Super Fantastic Reading Group

Now That's Better

Sorry for the late post.  I started this on the 10th and then forgot that I didn't actually publish one.

This book was generally an enjoyable read.  I liked the different perspectives of all the main characters with more believable plotlines.  Anya and Claire were the most relatable for me.  Claire was the most level-headed and her hang-up was the most believable.  The portrayal of how a 40ish woman would feel in her situation was great without being totally bitter.  The younger ones all seemed to have more self-made problems that blinded them to the world around them: Anya was very insecure, Parker was obsessed with herself and Kelah was a little nuerotic. 

I like that Claire got back together with her husband.  She had her fling and saw that you can love someone, make mistakes and still get through it.  She realized it would take a lot of work but it was worth it in the long run.   It was also great that she went ahead with her career and didn't slide back into her old role.  She grew as a person through her adversity and it made her stonger.

Anya was also a likable character.  Although it was a struggle for her, she was very mature in the way she handled the ex-girlfriend's sudden appearance and blatant attempts to steal her boyfriend back.  (Men are so clueless about that stuff). 

My complaints about the book are similar to what others have said:  Iit would've been nice to have more notice when switching characters and it was a little graphic.

The R-NC17 language in the last few books made me think my internal definition of chick lit was off but since Michelle thinks the fluid removal was a little much, it makes me feel better.

Not a Fan

I didn't like this one. While I thought that the author did a good job of distinguishing the voices of the characters in dialogue, she did not do well in distinguishing them in narration. I find it hard to believe that four supposedly different women have the exact same thought patterns and would all make such liberal use of annoying parenthetical descriptions. Additionally, I thought the plot was crap. The only good thing that came from reading this book was that I added the name Parker to the list of baby girl names I suggested to my boss for his incubating fetus. (That's another thing. Who the hell knows that Parker Stevenson was in The Hardy Boys and even if you do know, how on earth would meeting a woman named Parker immediately make you think of that? The answers, respectively, are no one and it wouldn't. Parker isn't that unique a name.)

One more thing -- a description of a man sucking his junk out of his girlfriend's cooter is not generally included in my definition of light chick lit.

I want to summer in Greece!

The Outsiders reference alone was enough to make me love this book.  For some reason, though, this book took me a lot longer to read than normal.  I couldn't get into it.  I enjoyed what I read but the jumping from narrator to narrator felt very disjointed to me.   

Anya's killed someone secret was completely obvious.  I was kind of hoping that there was some accident and the guy got killed right after having sex and it wasn't an abortion story.  I think I probably feel that way because it seems like every teenager in any story anywhere on TV or in books gets knocked up on their first or second time trying sex.  In the real world it isn't that easy to get pregnant.  And for some reason now the prevalence of this storyline bothers me.   I get the whole Catholic guilt thing, but they could've easily given her the same 'curse' through another way.  That being said, I actually liked Anya.  And I liked that she worked for part of the summer.  It gives it a little more of a 'real' feel, although I don't know what the labor laws are for immigrants and all that.  (Clearly I work in HR, I get bogged down by thoughts about that sort of thing.)

I'm glad Parker didn't take her icky husband back.  I'm not sure how I feel about Claire taking her philandering husband back.  I suppose they were contrasted to give us kind of a broader view of marriage and all that.  Since Claire had all sorts of history with her husband I can see how it wouldn't be so easy to be done with it.  At the same time, though, I don't know that I bought that it was THAT easy to forgive and forget.  I would think having been together that long his affair would've cut a whole lot worse than Parker's husband's. 

I agree with Heather who wasn't sure what to think of Kelah.  She was definitely the least developed of the characters.  I don't know that I would have been so okay with someone writing about my life in articles, even if I were 'disguised.'  (Hint Michelle. ;) )

Finally, throughout the whole book I kept thinking I want to eat at that Greek Restaurant Corfu Island in Westlake when I go visit Michelle, except I'm pretty sure it has closed down. :)

Didn't Make My Brain Hurt

Have you every read those books where you really had to think to try and understand all the symbolism and did this really mean that?  Well, this wasn't one of those books.  I too had a hard time trying to think of what I'd say about it.  It was an enjoyable read, although at times, due to the four different points of view, I got a bit confused as to the time line of things.  I also felt that although it was about four different women, that Kelah got the raw end of the deal.  I didn't get the sense that we knew her as well as we knew everyone else.

The writer's descriptions of the characters, at least to me, was also hit and miss.  I felt that I knew exactly what Claire looked like, but with some of the others, I felt like I never knew exactly what they looked like.  That bugged me a bit.  That and I never knew how to pronounce Kelah so I think I tried to say it twenty different ways and was never sure I was right.

Over all, an enjoyable and quick read.

Fluffy Chick Lit

As fluffy chick lit, this book was pretty good. I'm having trouble thinking of very much to say about it though. It was almost so fluffy that there wasn't much substance to it.

Overall, I did actually like this book. It was fun and pretty cute. It was a nice quick read. It would be a good beach book or something to read on a rainy day.
I enjoyed the ending even though it tied everything up in one big happy package. I liked that Parker stayed in Greece and that Claire got back together with her husband.

It was completely unbelievable though. Seriously, who has enough money to be able to spend that many months in Greece for goodness sake? It must be nice. Or if you have enough money, who can take that much time off work?

I'm not generally a fan of books that flip around between different narrators. It can make them hard to follow and tough to remember whose point of view the story is being told from. Sometimes I found myself flipping back to the beginning of the chapter to see who it was talking.

What did everyone else think?

Book #3

It took me awhile to decide this one. I narrowed it down to two choices and then tried to pick one.

The next book is Paging Aphrodite by Kim Green.

Edited to change the read by date - Jo said to have this one read by Monday October 9th.

I hope it's a good book! Enjoy everyone! :)