A common belief that no one wants to accept as truth, especially women, is that all females have one goal in life: love. Feminists hate that idea and urge other women to pursue high-powered jobs and make more money than God. Seek wholeness elsewhere, in oneself, they say, not in a man. The thing is, even though most people don’t want to admit it, that belief is relatively accurate. When you think about it, how is watching bad TV in an empty apartment and wishing for someone to sleep next to tonight any different from sitting on a bed, clutching a stuffed animal and wishing for a boy to kiss at the age of 12?

Instant Love helps show that, regardless of experience, it’s true, most women are on a quest for some form of love. Moreso, they have no fucking clue what they’re doing in their search. And quite frankly, Instant Love is gorgeous. Not only is it relevant, it gives the reader the sense that even your closest friends are just as confused and screwed up as you are, even if they don’t let on.

The book is a collection of chain stories that follows three women — Holly, Maggie, and Sarah Lee — through their attempts to find love. Instant Love begins at their childhoods and stalks them through their early 30s, noting all of their successes and failures along the way. Their characters go through immense amounts of experiences and different facets of their personalities are revealed at each turn. Sadly, for the most part, these women are completely lost.

Attenberg is amazingly adept at controlling her main characters. Her language is sharp and witty, and her attention to detail is impressive. At each stage in her characters’ lives, Attenberg adjusts the tones and voices. As a teenager, Holly is snotty and brash, and she is just as brash as she ages — Regarding Holly, how freaking cool is it that Holly equates people with the music they listen to? We all do it, but no one wants to admit that they may think less of their friend after learning that their favorite band is Dashboard Confessional. Still, Holly is an indie rock snob who resents people who think that they are interesting just because they reference Yo La Tengo. She’s a girl who loves the Pixies and identifies with Kim Gordon. For Holly, people obsessed with Morrissey can shove it. And what a succinct way to characterize people; it’s not like people who obsess over Morrissey aren’t a very specific breed. — Holly’s sister Maggie is always fragile, although she doesn’t want to be, and it isn’t until her 30s that she grows into herself. Attenberg gives the sisters fair ammo for their idiosyncrasies - that they were abandoned by their father at an early age, and each sister is hurt so deeply that the trauma affects the rest of their lives. Holly becomes resentful and thus seeks men mostly for violent late-night sex after wondering if she was even meant for love. Because the girls’ father tried to buy their affection with cash, Maggie is only truly happy when she purchases gifts for her loved ones.

Not only does each character grow through time, but Attenberg reveals different aspects of those characters through other people’s perspectives. While many of the stories are told by the three women, some stories are told through their friends and lovers, and these three women are discussed by signifying traits and connections. The reader discovers that Sarah Lee, who appears wistful and lovely, can be a bit of a drunken bitch. Holly can be incredibly rude and impatient. While Attenberg’s technique shows interesting points about these women, it also reveals that these women are not as forgettable as they may think.

Within all of this expert characterization is one horrifying aspect - in this book, no one really wins. The women have glittering moments of compassion, but they never last. To boot, Instant Love ends before any of the women have found their love. Oddly enough, some of the men end up doing fairly well. One is married with a kid on the way, but to add another broken woman, his wife is struggling through her pregnancy. Attenberg appears pretty cynical, and while she may not believe that every woman is doomed to failure, it seems that her characters are. While the idea that the quest that every woman seems to be on is a pointless one may be heartbreaking to fathom, I suppose that’s how it goes sometimes. It appears that Attenberg believes that, as much as women long for a prince, it’s possible that he just may not show up.

Visit Jami Attenberg at her website.
Buy Instant Love: Fiction through the Crown Publishing Group.