Girls! Girls! Girls!
by Claire Zulkey


Available from Amazon.com

As the title of this book should indicate, Claire Zulkey doesn't really care about gender stereotypes or the unspoken and sensitive rules of chick lit. After all, this book is named after a strip club slogan (and Motley Crue song). Claire Zulkey wants you to know that literary humor from and about women doesn't have to involve menstrual issues, floods of tears, retail therapy, over-consumption of tequila-based drinks, bonbon binging, or even the phrase "You go, girl!" In fact, even men enjoy her humor.

Girls! Girls! Girls!, Zulkey's first book for So New Media, features sixteen short pieces that explore a variety of hard-hitting issues, such as Playboy Bunnies, spam email, women in Major League Baseball, shower caddies, and of course, the startling expose "Fat: The New Thin." Girls! Girls! Girls! encompasses genres from short story, interview, letter, and list, all in one fell, and very witty, swoop.

Claire Zulkey's writing is the result of growing up in the Midwest, going to college on the East Coast, reading a lot of David Sedaris, and cheering for an unpopular baseball team. Her work has appeared in print in the Chicago Tribune, online at McSweeney's Internet Tendency, on stage at Second City, and over the airwaves on NPR. Claire's daily commentary about the world around her can be found at www.zulkey.com.

Reviews

"In this very brief book of stories and fictional humor pieces, Zulkey imagines a new kind of chick lit, one where well-earned laughs and fierce satire dethrone cheesy dialogue and lengthy laments about not having any shoes to match a particular outfit. The opening vignette, "Fat: The New Thin," tells the tale of a fashion industry gone suddenly sane: tired of waifs, Ralph and Tommy and Donatella begin singing the praises of fat, leaving supermodels everywhere pigging out in a vain attempt to fit a new construction of femininity.

Later, Zulkey imagines herself as one of Hef's girlfriends, the smart one with whom Hef likes to watch Fellini movies. Wry wit carries most of these pieces... Here's hoping that Zulkey's omnipresence on the Web (she runs the popular zulkey.com and frequently appears at McSweeney's Internet Tendency) will translate to print readers; this book deserves them." -Leon Wagner, Booklist