A much less then enjoyable collection of stories. The type of material one expects from a student of the many writing programs around the continent. All of the stories feel incomplete and grounded in the idea of writing about something, but not having really experienced anything in a real life. It isn't that the author doesn't have the ability to construct a story, it's just that she doesn't have anything really meaniful to say. Most of the collection reminded me of the early Ann Beattie. I feel bad, I feel sad, or isn't life a bummer. The passivity of most of the women in this collection was also a real turn-off, in each story their helplessness sounds like a repeat of the past one. And this collection has the strangest group of Daddies around-cold, indifferent, almost always vague. It's interesting that three of the stories were winners of competitions when originally published. It just goes to show that a decent story in isolation does not a great collection make.