Elizabeth Crane's prose is smart yet straightforward, funny yet meaningful. In When the Messenger Is Hot, she experiments with form and point of view while creating memorable characters and scenarios.

There are lots of stories in this book, so I'll just highlight a couple of my favorites. The opener, "The Archetypes Girlfriend," is more of an extended description than a traditional story. Is there such thing as a stereotypical idiosyncrasy? Yes: Crane manages to display tons of them as she hilariously examines several personas of women who get under the skin of vulnerable men. Another standout is "Christina," in which the narrator encounters a dancing ghost baby in her home who she chats with on a day to day basis.

The main thing that makes this book short of spectacular is its repetitious themes. Which isn't automatically bad...it's just that she exhausts them through the stories. The death of a mother, dating debacles, and the habitat comparison of Chicago vs. New York became predictable. The stories could have been presented freshly without incorporating these same ideas over and over again. It made the stories feel overly autobiographical--like the writer was having a difficult time detaching herself from every character she created.

Someone recommended the book When the Messenger is Hot because she said it featured several of the best short stories centered on women she had ever read. Well, this short fiction collection is definitely a great one. It features some rather witty and clever stories that kept me riveted and entertained, but I wouldn't say that they are several of the best I've read. The stories were fine, some finer than others, but they sounded similar after a while. It would have been nice if Elizabeth Crane touched on some broader subjects or if she changed the style and vein in which the stories were written. Anyway, the stories I enjoyed the most were "The Archetype's Girlfriend," "Normal," "Proposal," "Privacy and Coffee," "You Take Naps," and "Year-at-a-Glance." I found the aforementioned stories to be the wittiest and cleverest in the collection. Aside from the fact that When the Messenger is Hot is a bit limited in style and subject matter, this collection is a great reading investment and I recommend it very much.

I had never heard of Elizabeth Crane before I saw this book. I think it is a pity she is not more well-known because I really enjoyed her stories. Taken together, her stories have a breathless, colloquial quality that makes you feel like a friend is talking to you. Most of the stories have a fun, quirky premise, but without being shallow, and her observations are very funny.

Highlights for me were:

The Super Fantastic New Zealand Triangle: this story is about a woman who constructs an elaborate fantasy about an actor living in New Zealand and their relationship.

Josie and Hyman Differ in Their Use of the Word F***: This is the story of a young woman who dates an older man who doesn't take her seriously because she's beautiful. He's obsessed with his SAT scores and likes to act edgy.

Year-at-a-Glance: This story is a kind of log kept by a woman whose mother died, and tracks the woman's grieving process over a year.

The Daves: One of the best stories in the collection. The protagonist keeps meeting men named Dave, even if they claim to be named something else, and she finds out that all women (even herself) are named Jennifer. Interesting musings on whether everyone is alike or not.

Christina: This is about a woman whose apartment is haunted by the ghost of a baby. They become good friends and dance together, and the baby imparts wisdom to her about how she isn't different from everybody else (though she feels that she is).

An Intervention: This is a story about a woman who joins AA even though she isn't an alcoholic, because it makes her feel "a part of" (AA-speak for a sense of belonging).

Good For You!: This is about a woman who sends out a holiday card with a picture of herself and gets some unexpected responses.

All in all, these were very creative, well-written stories that were fun to read and illuminating as well. Recommended.

I read the first four stories, then jumped to the back and read the last two stories. I was hoping to find something new, but it didn't change.
The author has a breathless pacing that runs on and on into a style I would consider selftalk. Like right now I am distracted by my own thoughts about a. why I am writing this review when I have packing to do, and b. the number of miles it is to Minneapolis, and whether I should 1.stop in Madison and see my ex (fresh sex), or 2. stop in Black River Falls and visit my cousin (hard belly laughs), either would be fine, but the real question is...Which one would give me the most pleasure at this point in my life?
For me, the writing style in "Messenger" became tedious. And the characters seemed one-dimensional. I did like the idea of a person committing suicide by jumping up instead of down in "Privacy and Coffee." I guess mostly I would like to come upon a story like this in a magazine or an anthology. I just didn't feel there was enough substance to sustain an entire book

When my mother was reading this book I decided to start reading it too. I fell in love with the collection of short stories right away. Usually books do not get me to laugh out loud,, but this one had me falling on the floor. This book is a fast and funny read.