Come Up and See Me Sometime

By Erika Krouse

A smart, funny and remarkably polished collection of stories that combines the universal addictive appeal of Melissa Bank and Helen Fielding with the nervy, neurotic wit of Lorrie Moore.

The spirit of Mae West, the original liberated woman, lives on in this smart, funny collection of bittersweet tales of sex, cynicism and the single girl. Erika Krouse’s agile stories combine the addictive appeal of Melissa Bank and Helen Fielding with the nervy, neurotic wit of Lorrie Moore.

Thirteen stories are narrated by thirteen different women – none of them mothers, none married. Each revolves around a famous line by Mae West, whose brassy boldness represents the unflappable self-sufficiency that all of Krouse’s women strive for but never actually achieve. From ‘What She Wore’, where an actress takes Method acting too seriously to ‘My Weddings’, in which a discontented single woman spends her life attending other people’s weddings, Erika Krouse’s perfect comic timing and scalpel-sharp one-liners cull delirious humour from the trials and tribulations of her characters’ lives. COME UP AND SEE ME SOMETIME is a delightful and thought-provoking collection, consistently surprising us with mirror images of the fears, foibles and facades of our own lives.

Format: Paperback
Release Date: 25 Jun 2001
Pages: 208
ISBN: 978-1-84115-426-8
Erika Krouse has published work in The Atlantic Monthly , Story and Ploughshares. COME UP AND SEE ME SOMETIME is her first book.

'Frisky and unexpectedly serious. Full of zingy one-liners that would give Mae West a run for her money. With the same deft touch she's used to make us laugh at life's ugly and unfortunate turns, Krouse takes a knotty and confusing situation and leaves us with a feeling of unbounded, exhilarating possibility.' New York Times -