Lauren Holmes

Despite the salacious title, "Barbara the Slut" is not about sex. This book of 10 short stories is about the human condition -- relationships between siblings, parent/child relationships, life cross-roads, job stresses and more. Sure, sex plays a role -- to a varying degree -- in many of the stories, but it's not the central theme. Those hoping for pages of steamy love scenes will be disappointed.

I loved Holmes's style and wondered why I don't read short stories more often, as it's a powerful genre. In this collection Holmes delivers "slice of life" stories of people in completely different situations. There's not a lot of background at the start of her stories, nor are there tidy endings. I see in other reviews this is driving some readers batty, but it didn't bother me. Each of the characters in the stories is so distinct, that Holmes does not need to rely on plot in order for the story to be fulfilling. There was enough plot to satisfy, while having the characters drive each piece forward. It was a refreshing change from the confines of many novels I usually read.

4 stars.… (mehr)

I enjoyed the humorous, breezy tone of the stories and connected with several of the twenty-something characters. I was surprised that I didn't really like the title story, as that's usually one of the best ones in a collection, but I found Barbara's bragging about Princeton really irritating. I felt like there was another layer there that could have been explored deeper, but it was left a little thin, in my view. But maybe that's just because her, like many of the characters, are just starting out their lives and will deepen with time.… (mehr)