Category: Laurie Notaro

Spooky Little Girl

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

The last thing Lucy needed was to make friends with the bus. Because seriously? Coming back from an awful vacation to find all her possessions on the front lawn, her job gone and her fiance hiding in the house with her beloved dog and having to try and rebuild her life from scratch was bad enough. But getting squished by a bus just might top that in the suck sweepstakes.

So what happens after you make friends with the downtown bus? You end up in ghost school’s Sudden Demise class, learning about the afterlife. And try to figure out why no one but your sister and nephew cared enough to come to your funeral. And get sent back to the land of the living to complete an “assignment” to earn your place in the most awesome part of the afterlife….The State of Elated Bliss.

So Lucy’s back on the lumpy burlap couch in her old house to the delight of her dog Tulip and piecing together what went wrong. Because SOMETHING had to go spectacularly tits up. With the help of her beloved Naunie and her Sudden Demise instructor, Lucy has to manage to avoid the light (apparently the cries of the departed when they see the light? Pain. The light is worse than being trapped on the couch watching a Big Bang Theory or Two and Half Men marathon.)

Spooky Little Girl is a new step for Laurie Notaro. It’s doesn’t have the missing volume of memoirs feel that There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Being Going to Hell has. Lucy had the usual Notaro qualities of party girl, crazy friends but she’s evolved (Blacklight: “Ummm…Gwen isn’t the Lucy girl dead or something? Can’t evolve if you’re dead!”). You know in your heart of hearts that everything is going to be so much better for Lucy at the end of the novel ten pages in. The only thing I thought would happen didn’t (unless I totally missed something). Spooky Little Girl is Starbucks Mint Brownie or an entire bag of Easter Reeses mini peanut butter cups (ZOMG that sounds so good…scampers off to add mini peanut butter cups to Target shopping list).

But that’s just fine. Sometimes you need a cozy, girlie read that’s like hanging out with your buddies without the gorging on take out Imperial Buffet while you debate whether the Muppets are a) aweome (them) or b) creepy as all crap (me) and then fight over who gets Clive Owen and Alan Rickman as if they’re going to appear in Ames living room right that second. (Answer: me because am the youngest and have the biggest bewbs!).  If I want intellectual things to make me ponder my place in the universe I’ll going to toddle into Blacklight’s lair and yank down one of his Brian Green or M. Kaku books. So if you’re not in the mood for The Theory Of Everything, give Spooky Little Girl a try. Because revenge is much more fun than stupid ole Stephen Hawking any day (cue Blacklight doing the big NOOOOOOOO!!!! in the middle of the pouring rain in the park…)

There’s A (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going To Hell

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

This novel is made of win on the title alone. Even after Blacklight peered at book while I was having some Couch Time and asked “Slight? Who are you kidding?”. Now add the subtitle “a novel of sewer pipes, pageant queens and big trouble” and you know I’m going to snatch it up and heaven help Blacklight if he comes out of his lair during Reading Time.

If you’re fan of Laurie (The Idiots Girls ‘ Action-Adventure Club) Notaro, the start of There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell sounds a bit familiar. Quirky Phoenix resident with the cutest ever reclaimed HUD house is packing her things for the Great Northwest because her academic husband has a job. Laurie Maye’s Phoenix is hot, sketchy and surreal. My neighborhood (cue Blacklight snickering at the hood part) isn’t Expensive Acres but I have yet to see a drag queen in full battle gear grilling a huge slab o’bacon at the picnic tables while I’m heading out for work. You can’t exactly blame Maye for being excited and nervous.

Maye and Charlie’s new town Spaulding, Washington is lush, green, quaint and full of do-good typers with Causes. Charlie glides easily into the Spaulding lifestyle but Maye and their dog Mickey seem to run into trouble without even having to leave their yard. Note: the creature racing through the yard ISN’T a certain unverified North American primate but the Bad Man Who Brings Bills aka Mail Man. Also be very careful about the spelling of the book your book club is reading.

Basically Maye in Spaulding society turns out exactly how you’d expect it to. Disaster. If things went easily there wouldn’t be a book right? But there maybe hope. Spaulding has an annual Sewer Pipe Queen contest. But Maye needs a sponsor and an act. And what better sponsor than THE ultimate Sewer Pipe Queen Ruby Spicer?

Will Maye become the Sewer Pipe Queen? Or at least make a friend? Or evade the anti-meat crunchies? Or resist the allure of a fresh box of Hoo Doo donuts?

For Notaro fans There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell takes a little adjustment. You’ll want to call Maye Laurie and Mickey Maeby. And then you’ll start to wonder just how much of Maye’s experiences are ripped from true life. Because read enough Laurie Notaro and Maye’s encounter with the Gothic book club doesn’t seem too odd or random.

But worry not. You don’t have to a card carrying member of the Laurie-verse to enjoy There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell. It does help to be a bit nerdy. And quirky. If you like Pamela Ribon’s books, then head to the N’s in the fiction section. But do give There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell a try. At least give the first 50 pages a try and see if you’re not hooked.