Named a Best Book of 2019 by Esquire and a Best Book of 2019 (So Far) by Real Simple and Glamour“Bitingly funny and often painfully realistic.”–Entertainment Weekly“Brilliant. . . . Devastating, reliably hilarious.” –Nylon“[A] compulsively readable page-turner.”–CosmopolitanAn assured and savagely funny novel about three old friends as they navigate careers, husbands, an ex-fiancé, new … —Nylon
“[A] compulsively readable page-turner.”
—Cosmopolitan
An assured and savagely funny novel about three old friends as they navigate careers, husbands, an ex-fiancé, new suitors, and, most importantly, their relationships with one another
After a devastating break-up with her fiancé, Geraldine is struggling to get her life back on track in Toronto. Her two old friends, Sunny and Rachel, left ages ago for New York, where they’ve landed good jobs, handsome husbands, and unfairly glamorous lives (or at least so it appears to Geraldine). Sick of watching from the sidelines, Geraldine decides to force the universe to give her the big break she knows she deserves, and moves to New York City.
As she zigzags her way through the downtown art scene and rooftop party circuit, she discovers how hard it is to find her footing in a world of influencers and media darlings. Meanwhile, Sunny’s life as an It Girl watercolorist is not nearly as charmed as it seemed to Geraldine from Toronto. And Rachel is trying to keep it together as a new mom, writer, and wife–how is it that she was more confident and successful at twenty-five than in her mid-thirties? Perhaps worst of all, why are Sunny and Rachel–who’ve always been suspicious of each other–suddenly hanging out without Geraldine?
Hilarious and fiercely observed, How Could She is an essential novel of female friendship, an insider’s look into the cutthroat world of New York media–from print to podcasting–and a witty exploration of the ways we can and cannot escape our pasts.
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Lauren Mechling’s sophisticated new novel dives right into those stickiest parts of women’s inner lives, their friendships with each other. Mechling’s observations are vivid and fresh, and this book will win her many a fan.
I found the characters a little hard to keep up with — so many of them! — but this whirlwind jaunt through NYC media types was full of familiar places and personalities. Some people just aren’t happy doing anything else but buzzing through this world. I love reading about them!
I mostly enjoyed the book, but it was a little hard to get into. I found it to be somewhat unrealistic from an economical perspective of how “real” people live. The style of writing was very enjoyable, however.
5 Things I liked about How Could She, by Lauren Mechling
1.) Truth? At first, I didn’t like this. The three alternating protagonists were all stuck deeply in their own self-created unhappiness while really having pretty cool lives. This was annoying. And yet—there were glimmers of hope. As I saw them through each other’s eyes, I stayed interested.
2.) Those three voices were all people I wanted to hang out with—even if if I wanted to kick each of them in the pants for a different reason. Tropes I love here: artists at work and the inner workings of the magazine industry: plus, bonus for being the first book I’ve read to do podcasting in that same way.
3.) The three-way narration means you see these women the way they see themselves, and the way they see each other: and you gradually realize that they’re so stuck in the envy and FOMO brought on by each other’s lives that they can’t even see themselves.
4.) Bliss! There are no traditional plot arcs here (and let me just say I love traditional plot arcs) but these characters do grow and change. It’s all the more satisfying for not being totally expected. Because the tone of the book was both literary and somewhat on the cup-half-emtpy side, it could have been one of those books where we’re all just as dumb about our lives at the beginning as at the end. I don’t like those.
5.) Writers take note: FOMO and envy are looking to me to be major themes of books across genres. This is a great example of a very topical, clearly-written-today book, with both plots and themes that feel very modern, but that has a depth that feels more timeless.
I wasn’t sure this would be a #BooksThatWon’tBumYouOut until it was over—and until I sat with it for a few days. It’s not a snack cake, this one. More like…fried rice. Good for you, smart food, kinda hard to eat with chopsticks.
A cunning, witty book. How Could She satirizes New York’s cultural elite and tells a brutally honest story about the fluctuations of power between friends; Lauren Mechling is an obvious heir to Nora Ephron.
What a hilarious, devastating, yet humane representation of a gratifyingly specific slice of New York life! How Could She is at once a compulsively readable catalogue of ‘painfully curated’ (Mechling’s phrase) outfits, menus, emails, guest lists, and magazine assignments, a true-and mysterious-feeling portrayal of the way friends’ relative statuses fluctuate over time, and as wise and unforgiving as a nineteenth-century French novel.
There doesn’t begin to be enough fiction centered on friendships, especially friendships among women. Profound, radiantly alive, insightful, large-hearted, Lauren Mechling’s How Could She goes a long way toward addressing this. Mechling’s novel is vital reading.
Lauren Mechling’s debut is at once a portrait of three very real women and a wry send up of the times in which we live. Witty but never too wicked, cutting but never too cruel, How Could She is a thoroughly modern comedy of manners.
Lauren Mechling’s portrait of the ramifications of female friendship is so razor-sharp and accurate I found myself wincing as I read. I know these women; I am these women: flawed, conspiring, neurotic, and loving. Very few writers can entertain and still reveal deep pathos—Mechling has done it flawlessly.
How Could She is so much sheer fun, such pure joy to read, that it wasn’t until I finished the final page that I fully understood how profound it is. Mechling’s dissection of a three-way female friendship is tender and brutal, lighthearted and fierce, warm-hearted and unsparing, wise and satirical—a triumphant literary debut.
The story is about three friends in the art/publishing world and the ups and downs of their relationships. It delves into the feelings of envy, jealousy and betrayal. Although I personally had trouble relating to the characters, it was well written. I won this book in an Goodreads giveaway.