Chapbook Review: Looking Good and Having a Good Time

Looking Good and Having a Good Time

Looking Good and Having a Good Time features four different stories, all seemingly unrelated but capturing the same youthful energy. What I admire most about Parker’s writing is her ability to depict familial relations. She illustrates a grown daughter learning about her mother outside of their relationship as they bond, perplexed by the way her mother looks at the camera “as if it was a male suitor”, yet also carefully shows a teenaged daughter’s attempt at living with her mother and trying to figure out how to be a person or, more importantly, a cool person. Parker’s writing is characterized by a very dry brand of humour that takes you by surprise, whether its a dude’s skeptical feelings toward the Charles Bukowski poster in the apartment he stayed in the previous night or a girl describing her mother as having “reviewed every restaurant in Toronto on Yelp” because of her copious amount of suitors. Looking Good and Having a Good Time is an energetic read. (Rachel Davies)