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Review by Anna Garris Goiser
New York Times writer Alex Witchel expanded her popular series of Times articles to create her wickedly funny and poignant Girls Only. Obviously, she couldn't have written such a delicious book without following my mom and sister and me around for years, or stealing and reading my fourth grade diary with the little gold key on a ribbon, or hacked her way into my computer directory of short stories about my family. OK, I'll grant she did a marvelous job with the material. All right, it's beyond marvelous, it's masterful, OK?
Seriously, Girls Only is a collection of stories about the women of Witchel's family -- her mother Barbara, a Bronx-born Jewish Wonder Woman with a Ph.D. and the time management skills to be the perfect mother and make a tuna-fish sandwich without equal in New York City; her younger sister Phoebe, "Scarlett O'Harawitz" with perfect taste, an innate sense for accessorizing, and no conscience whatsoever about her credit card balance; and Alex herself, the perpetual older sister and "little Mommy" of her family.
An utter delight, Girls Only is tea at the Stanhope in the raucous, irreverent, and ultimately delicious company of those who know you best and love you most.
Anna Garris Goiser is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.
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