The Celibacy Club

This book is great for anyone who has examined life. After reading this book, one will feel as though they have experinced soneone else's life, which is not similar, but not too far away from their own. This book explores life as it is:happy, sad, unpredictable, disgusting, wonderful, etc. The stories in this book model the fact that life can contradict itself. The variety of stories in this book exhibit people against the world, and their struggles for meaning. Anyone can relate to this. The stories are about people trying to be accepted in a fast-paced, thick-cored, sex-crazed, money driven,but wonderful and interesting society. The stories depict discovering yourself and dealing with life, no matter what it throws your way. Janice Eidus writes in a matter-of-fact, uncensored way that evokes a variety of emotions. After reading this, I feel as if I have met twenty new interesting people, who I could relate to. This is a book that one can read again and again. You'll never forget these stories.

Janice Eidus is always wonderful- her quirky, unique view of contemporary life is witty, wild, fiercely imaginative. Offbeat, often dark but always poignant and moving. The Celibacy Club is fresh and incredibly amusing with its entertaining takes on contemporary life: fitness clubs, drugs, sex, rock and roll, phone sex, therapy. I love the stories about pop icons like Elvis, Jimmy Dean, Barbie, Axl Rose- always with twists and surprises. This collection is wonderful-- breathtakingly fresh. It is fun too- a wonderful gift

Anyone who's ever been within 100 miles of the Bronx cannot help but revel in these tales of almost-sophisticated dreamers. Eidus' characters hilariously capture that moment between fantasy and reality that readers want so desperately to believe in. Wherever we live, we identify with these moments as they relate to our own experiences. But the fact that Eidus (and, to a lesser extent, her characters) never take themselves too seriously enables us to laugh at ourselves as we turn the pages. We turn the pages again and again. These are stories that stay in our minds, and that we want to return to.

Janice Eidus is the most entertaining writer of short fiction with serious undertones that I can remember reading. Her stories deal with the blurring line of reality and fantasy relating to American cultural myths and common fairy tales, while deftly creating real characters we can know in two paragraphs. Her style is consistent but never monotonous; she is a compact writer who spins tales and lets the reader come to his conclusions. I had several strong emotional interactions with her characters and was pleasantly surprised at her respectful treatment of people in difficult situations; she includes and addresses them but never exploits them. This writer may appeal to women slightly more than men, but for short story fans and/or fans of compemporary fiction in their twenties to forties, I heartily recommend this and her previous book of short stories, Vito loves Geraldine. Published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Books, you need to think about this if Stephen King is not your thing.