Nine Simple Patterns for Complicated Women is a commanding collection of short stories by Mary Rechner that I suspect will continue burrowing through my brain for a long time to come.
The stories are all about "ordinary" women, mostly with children, but each one stands on its own very individual merits. Rechner uses a variety of events, including a trip to the dentist, a charity poetry slam at a strip bar, and an alumnae panel discussion, to set her protagonists to musing on motherhood, marriage, femininity, sexuality, and self-image.
These are not feel-good stories -- they have some sharp edges to them. Which is what should give the collection real staying power.
OTHER REVIEWS
If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.
NOTES
Nine Simple Patters is the perfect gift book for all your 30- or 40-something girlfriends. I love the vintage sassy cover! It is also a beautifully-made book, with thick, rough-cut pages and French flaps.
This is the first book put out by Portland publisher Propeller Books, the book side of Propeller Magazine, a quarterly lit, art, film, and culture internet magazine. Propeller Books only publishes one book a year. The fall 2011 book is A Simple Machine, Like the Lever, a novel by Evan P. Schneider.