Some Girls

This novel grabbed me instantly. McCoy's prose is crisp and succinct, yet extremely vivid. The way she turns a phrase and sets a scene is amazingly original. I felt like I was working my way through the mass crowds at all of the night clubs and I felt like I was in the back seat with Jade and Claire in Mexico. When I stared reading this, I had no idea that it was about a same-sex relationship. And after finishing it, I would not describe it as such. It is about one woman slowly and somewhat reluctantly shedding her idealism. That is what living in Manhattan does to you. The city is raw, confusing, sometimes disturbing. But once you find those connections, it can become a place of self discovery and eventual comfort. You'll never leave Manhattan the same as when you came. This was Claire's journey and I loved every second of it. Jade was someone Claire seemed to idolize more that love or even like. I felt like Jade was a time bomb ready to explode, and that is what compelled me to keep reading -- to see how the aftermath would affect Claire, the protagonist. The end chapters offered some breathtakingly beautiful prose and self realization. Definitely worth more than one reading.

I LOVE this book! Why isn't Kristin McCloy writing more novels? The characters just came to life for me. Jade is just this staggeringly hip New York City chick, and Claire is like the everyman, or everywoman...she's like us, insecure, not sure if she's in the right relationship, trying to find herself, and she moves to the Big Apple to do it. I really didn't see this a a "gay" or "lesbian" themed book at all, even though some of the characters are. Like Such says, "Sometimes you just get a hard-on for someone's soul." He means that love and attraction can go beyond gender, homosexuality, or any other labels society puts on people. I love the stuff the characters in the book do...eating Chinese food for breakfast, dying their hair blonde in an airplane bathroom...it just makes you want to be 22 and unmarried and free and living in New York with some money to spend. And if you are all these things already...I'm jealous of you.

Some Girls plays as a sort of love song to New York City, while capturing Claire's discoveries of ambiguous friendship and her own inner strength and freedom. Each character is beautifully, lovingly drawn and McCloy's prose is vivid and captivating. I did not want this story to end.

I first picked up this book 4 years ago at a library and soon after, bought my own copy. I haven't stopped reading it since! I love the story of Claire and Jade and how they found happiness. I like reading stories about people who leave their old surroundings to seek something new and different. Claire Stearn is one who did - and then some! She fights hard against accepting Jade's love. But then realizes that she has no other choice.

Perhaps the fact that this book hits close to home is what keeps it a treasure for me but the truth cannot be hidden that this is well written and engrossing. McCloy enables the reader to acknowledge that the world lies far beyond the small neighborhoods we consider it to be made up of. The characters are engaging and though I was disappointed by the "secret" that Jade hides it does not diminish the value behind the characters tales. Well worth the small amount of time it will take you to read... go for it!