cover image Bennington Girls Are Easy

Bennington Girls Are Easy

Charlotte Silver. Doubleday, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-385-53896-1

Silver’s novel is about a pair of irresponsible Bennington grads as they navigate their 20s back home in Boston and New York City. Cassandra Puffin—who likes her men “upperclass and intellectual, with a fine, sadistic verbal edge”—and her bestie, the charismatic, selfish, and prescient Sylvie Furst, graduated Bennington in 2003 lacking any ambition other than Sylvie’s intense desire to move to NYC. She accomplishes her goal by using another Bennington grad, only to suffer the consequences of her choice later. Cassandra stays in Boston for some time, but moves into Sylvie’s Brooklyn apartment several years later. They go through their days working odd jobs, and Sylvie more readily adapts because of her entrepreneurial bent. Sadly, as the 2008 financial crisis hits, Cassandra does not, creating an interesting dynamic between the two. The book’s pace is too slow, and the reader can never really reconcile the fact that Cassandra and Sylvie don’t really seem to like each other much, but Silver (Summer Invitation) excels at characterization and deftly blends tragedy and comedy. (July)