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Some Girls Do (Polestar $21.95)
Thrift stores and breakfast chocolate. psychedelic art and petty theft. Gargling wine. It's a good thing life isn't always as colourful as the characters in Teresa McWhirter's first novel Some Girls Do (Polestar $21.95). We meet Carrotgirl.
"She leapt out of bed with a horrible grin on her face and started to clean, even if she was still drunk.
"She didn't just give her spare change, she took her favourite bums for picnics in the park.
"If she had a hangover, then after her chores she rode her bicycle on all-day missions of goodwill and penance.";
Having encountered such animated characters as Carrotgirl, readers might assume their creator is equally as outgoing. But meeting McWhirter reveals not a girl bristling with craziness, shooting Tequila at noon, but a shy writer sipping coffee, soaking in the activity of Vancouver's Main Street. But who knows what comes out at night...
"She opened the fridge and put her mouth underneath the gala keg of wine on the top shelf. She steadied herself and turned it on. 'AAAAHHHH!' she gargled.";
From eleven points of view, McWhirter's narrative jumps from retro, vinyl-clad diner to sweaty, pulsating night club. Her 'welfare babies', primarily girls, share a short attention span, few goals and a general discontentment. They search for boys, yet they view the male species as weak-or at least as having a bad track record.
"They had already learned from the tragedy of their mothers, absentee prom dates and fathers. It would take Gritboy a long time to pay for the crimes of his gender.";
The girls crave stimuli. Her crowd doesn't look for work, or else they don't care about their jobs. But Carrotgirl's apartment is immaculate-with porcelain carrots hung from the ceiling and formica turnips polished in a painted bowl. She has a famous foul mouth and backlog of dick jokes.
"When they ran out of alcohol Carrotgirl devised impossible intricate schemes to find more, and if she didn't sweet jeez she was like a freckled powerhouse on a course of rampant destruction. She lined her bike basket with flowers and smelled like strawberries but once she'd punched a guy outside a liquor store and he'd stayed down.";
Some Girls Do reads like candy, but offers philosophical tidbits and personal revelations. 'It's hard to believe good things about yourself until someone else says them about you.' Not Freud, but helpful. 'The end of love felt more than being in it'. While it provides a window into a directionless generation at large, Some Girls Do takes us inside the workings of the all-girl posse-for anyone who wants to go.
"Girls should read it,"; said McWhirter in a CBC interview. "Girls today need more unity."; 1-55192-459-5 (2003)
[Spring 2003 BCBW]
"She leapt out of bed with a horrible grin on her face and started to clean, even if she was still drunk.
"She didn't just give her spare change, she took her favourite bums for picnics in the park.
"If she had a hangover, then after her chores she rode her bicycle on all-day missions of goodwill and penance.";
Having encountered such animated characters as Carrotgirl, readers might assume their creator is equally as outgoing. But meeting McWhirter reveals not a girl bristling with craziness, shooting Tequila at noon, but a shy writer sipping coffee, soaking in the activity of Vancouver's Main Street. But who knows what comes out at night...
"She opened the fridge and put her mouth underneath the gala keg of wine on the top shelf. She steadied herself and turned it on. 'AAAAHHHH!' she gargled.";
From eleven points of view, McWhirter's narrative jumps from retro, vinyl-clad diner to sweaty, pulsating night club. Her 'welfare babies', primarily girls, share a short attention span, few goals and a general discontentment. They search for boys, yet they view the male species as weak-or at least as having a bad track record.
"They had already learned from the tragedy of their mothers, absentee prom dates and fathers. It would take Gritboy a long time to pay for the crimes of his gender.";
The girls crave stimuli. Her crowd doesn't look for work, or else they don't care about their jobs. But Carrotgirl's apartment is immaculate-with porcelain carrots hung from the ceiling and formica turnips polished in a painted bowl. She has a famous foul mouth and backlog of dick jokes.
"When they ran out of alcohol Carrotgirl devised impossible intricate schemes to find more, and if she didn't sweet jeez she was like a freckled powerhouse on a course of rampant destruction. She lined her bike basket with flowers and smelled like strawberries but once she'd punched a guy outside a liquor store and he'd stayed down.";
Some Girls Do reads like candy, but offers philosophical tidbits and personal revelations. 'It's hard to believe good things about yourself until someone else says them about you.' Not Freud, but helpful. 'The end of love felt more than being in it'. While it provides a window into a directionless generation at large, Some Girls Do takes us inside the workings of the all-girl posse-for anyone who wants to go.
"Girls should read it,"; said McWhirter in a CBC interview. "Girls today need more unity."; 1-55192-459-5 (2003)
[Spring 2003 BCBW]
Submitted on June 2, 2003 in By David.
