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417th out of 597 books
—
674 voters
Shaken and Stirred
by
Joan Opyr
Sometimes, I think my story is about addiction and adultery. Other times, I think it's about bad luck with the Avon lady. And not just one—one I could chalk up to chance. Two rotten Avon ladies feel more like a curse.
So begins the story of Poppy Koslowski. She's trying to recover from a hysterectomy, but her family has other ideas. She's the one with the legal right to cal...more
So begins the story of Poppy Koslowski. She's trying to recover from a hysterectomy, but her family has other ideas. She's the one with the legal right to cal...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
June 14th 2011
by Bywater Books
(first published June 1st 2011)
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This is excellent! Poppy Koslowski goes home to North Carolina to pull the plug on her grandfather. Naturally, this is about way more than pulling the plug. It's her story of growing up in a typically dysfunctional Southern family. This has possibly the best opening sentence, paragraph, and page of anything I've read in I don't know how long. It's a sweet story of friendship, love, family, and the things we say and don't say. Absolutely realistic depictions of those awkward moments when someone...more
This book seems to be a hybrid fiction / memoir. I love anything written by Joan Opyr. Her writing style makes me chuckle. Writing about her grandfather (I assume he was her grandfather -- hard to believe he's a work of imagination) she uses phrases and words that I'm sure I heard in my youth from my own crazy relatives. But where I rolled my eyes at the oldies, discounted their wisdom, and let myself forget their colorful language, Opyr remembers, appreciates, and writes about it with humor. He...more
I admit I originally judged this book by its cover and put it into my, maybe read, as a last resort, column. I don’t know why, I just didn’t like the cover. Why I would decide to reject a book solely on the cover makes no sense at all since I do 99% of my reading on my Kindle, but let’s face it, the cover art catches my eye, it makes me take a closer look at the book, and causes me to read the product description. Yes, it’s ultimately the description or someone’s recommendation that makes me buy...more
Loved it! The tale weaves along, past and present, the life of Poppy - she's called home because her alcoholic grandfather is dying. The book is set up along the formulaic lines of 'estranged character returns to her hometown and rediscovers her past lover,' but that's about the only formula I saw. Poppy, her mother and grandmother, the back story of her grandfather, father and Susan all coalesce into a heady mix. By the end, I wasn't sure where this book was going, but I had to keep reading to...more
I loved the humor in this book and being a smart ass my self made it all the more funnier. Sometimes it took me a minute to figure out where in the story she was at because she kind of jumped around from past to present but other than that it was a great story.
Eh. Just not my type of thing. Part cliched family drama, part romantic comedy. Amusing in moments, but mostly just meh.
This novel is Opyr's best. Clear, funny, at times hilarious, and touching. The characters are very real, and the humor comes from real situations and relationships. I highly recommend this novel.
Jun 16, 2013
Shireen
marked it as to-read
May 15, 2013
Chrisw
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Apr 28, 2013
Katt
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Mar 11, 2013
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Feb 18, 2013
Melisa
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Bee
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Dec 16, 2012
Jen
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Dec 16, 2012
Coogler
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mostly Lesfic: Shaken and Stirred - February 2012 | 78 | 43 | Feb 25, 2012 01:44pm |
Joan Opyr was born in Raleigh, North Carolina and now lives in Idaho with her partner and their two children. She is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where she earned a BA and an MA in English, and she is ABD for her PhD in Old English from The Ohio State University. Though Joan often writes about her adopted home of Idaho, she is a Tarheel through and through and hopes someday to re...more
More about Joan Opyr...
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