Elizabeth McKenzie’s debut novel Stop that Girl is getting mentioned in many places. Scott of Conversational Reading has a more detailed and longer review. And Beatrice has a great Author to Author conversation between McKenzie and Curtis Sittenfeld, whose own Prep is making headlines.
Mine own take on Stop that Girl is mixed. The connected series of short stories tell parts of the life story of Ann Ransom. Some stories work and othes don’t in my opinion. The later stories felt deeper and more fleshed out than the stories concerning Ann’s childhood. Ann has a troublesome relationship with her mother (who doesn’t?) who in turn has an even worse relationship with her domineering doctor mother, simply called Dr. Frost. The early stories just felt thin to me. I am looking forward to reading a novel by McKenzie someday. She has a great deal of talent.