Girls' Poker Night

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Ruby Capote, the narrator of Girls' Poker Night, is your quintessential New York cynic. This persona serves her just fine in her job as a humor columnist; she's unafraid to write the most humiliating details about herself or her friends, because she truly doesn't care. But over the course of a year or so of Wednesday night poker parties with her pals, Ruby is forced to face her past--especially her sorrow over her father, who committed suicide after he left Ruby's mother. Meanwhile, Ruby comes to terms with her budding feelings for Michael, the editor of her newspaper, who, in a neat twist, turns out to be estranged from his only child (shades of Ruby's lost father). Davis, a former writer for The Late Show, does a fine job of maintaining Ruby's sharp humor while leading her through a minefield of emotional discovery. --Claire Dederer


From Publishers Weekly
When journalist Ruby Capote decides to flee boring Boston for the bright lights and hopefully more exciting world of New York City, she discovers love is still the same challenge it was in Bean Town. By turns endearing, funny and downright irritating, Capote ends one relationship with the annoying but handsome Doug and begins another with her editor boss Michael, all the while mulling things over with her circle of female poker pals. Rather like refugees from a bargain basement Sex and the City, the friends provide shaky support as Capote continues to search for meaning and happiness, both in her humor columns and in reality. Navigating the perilous waters of workplace romance, Capote wisecracks her way through until she discovers that she must deal with some real and poignant issues. Davis, herself an erstwhile newspaper columnist (and a writer for David Letterman), paints the newsroom universe and its inhabitants with colorful irony, while exuding empathy for single career women everywhere. Constructed of breezy chapters that often read like surreal "Lifestyle" columns, the trump card of this slim volume is its blend of humor and rueful sadness. The brittle Capote always has her guard up; she is quick with a quip and ready to run at a moment's notice the instant life gets serious. This amusing though somewhat dialogue-heavy first novel won't reveal the secrets of winning at poker, but it does teach an attentive reader that dealing from the bottom of the deck doesn't work. "You set yourself up for happiness or you set yourself up for sadness. Either way, it's your doing," notes Capote's therapist in an Ally McBeal-esque segment. Or in cardspeak: if you don't keep shuffling and playing, you'll never know when you'll have a winning hand. Deal. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Protagonist Ruby Capote leaves behind her job and her boyfriend in Boston when she lands a job writing a lifestyle column for the New York News. While it's not quite a sex column, the parallels to Sex and the City cannot be ignored once Ruby begins her weekly girls-only poker games hence the title and her six closest friends begin to contribute stories of their various romantic and sexual antics. These, of course, are retold in Ruby's column. However, Ruby is much wittier than Carrie Bradshaw, and the humor, though it sometimes serves to distance the reader, carries the novel. Ruby's romance with her editor, complicated by her abandonment issues, adds intrigue. Eventually, Ruby recognizes that in order to win at love, one must be willing to gamble again, see the title. This realization is a little trite, and the writing is a bit uneven and at times careless. Still, while this first novel by TV writer Davis may not be the first or best entry in the ever-popular Bridget Jones's Diary subgenre, it is a fun read. Recommended for larger public libraries. Amanda Glasbrenner, New York Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Davis' debut novel is the breezy, light story of Ruby Capote, a columnist who makes a move from Boston to New York to escape her nice but imperfect boyfriend, Doug. Ruby gets a job at the New York News writing a column that chronicles the lives of her gal pals, who get together every week to play poker. Her handsome boss, Michael, enjoys her column, but he pushes her to dig deeper, to stop skimming the surface and actually analyze her own life. Ruby is falling fast for Michael, and he seems to reciprocate, but Ruby's standoffishness makes it impossible for the two to have a normal relationship. When Michael tells Ruby about a surprising detail from his past, the revelation sends Ruby running. As her friends begin to find their paths in life, Ruby wonders what it will take to find hers. Though the novel suffers from the same problem Ruby does and too often skims the surface when it should probe deeper, it is undeniably humorous and fun. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


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Five-time Emmy-nominated screenwriter (Late Night with David Letterman, etc.) debuts with a lackluster Sex and the City clone. Ruby Capote is a Boston columnist whose beat is the woe of single women. She oughta know: Her silly boyfriend Doug collects the little plastic thingies from bread bags and calls his purple Porsche "The Grape." Hoping to move on, Ruby sends tear sheets and a six-pack to the editor of the New York News, handsome Michael Hobbs, who eventually assigns her to the men-are-scum beat. He oughta know: he's quasi-engaged to a beauty, but obviously eager to hook up with Ruby, whose new circle of friends offers plenty of material. Amoral and gorgeous model Skorka prefers married men-they don't get attached and never leave their socks lying around. Jenn is an overworked factotum for a manically demanding media personality. Lily's never had much luck with men-is she a lesbian? Divorced Danielle just dumped her 23-year-old swain after discovering he's the son of a previous lover. And so on, through mildly comedic matters that include a vagina visualization workshop a la Eve Ensler-but Ruby has other things on her mind and can't imagine what her vagina would say or wear (if it could). Doug's been offered a job in New York, but that relationship is totally over, even though the clueless chump doesn't think so. A hallway flirtation and subsequent fling with a sexy neighbor, TV exec Tom, goes nowhere, which leaves only Michael, but he's her boss. Obligatory forays are taken into Ruby's past: the car crash that killed her alcoholic father; the adolescent crush she had on her shrink. These alone may not explain why her relationships with men are difficult, but when she finds outMichael's dark secret, she's ready to believe that men really are scum. The girlfriends concur, though Ruby makes up her own mind in the end. Some laughs, but very much the same old.


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