Super Fantastic Reading Group

Do we see ourselves at all?

One of the reasons I wanted to like this book was the idea of identifying with the main character.  Although I am a married mom, so there is a major portion of my identity that is contrary to Shannon's, I hoped that some of her experience would mirror my own.  Little of it did, though, except superficially.  I have an offbeat type of humorous relationship with my parents and my sister, I've recently gone through therapy to address what some would consider an undeserved bout with depression and anxiety (you know, since my folks are still together and I was able to finish college and get a job and all), I love to shop (especially at Target, and much to the detriment of my credit card balances) and I need to vary my sentence structure when I write.  Still, I didn't feel like I got a connection the way I typically do when I read.

Do you all see parts of yourselves in Shannon that you wish were different, or do the people who don't like her character feel that way because she isn't identifiable, or what?

Are you kidding?

I was prepared to enjoy this book but just kept thinking, "Are you kidding?"  Is this girl really so messed up that she acts like a spoiled teenager and then blames her mom for being too good at parenting?  Originally I thought she was joking but she kept at it so much it sounded like she actually believed it.

At first, when she talks about being a virgin at 22 and just wanting to get laid, it didn't seem realistic.  Now after reading the book, the question is what either one of her boyfriends saw in her in the first place.   The first one was a little creepy and needy so that almost makes sense, but Michael seemed so together.  What did he see in her?

Other than her assertian that she could do well without trying despite her insane procrastination, she didn't seem to have any redeeming qualities.  Am I being too critical?  Did she leave anything good out because she doesn't see it in herself?

Also, I thought the title was cute although it does sound a little egotistical to me when people say it in real life.  Like no one else's life is like theirs and you have just entered an exclusive club ...

Not Bad

While I'm not completely done with the book, I find myself wanting to read it less and less! Not to say I don't enjoy  it... I think it's simply that the main character's listless attitudes and multiple neuroses start to rub off on me! After reading for a while, I start to think "...What am I doing with my life...." 

It's totally depressing!

I think I will try to finish it though, I honestly enjoy the disjointed-ness. To me, it starts to feel more like a glimpse into someone's psyche, because I tend to think the psyche is rather disjointed by nature...

All in all, I think I would say it's a good book. It's not going on my list of books to read again however.

Where's the Fruit?

Sorry to be a bit behind;  I just finished today and didn't want to post or read anyone's until I did. That said, I found it lacking something. Like Shannon and the fruit, I don't know what it was, but there wasn't a compelling reason (other than this group) to stay up late reading.

What I did like was the teasing between her and her mom, which is probably because it parallels my own warped relationship. If there were more instances of her acting as catalyst in the other areas of her life I would have liked her more.

Like others mentioned, I didn't find reason to get behind Shannon and cheer her on. The saddest part to me was her not even getting her shit together with the dots at the end. Really? You really need help picking an idea for the dots? I would have had more sympathy if she were 17 and I could chalk it up to teen angst.

Was anyone else waiting for something to happen with the mom and Conrad with the Japanese Art question?

I need to finish my novel.

If this is the sort of self-indulgent, psuedo-literary, semi-interesting novel that editors are looking for these days, I think I should be able to finish up my novel this weekend and be able to have it published by next weekend. As I was reading, it became clear, as I am sure it was meant to, that this novel was her master's thesis. In fact, I am pretty sure that once she got it back from her thesis committee, she shipped it off to a few editors with no changes.

There were three things that completely ruined the book for me:
1. I didn't like the main character.
2. The author tried too hard to add symbolism and deep meaning to her novel instead of just telling her story. That is part of the reason why the transitions were so awkward. In many cases, she tried to sum up the section or chapter with a sentence packed with symbolic meaning, which would have been fine if we were reading one vignette at a time, but didn't work that well once she had strung her loosely-connected vignettes together and tried to pass them off as a novel.
3. Michael (that was the second boyfriend's name, right?) was right. She does need to vary her sentence structure. It was very choppy.
Example:
--I think she relied too heavily on rearranging long sentences using commas to separate the many parts.
--She relied, I think, too heavily on long sentences, rearranged using commas, with many separate parts.

Lukewarm reaction

While I enjoyed the quick flow of the book (I finished it in no time once I received it), I felt it was disjointed.  I agree with the previous posts about the jarring transitions.

I identified with Shannon's feelings of..aimlessness, I guess I would call it, but felt like she was too old to be having them!  I went through the same sea of it as she did, but at a younger age.  And her therapy sessions didn't seem all that productive to me, she seemed to want to just pin everything in her life on Flo, and there is a point where that just doesn't cut it anymore, you know?

I'm sure I'll have more to say in response to other people's observations.

Not That Bad

While I wouldn't list this book on my favorites list, I didn't find it to be annoying. There were issues in the writing that could have been done better but the main character was okay. She wasn't very polished and I guess that is what made her more believable to me. I did think that she went on and on about her mother and how her mother must be the foundation for all of her issues, but since it was supposed to be somewhat autobiographical, I just assumed that the author had mother issues as well.

I actually love to read books written in a journal format which means first person present tense in most cases, so that aspect didn't bother me. I really enjoyed that it was a fast read. I found the characters to be interesting and the conversations between mom and daughter were quite funny at times.

It didn't seem like Shannon had that bad of a childhood so it was a bit difficult to figure out why she was having so many problems but I guess there are a lot of people out there that don't know where their lives are leading and spend too much time trying to figure it out. I read a quote by John Lennon (from a song) that said  "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans". I think this one applies to this book well.

The humor in the book reminded me a bit of the Janet Evanovich books (which I love to read). They aren't deep books but still fun and worth reading. My dad is one of those persons that goes to a movie theatre wanting to be "wowed" every time, and I am one who enjoys myself even if it isn't that great, as long as there is an idea that is interesting. I am probably the same way about books. Sometimes the idea of the story is fun or interesting, even if it is not presented as well as it could be, and I will still enjoy the adventure. This books falls into that category for me, fun and fast but not necessarily something I would remember to recommend to someone.

Not my favorite book

I am with Jo on the sympathy level for this character. I wanted to punch her as hard as I possibly could during several points in the book. She was so annoying and whiny and miserable all the freaking time! Seriously, no one can be that miserable that often!

I didn't like the way I would be reading along and the subject would abruptly change to something totally different. I also found it really weird that she attempted to include every single conversation she had with her therapist into every little thing she was doing in the book. It was bizarre.

I wasn't a huge fan of most of the characters. I sort of liked the parts that had Shannon's sister in them. Her sister at least seemed semi-normal. I sort of like Flo most of the time too, but she seemed really sad. It was hard to find any of the characters that I could actually identify with or understand. I never felt like I got to know anyone in the book.

I was kind of sad because I really, really wanted to like this book! It had such a great title. But when I finished I was left feeling sort of lost, like I wasn't sure about what the storyline was really supposed to be or if anything was resolved or finished for the characters in any way.

Time to talk about Welcome to My Planet

Hopefully by now you have all read the book.  Please share your thoughts. 

I wasn't that fond of the book.  My first issue was that I generally don't like books written in the present tense.  I also think some of the transitions were jarring.  It was a quick read, though, so that was nice. 

I don't think that I found Shannon that sympathetic a character.   She seemed rather needy and whiny.  The 2 boyfriends she had were obviously very different guys and so it seems like she went from one extreme to the other. 

I do like that the book ended with her standing on her own two feet.  I think that chick lit frequently ends with a man waiting in the wings after the lead finally dumps the really bad boyfriend. 

Hmm... It seems book discussions are easier when you like the book you've read. 

So what are your thoughts?  Did you enjoy the book?  Did you like Shannon, Michael, Flo or any of the others?  Was there a part you particularly enjoyed or didn't like? 

(I think it would be easier for discussion purposes to open up your own post for your opinions and then others can comment to that)

Down to the Wire

I FINALLY received Welcome to My Planet from half.com. I will choose the next book sometime this week so that you will have plenty of time to order it or otherwise aquire it for next time.