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The Whack-Job Girls portrays a posse of women who either don’t quite fit in or are deeply disconnected from society. Dark humor creeps through these quirky tales as one thinks she sees the Virgin Mary on her living room wall, another losing her eyesight refuses to the end to quit her rock’n’roll parade, still another must clean mysteriously revolting mishaps as a hotel maid working graveyard.
Advance Praise for The Whack-Job Girls…
“Bonnie ZoBell is my favorite sort of whack-job girl—a writer with a sharp eye, a sharper tongue, and a reckless heart. Read this book. Then read it again.”
— Steve Almond, author of God Bless America
“Bonnie ZoBell’s stories are full of women and men whose lives have been bifurcated by their secrets and their fantasies. They offer the reader the special pleasure of double-vision: Your left eye sees what seems to be, and your right eye sees what is. In between, there is the heartbreak. You’ll be in thrall to the heartbreak.”
— Kyle Minor, author of In the Devil’s Territory and Praying Drunk
“Filled with sad songs and scarred lovers, restless yearners and fired-up women, dogs and cats and watchful, demonic monkeys, this collection by Bonnie ZoBell crackles with its own internal energy and verve. The stories are charged and funny, sometimes dark, and always deeply human. ZoBell’s writerly touch is light, compassionate, and wise. The Whack-Job Girls & Other Stories is a beautiful collection.”
— Kathy Fish, author of Together We Can Bury It and Wild Life
“Bonnie ZoBell’s The Whack-Job Girls is long enough to make you envious, yet short enough to get the job done in the way few writers can. Read this book for the magic of its language but come back to it again and again for its just plain good stories.”
— Rusty Barnes, author of Mostly Redneck
“Told with equal measures of humor, heartache, and empathy the stories within Bonnie ZoBell’s smashing debut, The Whack-Job Girls, will captivate you. As you read, you will fall in love with these women. Indeed, you might even come to realize that, in fact, you are these women.”
— Myfanwy Collins, author of Echolocation and I Am Holding Your Hand
“The women in The Whack-Job Girls & Other Stories could be you or me or any gal walking down the street who has lost her way, for a while, or forever. These poignant tales shine with pinpoints of light, even the darkest of
them. Bonnie ZoBell is a fearless writer.”
— Susan Tepper, author of From the Umberplatzen
“ZoBell’s stories can be found in that spicy locale, somewhere between softness and terror, somewhere unsafe and smoldering.”
— Stefanie Freele, author of Feeding Strays and Surrounded by Water
“This collection whacks readers throughout with its original stories full of blessed images such as turquoise thumbs, adult playrooms, and acoustic popcorn. One never knows what to expect as the stories twist and turn into unexpected places. ZoBell scores a knockout with The Whack-Job Girls.”
— Randall Brown, author of Mad to Live
“The Whack-Job Girls is a high-potency collection that blasts through the death rattle of jobs and relationships that torment us, attempting to gnaw away until we disintegrate into soporific depictions of what we are not. The powerhouse narrators in these mesmerizing tales come out of the volcanic ash fully intact and more defined, if not a bit soiled by the subversive factors that beg to break them. ZoBell delivers a subtle, yet raw cast of characters in this unforgettable collection. Wow!”
— Meg Tuite, author of Domestic Apparition and Disparate Pathos
“Bonnie ZoBell’s stories are fierce, daring and populated with characters who yearn for connection, contentment. No whack-jobs these, but women juggling all that life lobs at them. These stories are unmissable, necessary, wonderful.”
— Tania Hershman, author of My Mother Was an Upright Piano
“Bonnie ZoBell’s collection of very short stories will leave you breathless. From the naked woman who sees the Madonna in a water stain, to the anthropology student who works nights as a hotel maid, these stories about cornered women fighting back display an eye for the offbeat. With a sensitive, wry voice, ZoBell manages to find hope even in the bleakest scenarios, which makes this book a deeply rewarding experience.”
— Clifford Garstang, author of In an Uncharted Country and What the Zhang Boys Know
“I am in admiration—Bonnie ZoBell pulls no punches as she explores the fractured worlds of women on the very edge in crisp, clear and yet generous prose. A terrific collection.”
— Vanessa Gebbie, author of The Coward’s Tale
“I dare you to start one of Bonnie ZoBell’s stories and not finish it. The woman can toss you a line, hook you, and reel you in. Talk about pacing! She’s gritty, but sweet. Attentive. Big hearted. A little nuts. Plus, and this is vital: She’s funny. She’s a funny chick who can write. Love!”
— Ellen Parker, editor of FRiGG
“Bonnie ZoBell’s The Whack-Job Girls and Other Stories is full of humor, irony, wit, and some incredibly unforgettable characters. From the vodka-drinking and naked mother projecting her vision of Madonna onto a leaking wall to an impressionable anthropology student/hotel housekeeper who tries to understand some strange goings on in a hotel—these stories are hard to put down. ZoBell’s whack-job girls are ones we’ve met at beauty parlors, in bedrooms, in hotels, in pet shops. They are members of our family. In their quirkiness and skewed vision of the world, they fascinate us, invite us along their crazy day trips, give us wrong directions, yet we still love them. They win our admiration as they dump tired old boyfriends for new ones wearing snake tattoos and having a cute behind, or bravely face their future while losing their sight. I could not get enough of them. ZoBell’s prose is smooth, clear, assured, and full of crisp detail that delights the eye. But it is the whack-job girls themselves who steal our hearts and minds with their zest for life and unpredictability. And like the rest of us in this confused and confusing world, they are all too human.”
— Kyle Hemmings, author of The Truth about Onions