Single, Carefree, Mellow: Stories
Katherine Heiny, 2015
Knopf Doubleday
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780804173155
Summary
For the commitment-averse women in the eleven sublime stories of Single, Carefree, Mellow, falling in love is never easy and always inconvenient.
♦ Maya is in love with both her boyfriend and her boss.
♦ Sadie’s lover calls her as he drives to meet his wife at marriage counseling.
♦ Nina is more worried that the Presbyterian minister living above her garage will hear her kids swearing than that he will find out she’s sleeping with her running partner.
The women grapple with love amidst everything from unwelcome houseguests to disastrous birthday parties as Katherine Heiny spins a debut that is superbly accomplished, endlessly entertaining, and laugh-out-loud funny. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1967
• Raised—Midland, Michigan, USA
• Education—M.F.A., Columbia University
• Currently—lives outside Washington, DC
Katherine Heiny was only 25 when she received a call from The New Yorker about publishing her short story "How to Give the Wrong Impression." She was then a poor graduate student enrolled in the M.F.A. program at Columbia University and struggling to pay her rent.
Later, after another of her stories appeared in Seventeen Magazine, she received a different phone call—this one from a book publisher who asked if she would be interested in writing young adult books. Why not, she thinks, and now, years later, she claims more than 20 YA novels under her belt...and under various pen names.
Her debut story collection Single, Carefree, Mellow (2015) is her first book as Katherine Heiny. She lives in Washington DC with her husband Ian McCredie and their children. (Adapted from an interview in Longreads.)
Book Reviews
Sharply perceptive.... Ms. Heiny [has] powers of writerly seduction...[a] gift for dreaming up otherwise smart women who lapse into temporary insanity while besotted.
Janet Maslin - New York Times
[S]omething like Cheever mixed with Ephron: white, middle-class suburban discontent simmering below the surface, but treated with a light touch that keeps the focus squarely on the woman's point of view…. [O]n the whole Heiny is very good at portraying the circumscribed landscapes, both literal and emotional, in which her characters live. She also gives credence to what is still a conundrum for many women: What role can I play in a world in which I am neither fully "carefree" and "mellow" when single, nor entirely "giving" and "content" when attached? A world in which I am still implicated in conventions of how women should be?
Naomi Fry - New York Times Book Review
To encounter the wry, funny stories in Katherine Heiny’s Single, Carefree, Mellow is to experience the best form of simultaneous pleasure and sadness.
Philadelphia Tribune
Heartbreaking and darkly comic.
Atlantic
[Heiny is] a badass storyteller.
Huffington Post
Chances are you’ve already heard the buzz on this collection of short stories, each of which has a relationship or affair at its center. But no matter how good you imagine it is, it’s better.
Glamour.com
Winning stories you won’t forget.
People
Dissatisfied teenagers and bored housewives, clueless boyfriends and cuckolded husbands, and 11 variations on the recurrent theme of infidelity and its fallout populate Heiny’s first collection of stories.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Not all [of Heiny’s characters] are single (or carefree or mellow), but they are all singular, and following their stories is like sitting at a dive bar tossing back deceptively pretty, surprisingly strong drinks with a pal who may not always make the best decisions but always comes away with the most colorful tales.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Infidelity is an overarching theme of the collection. Are there any commonalities among the affairs described in the book? How do different characters wrestle with the idea of being "the other woman"? Does anyone fight this label? Embrace it?
2. Discuss Sasha’s relationship with Monique as described throughout "The Dive Bar." How would you describe their friendship? How does Sasha depend on Monique for moral support? When Sasha is viewing the apartment with Carson, why does she immediately think of Monique?
3. On page 11, Sasha remarks that there is "no limit to the things a real couple can do!" Discuss what makes a relationship "real." What authenticates Sasha’s relationship? Which story describes the most "real" couple, in your opinion?
4. In "How to Give the Wrong Impression," Gwen wrestles with issues of insecurity in her relationship with Boris. How does this manifest throughout the story? When is she most confident?
5. On page 47, Maya laments that "Rhodes, his mother, Bailey—they all deserved someone so much better." How do feelings of guilt factor into Maya’s self-worth? At what points in the book does her decision-making come from a place of guilt? When does she escape that guilt—if ever?
6. In "Blue Heron Bridge," Nina mentions that she "got the sense she sometimes got when she said something funny, that she had suddenly become visible." Explore this concept of "visibility" in connection with Nina’s identity. How does she define herself? How does she determine her self-worth? Why do you think she embarks on her affair with David?
7. On page 31, Gwen leaves the conversation with Linette to put on more makeup even though "this is about as good as it gets." How is femininity presented throughout Single, Carefree, Mellow? In what ways are dating rituals described as performative?
8. On page 49, in the story "Single, Carefree, Mellow," Maya admits she has a "recurring nightmare about marrying Rhodes," yet by the end of the story she knows that "she could not leave Rhodes." Given her oscillating feelings about their relationship, were you surprised that they did get married? What do you think holds their relationship together?
9. In "Cranberry Relish," Heiny arranges the narrative structure so that the perspective alternates between the present moment, where Billy is describing his newest conquest, and flashbacks to the beginning of Josie and Billy’s affair. Why do you think the author chose to frame their relationship this way?
10. How is motherhood described throughout Single, Carefree, Mellow? Contrast the experiences of the protagonist in "That Dance You Do" with Nina in "Blue Heron Bridge."
11. On page 84, Nina relishes "the sweetness that was [hers] now, of the happiness she knew." Given the reaction she has about the news of David’s affair with Bunny Pringle, what do you attribute her happiness to in this scene?
12. Discuss "The Rhett Butlers." How does the narrator see Mr. Eagleton? Does she ever see him as a sexual predator, or merely a boring boyfriend? How did you react to this story? Its ending?
13. In "Andorra," Sadie describes her ability to carry on a long-term affair as "a sign of strength and character" (page 205). How is this assertion refuted throughout the story?
14. Female friendship is an integral aspect of Single, Carefree, Mellow. How do friends in Single, Carefree, Mellow rely on each other for support and comfort? What did you find to be most realistic about Heiny’s portrayal of female friendship? Did any particular friendships in the book resonate with you?
15. Many of the characters in these stories have roommates. Boris and Gwen are roommates; Sasha and Monique are roommates; Fern and Haley were roommates. How does the role of a roommate both fill and fail to fill the role of a romantic partner for these women?
16. On page 193, Maya says that girls are "nothing but heartbreak." What do you think she means by this? Do you agree? Can you connect this statement with the overarching themes of Single, Carefree, Mellow?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)