Little Stalker by Jennifer Belle: Review

I finished Jennifer Belle's Little Stalker and I have a toddler-- I think that is quite an endorsement in itself. I will be reading High Maintenance soon. When I was in high school I love Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen this has a similar feel - except put broken mirrors all over it and make it absolutely heartbreakingly hilarious then you will get Little Stalker.


We meet Rebekah Kettle in her 33rd year of life in which she explores her interior and her exterior world. She is a successful first time novelist, but she is procrastinating writing the follow-up novel. Rebekah becomes obsessed with many things in her 33rd year including her time line. The time line already includes a trip to Disney world where she looses her virginity, a trip to the doctor for an abortion, many counseling sessions, failed relationships with self absorbed men, and her parents divorcing. She decides it is important to improve her time line. The character of Rebekah is juxtaposed to her favorite writer and director Arthur Weeman. He inspires intense admiration from Rebekah which increases as she feels her world shift. She collects objects from his movie sets for her undecorated flat including a gondola as well as used tissues. She watches his movie and cries at the perfection of the writing. After she meets an eccentric old lady that has an apartment with a great view into the great author Mr. Weeman's kitchen R. starts writing him letters as if she is a 13 year old girl. Mr. Weeman has a preference for very young girls. The book explores the dynamic between the Humbert Humbert type characters and the Lolitas in the world. I felt very uncomfortable watching her probe and entice a perv into action. I was a voyeur right along with R.K. and I could not look away. Through the book I never stopped caring for Rebekah even though her actions made me intensely uncomfortable. Jennifer Belle takes the reader through taboo subjects to come out in the end feeling that we are all human and in our voyeuristic society a little H.H. probably resides in most of us just like we have some Lolita in our psyche.

Revisiting the Book Shoppe!

I want to draw your attention to a little crazy coincidence which happened here. I commented upon my unlikely acquisition of a few good books. Jennifer Belle's Little Stalker among them and it is a coincidence maker. Ms. Belle has commented on my entry about her Little Stalker see my entry Used Book Shoppe to read it. He comments got me thinking so, if you are ready for goose pimples here are some strange and coincidental items:

• I bought the book for $0.25 and the main character of the book gets mad when a person buys to book for a quarter. Luckily the author did not let on she was offended that I bought this book for two bits.
• My online pseudonym is bellemanda and the author's last name is Belle
• The fact that my lovable old blog was noticed by a New York author

I am reading the book and I will keep you posted. I also wanted to share a little in this post that is not all superstition and supposition. Jennifer Belle is a beauty. I won't linger on this because I have a feeling she is a bad ass feminist who likes to be recognized for her pen not her hair (which is beautiful but if you read this blog you know I love gypsies). She wrote Animal Stackers which I will pay more than a quarter for because it looks really charming and educational.

Aside from my uncharacteristic gushing I recommend this link: the ABC game. It is close to the English alphabet but not quite exactly. This is a visually pleasing game made in Denmark and it is not Jennifer Belle related but when I saw the cover of Animal Stackers I was reminded of it and I have been wanting to share it for a long time.

Used Book Shoppe

Way back in the day I went to high school (back in '93) I read voraciously. I would forsake eating to lie in my bed and read. I read Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, and anything historical I could find. I had friends, but they read as much as I. In Corvallis, Oregon, which is a college town, there was no shortage of used bookstores. In Livingston, Montana it is a different story. The used bookstores have come and gone. Once there was the Elliot ran by a close friend of the family, but people move on and I have a sneaking suspicion that bookstores are a hard way to make a living.

So my current book situation is dismal. I have never been one to read the best seller lists, but I broke down and bought a grocery store general fiction #3 on the bestseller by Julie Garland. It took me a day to finish. So 7.99$ for one day of entertainment? Not the kind of book bargain for which I am looking. Next stop is the Thrift shops. It is a good deal, $0.25 per paperback. The selection however is eclectic at best. I found $0.75 worth of books. A Nora Roberts. A Ken Follett about the last flight of the Transatlantic Clipper on the dawn of WWII. It is a book that is only sold in England, so the book has made a transatlantic trip itself. The book carefully points out that it is not for sale in Canada. Good thing I bought it in the good ole US of A.

The next $0.25 I spent was on Little Stalker by Jennifer Belle. I bought it because it had a label that said "Uncorrected Manuscript for Limited Distribution" and "Pub Date May 2007." What are the chances of me finding this in The Community Closet? I was going through my books and my husband asked about what I bought. When I told him about Little Stalker he wanted to look at it. As he read the first 3 pages he told me I was going to like it because it was hilarious. Which it is (the first 5 pages anyway).

He and I discuss how that book could end up there. He suggested the writer lives here, no go she is a New Yorker. I suggest that a book reviewer lives here. As I start to read the book I discover that the main character loves the work of Arthur Weeman and that reminds me of Nicole Rosenleaf Ritter. She discusses the calming of a toddler tantrum with the mutual hatred of a person whom I thought was Arthur Weeman. I got goose bumps thinking of this strange coincidence. Upon further research she and her son mutually dislike of Anthony Newley resolved the conflict. So there was no coincidence there. I did some more poking around on the internet to no avail. I cannot find the local reviewer. I have another feeling that the person has a blog.

Then I said to my hubby, “That’s a good way to get cheap books, become a reviewer and get them for free.”

He replied, “Or you could just go to the library.”