decide to read this again (will I?). Well, I enjoy the reread. Still a 4/5. It speaks differently to me at this age. I like that it spans from her teenage days to her 30's. I might relate to other parts and notice different things again later.

Janessa Tolpa

I liked this book more than I thought I would. For sure a book that you need to sit down and really dedicate time to reading.

It was very confusing to read, even though it did have a couple good chapters it made it hard to keep with the main characters. 

Maria Morales 

Keylan 

Constant quips and seriously intriguing. This book kept me on the hook (get it? :).

In the critically acclaimed collection of stories, heroine Jane Rosenal embarks on a perilous and hilariouis personal journey into the realm of dating, love, work, and relationships. Reprint. Reprint.

Sarah Escorsa

I think I'll definitely stay away from books with raving reviews from now on... This book was not what I expected at all. First of all, it's less a novel than an assortment of short stories and I must admit I don't particularly like short stories. The book was supposedly very funny but it didn't even make me smile *and* I actually found it pretty boring... I thought the book was poorly written and didn't like the characters... Not a good read!

Sophie Shrimpton

After reading the blurb and judging the book by its cover I thought I was in for Bridget Jones' Diary feat. a feminist lens.

I was wrong. There was a human lens with a multitude of honest, breathtaking one-liners that literally had me fist-pumping at points. 

An honest take of relationships and their complex simplicity from a woman in the late 90's. We're all children inside. 

3.5/5

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing

Reviews

Highlights