Lindsay Says: The Other Girl by Alexandra Ares - Review & Giveaway

Lindsay Says! The Other Girl by Alexandra Ares

Title: The Other Girl

Author: Alexandra Ares

Publication: May 2011

When I read it: January 2013

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

Series / Stand Alone: Stand Alone

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“The Other Girl” is a bare, slim, literary novel written in a minimalistic style and telling the story of a conversation. Life does this switching trick, giving you hope from one place, and satisfaction from another. Maxim Smirnov, a young Russian immigrant in New York dreams of becoming the next software billionaire like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and of moving in with his gorgeous girlfriend. In the meantime he has no home of his own and sleeps like a gypsy on chairs and in his office. When his lover is reluctant to take him in, he ends up moving in with an older Italian girl Giordana Gatti, a reclusive film animator with a powerful personality and feminist ideas that clash with his macho upbringing. She is “the other girl” in more ways than one, and guards an old, secret, unrequited love story. How will her fierce spirit and masochistic passion reflect on his own future choices?(

What an intriguing novella! I had such a hard time rating this one. Parts of it made me want to rate it 4-4.5 stars but other parts, namely the ending for me, made me ultimately give it 3-3.5 stars. It truly is very interesting and engaging and a heartbreaking look at the struggles to just get by that two people share.

I can’t blame anyone or anything. Just myself. Because I’ve desperately attempted to cross an ocean in a leaking boat. I sank my own ship. I have no reason to pat myself on the back. I have to try to forgive myself for this, learn the lesson, keep on living and…

Max Smirnov is a young Russian trying to live out the American dream in New York. Unfortunately, it is not going too well for him right now. With nowhere to live and a recent breakup that has devastated him, he goes searching for somewhere to call home.

Love can either feed your soul or poison it.

This brings him to meet Giordana Gatti, an Italian woman whose desperation to get by has led her to rent out a room of her house. She is a very deep, almost philosophical, and passionate woman that has become bitter after a life of failed relationships.

There’s something weird about her. This sadness and solitude, and this story she keeps under wraps. Sometimes I think she’s warming up to me, and I kind of panic, and then, just when I think the ice is broken, I spot a harder layer underneath, and I know that we’re nowhere near being really close.

Max and Gio are very different and have so much going on in their lives. This makes it hard for them to connect initially but they quickly realize that they may have more in common than they thought. Gio begins to open up about the relationships that have left her bitter. Her story of switching from being the girl to being the other girl seems to open Max’s eyes on life.

“…no matter how we’d like to imagine that we can control things, life always trumps us.”

The Other Girl was so interesting and different from what I’ve been reading lately. I love mixing things up. I also enjoyed the fact that I never was able to guess what was coming next. This kept me hooked until the end. I personally like endings that have some closure and I just didn’t feel that I got the closure that I wanted. It kind of ended abruptly for me and I wanted so much more. I would recommend this novella, especially if your looking for something short and completely original.

And now for a giveaway:

Alexandra is kind enough to gift an e-copy of The Other Girl to a reader of Madison Says! Just subscribe to receive email updates, and comment here that you’ve done so and you’re entered! :) Winners will be chosen tomorrow night!

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About the Author

My name is Lindsay Brady. I currently juggle being a wife, a mother, and a middle school teacher. My daughter is almost three and is ALL girl. She keeps me very busy!!! When I was younger, you could find me either reading or writing books. My parents thought that I would end up becoming a writer and have somehow not given up on that dream even though I never pursued it. In reality, I abruptly stopped reading when I changed to a private school in the fifth grade and was forced to read books that didn't even slightly interest me. About a year ago, I was needing something to help me slow down and provide an escape from my busy schedule. That is when I got the itch to read again. And once I started, I have not been able to stop. I think I am making up for lost time :) I particularly like contemporary, adult, and young adult romance novels. There are so many great books that have kept me busy lately and so many that I am looking forward to!

2 Comments

Jaclyn January 29, 2013 at 11:27 am Reply

Thanks! I’d love to read this.
Alexandra Ares January 29, 2013 at 12:29 pm Reply

Thanks Lindsay for the great review. I wrote The Other Girl after My Life on Craigslist, which is my most mainstream novel so far (with a happy ending and all…). so I wanted to do something more experimental in The Other Girl.