Someday, Someday, Maybe

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham, 344 pages

Straight away, I need to confess that I picked this up simply because it was written by that Lauren Graham, the best coffee-guzzling, fast-talking innkeeper in all of Stars Hollow (AKA Lorelai in Gilmore Girls). I love the show, and I'd heard that Graham is just as smart and witty as the character she portrayed, so maybe her book wouldn't be as horrible as I generally perceive novels written by actresses who thinks they can write to be. And hey, turns out I was right.

Someday, Someday, Maybe is the story of Franny Banks, a mid-20s woman who's trying to make it as an actress in New York in the mid-1990s. She's auditioned a few times, and been in a non-ironic commercial involving Christmas sweaters, but the arbitrary deadline she's set for herself to "make it big" is looming and she's increasingly unsure of her capabilities as an actress. She's balancing catering and waitressing jobs, and lives with her production assistant best friend Jane and their friend Dan, who quit med school to be a screenwriter, but is having about as much luck with that as Franny is at booking acting gigs. There's the backup plan (high school boyfriend who lives in Chicago), but there's also the dreamy guy from Franny's acting class.

Yes, this plot is typical chick lit. And chick lit really isn't my bag, most of the time. It's obvious from WAY early in the book how this is going to turn out for Franny, just like it is when you watch a stereotypical chick flick. But Graham is aware of the trope, and slyly pokes fun at the notion of love triangles. That, to me, made it a bit more acceptable. Also, Graham really is a pretty good writer. Do I think she's going to win the Nobel Prize for Literature? No. But she did a good job with this one.

Last thing: there's got to be something said for writing what you know. An actress (who looks a lot like Lauren Graham) trying to make it in New York in the 90s? Could this just a bit autobiographical? Graham did a great job getting the details across without making it seem like she was writing about herself though, and for that, she should be commended.