The Wonder Spot

Every time I turn around in a bookstore up pops a new chick-lit book. Some are good; some…not so good. I feel like most of those books are following some kind of specific formula and being churned out to make money. So it’s always nice to read a book by a talented author who can bring to life a female protagonist who is smart, present and original. Melissa Bank’s The Wonder Spot is like a breath of fresh air.

I wanted to read this book through for a second time immediately after I finished it. The characters are real and the language is moving, witty and real. The Wonder Spot follows the life of Sophie Applebaum. The novel is divided into chapters that show Sophie at different times in her life. Bank doesn’t give a nice, neat conventionally told story. Instead she shows Sophie in a way that allows the reader to understand why she is who she is.

The story begins with Sophie as a child trying to feign interest in Hebrew school while seeing a surprising side of the school bully. The next chapter finds Sophie a freshman in college with an aloof roommate, aptly named Venice. By getting to see Sophie as a child, a college graduate, a newbie in the “real world”, a friend, a daughter and sister, I got a chance to relate to her on so many different levels. By the end of the book I was so connected with Sophie and had really invested myself in her story.

Sophie isn’t a one-note character either. She has real issues and a real life. Sophie goes through several different jobs- publishing and advertising- trying to find herself a spot in the working world. Bank reveals Sophie’s romantic life in a way that shows how she changes and learns from each failed relationship. Bank also explores the theme of family- Sophie’s relationship with her brothers, her ever-wise father, exasperating mother, and hard-nosed grandmother change as she grows up. It was interesting to see how Sophie’s relationships with her brothers changed from when they were siblings to when they became adults.

Bank has a great writing style which infuses the characters with life and makes them unique. One night during a date, Sophie sees “a girl so thin she might have faxed herself; her sheaf of friends joined her and folded themselves into the next booth.”

I’m really excited for Bank’s next book. I love her characters, style, and the way she portrays relationships. I hope she strengthens a trend for women writers and publishers- to infuse the world of literature with more strong, female characters whose concerns are more imperative than designer labels and the latest fad diets.