FISHBOWL

Allie is a perky 22-year old virgin with a hopeless crush. Emma is a free-spirited fashion editor's assistant who parties with a vengeance. Jodine is a responsible law student who makes efficiency an art form. The question is: can this odd trio can live together in a Toronto apartment without driving one another crazy? The answer is probably not, but what they can do is build friendships none of them ever anticipated. Mlynowski, following last year's Milkrun, delivers another fun piece of fluff about post-college 20-somethings trying to figure it all out as they struggle with fledgling careers, the opposite sex and financial woes. Considerable woes, in fact. Somehow, the new roommates must devise a plan to replace their kitchen, which has burned to a crisp. Each character takes her turn telling the story in alternating chapters, and the reader never mistakes one voice for another. When Allie is asked if she could be pregnant after a bout of nausea, she thinks, "Maybe it is morning sickness and I'm carrying Jesus II." Jodine considers her roommates "a munchkin and a truck driver." While making a list of past sexual partners, Emma asks her roomies, "Can I have another piece of paper?" A fourth narrator, in omniscient third-person, is not always as funny as intended, but reminds the reader of important plot points ("Do you remember the effect alcohol has on her when she gets drunk? She's like a librarian in a porno movie.") Mlynowski delivers a solid if formulaic roommate caper. (Oct.)