Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A 19-year-old shopgirl comes of age in the charming latest from Blau (Mary Jane). It's 1985 and Zippy Tremblay has scored her dream job as a sales associate at a high-end San Francisco department store. Raised by a single mom who views clothing as utilitarian, Zippy believes that by immersing herself in fashion, she'll become the confident and sexy woman she aspires to be. Despite her affinity for sales, she has a lot to learn about life, and she rues the fact that she's still a virgin. After she begins getting negative comment cards at work, she wonders if she should give up on her dream and follow in her mom's footsteps by working at a hardware store. Then Zippy's absent father reaches out, hoping to build a relationship, and his presence leads her in another direction. The story is somewhat predictable, but Zippy is a delightful character, and it's a joy to watch her find herself. Added to the mix is a colorful cast of supporting characters, including an older roommate who convinces Zippy to kiss men at bars and try a zany diet she invented. Readers will be smitten with this totally '80s romp. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A woman comes of age in Fifth-Floor Dresses at San Francisco's upscale I. Magnin department store in the 1980s. There are a lot of things 19-year-old Zippy has never done: She's never been to a school dance or on a date, never been told she's pretty, had a real boyfriend, or had sex; and, until she met her current roommate, Raquel, never had a best friend, tried alcohol, or taken a cab. She's never eaten an artichoke or been to Seattle or Sonoma; she's never met her father or even known his name--she's the product of a one-night stand and grew up in a tiny apartment over a liquor store, sleeping in the hallway after her mom married a man named Howard. Though no one has ever noticed Zippy's obvious intelligence or suggested she apply to college, there is one area where this naïve people-pleaser shines, and that is selling clothes. The highlight of Blau's latest is the vivid department store setting, from the Adrienne Vittadini and Bill Blass dresses to the individual saleswomen, the hold tags, the complaint cards. Those pesky complaint cards! Despite Zippy's tireless work and top-selling status, there have been a flood of cards claiming she's pushy and bossy, that she forces bras and shoes on customers, that people are afraid to return clothes while she's there. How can such a smart girl not immediately realize these must have been fabricated by a jealous colleague? Well, the other thing is that Zippy is profoundly insecure. Her low self-esteem is focused in particular on her appearance and her body, and this drives a subplot about dieting and weight loss. Though this coming-of-age story is not as edgy as some of the author's earlier work, it still has plenty of unusual sex talk--a penis "so lumpy" it looks like "a miniature sack of kittens"; much discussion of holes, smells, and fluids; a venereal disease rumored to cause "fuzzy buttons" on a man's testicles. AIDS, too, plays a role, though not an unduly serious one, in Zippy's journey toward filling some of the gaps in her life. A quirky fairy tale with a vibrantly realized setting and a wonderfully outrageous twist. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
