Showing posts with label Female friendship--fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Female friendship--fiction. Show all posts

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Chasing Harry Winston

You'd think that after a smart novel like The Devil Wears Prada, one that made millions of dollars for everyone involved, the publishers would vigilantly edit whatever Weisberger came out with next. I can only imagine that either her publishers lazily retreated and let her reputation sell the book, or that her ego stood in the way of the editing process. Either way, somebody dropped the ball.

Weisberger's tale involves three women seeking love and husbands as they approach their 30th birthdays. One is too promiscuous, one is too monogamous, and the third doesn't love the man she's with. Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, one's too hot, one too cold and so on...

The book is too long, too shallow, and it's crowded with too many plotlines, men and inexplicable plot meanderings--such as these beauties...

p. 196-197: Two characters argue for 2 whole pages about one character's penchant for popular chick lit, detailing such works as Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Bridget Jones's Diary and The Nanny Diaries.

p. 247: One character leaves her OB-GYN exam (which has NOTHING to do with the plot):
"After dressing, Emmy jumped on the 4 train to Union Square. She figured on a brisk walk directly home to shower--something she always felt compelled to do after the K-Y-heavy exams--but as she exited the subway at Fourteenth and Broadway she found herself heading directly toward Leigh and Adriana's building. With Leigh's breakup only a week old and Adriana's newfound commitment to work, she figured at least one of them had to be home, sulking or writing or both, but the doorman shook his head [...] By the time she reached her building and trudged up the five flights of stairs, she was drenched from head to toe: her hair from the freezing rain, her feet from the filthy slush, and her ladyparts from the overzealous application of medical-grade lube."
Isn't it terrible?-- the overuse of the word "directly," the fact that this does nothing to advance the plot and finally, it's not even well-written!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Barefoot

Elin Hilderbrand is a sure thing. Her books are always about Nantucket, women and love. It's like Keebler's Vienna Fingers cookies--they can taste so bland and cheap sometimes, but when you wake up in the middle of the night and you desperately crave them, it's hard to imagine a world without them... We want what we want.

Three women arrive in Nantucket for what they hope will be a relaxing summer--Vicki comes with children and cancer, her sister Brenda comes with heartache and a legal scandal, and friend Melanie has just left her husband and realized that she's pregnant. They hire a handsome young Middlebury college kid to take care of the kids, but of course his role morphs over the course of the book. I thought this was alright, but my fave is still The Blue Bistro.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

The Senator's Wife

Meri and her husband Nate are newlyweds on the hunt for a house. When they find a townhouse split with a dignified Washington senator, Nate jumps at the political connection and Meri finds herself entranced with the senator's beautiful wife.

This was a fascinating read, just like all of Sue Miller's books. I really, really liked it, and I'll probably reread it within the next few months. I hesitate to explain more, because I think you'll enjoy it more if you aren't given as many clues as to what to expect. It's not a mystery, not a suspense thriller, but it does keep you turning the pages.