Shopgirls by Jessica Anya Blau

 

Nineteen-year-old Zippy can hardly believe it: she’s the newest and youngest salesgirl at I. Magnin, “San Francisco’s Finest Department Store.” Every week, she rotates her three spruced-up Salvation Army outfits and Vaseline-shined pumps; still, she’s thrilled to walk those pumps through the employee entrance five days a week as she saves to buy something new. For a girl who grew up in a one-bedroom apartment above a liquor store with her mother and her mother’s madcap boyfriend, Howard; a girl who wanted to go to college but had no help in figuring out how; I. Magnin represents a real chance for a better and more elegant life. Or, at the very least, a more interesting one.

Zippy may not be in school, but she’s about to get an education that will stick with her for decades. Her fellow salesgirls (lifetime professionals) run the gamut from mean and indifferent to caring and helpful. The cosmetics ladies on the first floor share both samples and advice (“only date a man with a Rolex”); and her new roommate, Raquel, an ambitious lawyer, tells Zippy she can lose ten pounds easy if she joins Raquel in eating only every other day. Just when Zippy thinks she’s getting a handle on how to be an adult woman in 1985, two surprises threaten both her sense of self and her coveted position at I. Magnin.

Set in the Day-Glo colors of 1980s San Francisco, Shopgirls is an intoxicating novel of self-discovery, outrageous fashion, and family both biological and found. -harpercollins.com 

 

I’ve loved every Jessica Anya Blau book I’ve read (The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, Wonder Bread Summer and Mary Jane.)  She just has a way of completing transporting you to another place and time and fully immersing you in the story.  Shopgirls is no exception.  I loved meeting  Zippy.  My younger self could imagine being friends with her and my older self just wanted to hug her and give her some advice.   I also loved reading about the various personalities of the ladies working at I. Mangin.   I think everyone who has worked retail in their life could relate to some of the crazy experiences.  Growing up in the 1980s, mall culture and department stores were thriving.  I miss those days.  Our mall and the big department store that anchors it are now just shells of their former selves.  While we never had stores as luxurious as I. Magnin at home, our local big department store was pretty nice and I still remember how exciting it was the first time I could afford to purchase make up at Clinque counter or when my mom purchased me the prom dress of my dreams at full price (which was unheard of as we always shop the sale racks.)  Shopgirls, like the other books by this author that I’ve read, immerses you not just in the nostalgia of the time period that will leave you yearning to go back but she also grounds it with some of the harsher realities of the past decades.  I don’t want to give spoilers so I will just say that the Shopgirls does reference a crisis from the early 80s that will break your heart and make you think about how far we’ve come but also how much better we could be.  Shopgirls is definitely one of my favorite books of 2025.  I highly recommend it along with the author’s entire backlist.

I got my copy of Shopgirls at Barnes & Noble which since we're speaking about shopping is attached to one of my favorite malls which is about 2 hours from home but so worth the trip.  You feel just for a little bit that you're back in the glory days of mall culture. Although if I was really going back to the 80s, I'd love to visit the B. Dalton where I spent so much time and my dad would generously purchase my Baby-Sitters Club books, Sweet Valley High, Sunset Island or any number of youthful favorites.  Anyway you can pick up your copy of Shopgirls at your local bookstore, online shop or library.

For more information on Jessica Anya Blau and her novels, visit the author's website.   

 

 

 

 

 

Summer of Fear Week One: Summer of Fear by Lois Duncan

Happy First Saturday of Summer! I know it's not officially Summer but it's June 1st already and it sure feels like it.  I'm kick starting a relaunch of this blog with "Summer of Fear" a weekly series of posts where I will review/revisit a classic YA Horror/Thriller from the 70s-90s.  The serial takes its name from my first review in the series.

I recently, so recently that it was literally just an hour ago, finished reading "Summer of Fear" by Lois Duncan which was first published in 1976 and subsequently republished throughout the years. Duncan is also the author of "I Know What You Did Last Summer," which was adapted into a blockbuster horror film in the late 90s although many elements were changed for the film.  "Summer of Fear" was adapted into a TV movie in the 1978 starring Linda Blair and directed by Wes Craven who went onto to achieve horror legend status for directing “A Nightmare of Elm Street” and my personal favorite “Scream” among many others.  "Summer of Fear," the film is currently available on Amazon Prime and I hope to check it out and bring you a review soon.  If you've already seen it, please comment with your thoughts below.

Covers Throughout the Years (cat image is just a placeholder)

From the moment Rachel's cousin Julia arrives that summer, she seems to seep into Rachel's life like a poison. Everyone else is enchanted by her - including Rachel's boyfriend. But what does Julia really want? - goodreads.com

This book reads like a "Lifetime Movie" and just like a "Lifetime Movie," it was predictable but to me that is the fun of those movies and this book.  I love watching the heroine try to figure out how to outsmart the "big bad."  From the minute Rachel meets Julia, she senses something is not quite right with her and Duncan does a fantastic job of slowly building the creep factor from mild to intense.  One of the elements of the book is a little too odd though but perhaps the fact that it was from the late 70s dates the novel.  Rachel's brother, Pete develops a huge crush on Rachel and tries to date her - his first cousin.  Ummm OK?  Julia ends up rejecting him for someone else.  The lack of cell phones and the internet though keeps this mystery going and makes it a fast, fun throwback read.  This book is light on gore and the relationships kept modest but the creep factor is marked.




Have you read "Summer of Fear" by Lois Duncan? Share your thoughts below.


One note of caution, I initially started reading the most recent reprint of "Summer of Fear," and some changes to include modern technology were added and seemed out of place so I hunted down an older copy.  The copy I began to read is the one with the graphic red head on the bottom right as pictured above and the one I then read was the copy with the photo in the developer solution.