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126th out of 323 books
—
518 voters
Mermaids in the Basement
by
Michael Lee West (Goodreads Author)
The beloved bestselling author of Crazy Ladies returns with a funny and poignant tale that explores the complex bonds between a daughter and her father.
Reeling from the loss of her mother, plagued with a bad case of writer's block (and don't even talk about that extra twenty pounds), Renata DeChavannes feels as though everything is just plain wrong. And that was before the...more
Reeling from the loss of her mother, plagued with a bad case of writer's block (and don't even talk about that extra twenty pounds), Renata DeChavannes feels as though everything is just plain wrong. And that was before the...more
Hardcover, 291 pages
Published
January 8th 2008
by Harper
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Loved this book!! Crazy southern women; great characters!! Would make a great discussion book.
Loved, loved it! It was a great a way to start the summer. Being from the coast myself- I loved the story & it's setting. As always with a great book, I'm sad it's over...
Another AWESOME book by this author! Great characters as always. Wonderful story that keeps you guessing. I wanted to hold myself captive and read entire book in one sitting.
I loved this book. A young woman who is at odds with her father. She is given a trunk filled with family secrets and one by one she unravels them. I laughed outloud all through it. The tragedy/comedy is well balanced. I inhaled it in a day and want more.
Southern living with Hollywood flair and generations of strong women. A 33 year old returns home seeking solace and learns the truth about her mother and father, their love and their divorce.
I loved this book! It's great Southern fiction -- lots of quirky characters and beautiful descriptions. The relationships ring very true. It's funny and touching.
Fun, fun read, full of Southern Charm!
A sweet and funny book. Once I got past the chick lit opening chapters the book kept me up all night.
One of my favorite reads for the year.
A book about southern women similar in style to Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. Part of the plot revolves around a woman whose boyfried is cheating on her. The resolution of that plotline occurs very quickly & was a bit unsatisfying.
But other than that, it was a great story and an easy read.
But other than that, it was a great story and an easy read.
A fun easy read set in the South, totally a book for pleasure!
light easy reading
This was a cute book. Its funny and bittersweet. Renata was a troubled little girl in Mad Girls In Love but now she is a 30 something screenwriter with love and career troubles. She goes back to the deep south on a treasure hunt to uncover her late mother's secrets. Her mother was beautiful and wild but all that is a shock to Renata. Along the way she reconnects with her heart surgeon father and is accused of trying to kill his latest girlfriend. This is the last book in the Crazy Ladies trilogy...more
I loved this book!!! LOVED IT! I actually went to the book store to try to find another book by this author last night after I was done with this book. I'm a big fan of any books that take place in the south. This is the type that I love best.. scorned woman returns to her roots and stays with her family while she tries to figure out her past. It flashes back to the past and comes back to the present. She sorts through her family's "dirty" laundry and it's very entertaining.
lush and lovely novel with great characters and romantic twists, secrets, and sumptious estates. great summer read.
it was a light read, cute
Jul 22, 2008
Bugsy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Bugsy by:
kathy, joan, crystal, betty, lucia
This was a three hankie book. I would have to say it's more like 4 1/2 stars but I will round it off because it's so much fun. I was swept away by the bittersweet romance between a New Orleans heart surgeon and his free spirited wife. Louie and Shelby were star crossed lovers who dearly loved each other but could not seem to get it right. If you are a southern lit scholar, if you are expecting a pulitzer prize novel, this isn't it. But if you want a juicy story, an afternoon escape, with laughte...more
This book was very entertaining. I enjoyed it. I especially love the part about slipping a little something into food at a party (so funny) and setting designer handbags free. It was totally my style and I found it interesting that the author slightly tied this story into his other book, "Mad Girls in Love." Also, I think that "Zap" is a great name for a tiny, little yappy dog!
If you liked "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood", you will love this book. Woman has falling out with boyfriend, escapes to another town, learns lots of family secrets from mother's best friends, seeks reconciliation with parent, boyfriend gallantly tracks her down, etc. Lots of similar themes. I enjoyed this book. It created interesting characters, and heartbreaking stories where there really is no good guy/bad guy. The mermaid motif was little too forced, and not in any way subtle. Overal...more
Told from various characters point of view, I was a little confused at times, at least until I figured out each characters voice. It's a fascinating look into a young woman's past, all the stupid things her parents and other adult figures around her did, the repressed memories, good and bad and how she comes out of it.
Couldn't put this page-turner by Michael Lee West down! I read it in hard-cover, but today - Jan. 6, 2009 - it comes out in soft-covers at bookstores.
Ripe with Southern charm and sultry atmosphere, West's diverting and funny latest unravels the tangled gossamer web of an eccentric extended Southern family. At the heart of the novel is Renata DeChavannes, who has a pretty full plate: a tabloid ran a story about her longtime film director boyfriend's possible on-set fling with an actress; her mot...more
Ripe with Southern charm and sultry atmosphere, West's diverting and funny latest unravels the tangled gossamer web of an eccentric extended Southern family. At the heart of the novel is Renata DeChavannes, who has a pretty full plate: a tabloid ran a story about her longtime film director boyfriend's possible on-set fling with an actress; her mot...more
This book was an enjoyable book with eccentric characters and a good story. I'm going to read more by this author!
Fun book. I am sad it is over because I looked forward to reading it every night.
Hysterical novel about the mysteries of strong southern women.
I liked the different voices and view points. Nice, easy read.
Jul 13, 2008
Relyn
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
not a single soul
Recommended to Relyn by:
no idea, but I wish I knew so I could mark all their other recom
I can't even believe that I finished this book. It had an amazingly beautiful cover and an awesome title. As we all know, that doesn't make a good book - it only grabs your attention. Yikes, this was bad! Full of inappropriate sex, a lame plot, and characters that were supposed to be charming southern crazies, but ended up only crazy. This book was completely ICK! Example: Grandma's best friend tells adult granddaughter how she (friend) had an affair with Granddaughter's Father (bestfriend's son...more
7 likes · like · see review
Really different story. The character finds out secrets from her childhood from mulitple narrators. Lots of humor too!
Kinds of instant Ya-Yas with dripping Southerness but cool because set somewhat in Nags Head. Still Reneta loses cool director boyfriend to Hollywood slut so she runs home to grandmother Honora who, of course, lives on grand, slightly run down, old big house. There she and her eccentric friends plot to tell Reneta the true story of her own parents disasterous, soap-opera love story. Some intrigue as events are revealed but still I found it somewhat predictable. Entertaining.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!! However (there is always one of these...) there are several gratuitous sex scenes that don't really add much to the overall story. Renata is a wonderful character and I enjoyed getting to know her and the rest of her family. Sometimes, if I missed reading the chapter heading correctly, I got a little confused as to whose voice I was reading but overall the book was great.
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Michael Lee West grew up on the Gulf Coast with a wild tribe of Southern cooks. She lives on a farm near Nashville with her family. Michael is the author of Crazy Ladies, Mad Girls in Love, She Flew the Coop, American Pie, Mad Girls in Love, Mermaids in the Basement, Consuming Passions, and Gone With a Handsomer Man. Her new novel, A Teeny Bit of Trouble, is the second installment in the Teeny Tem...more
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updated Jan 04, 2009 09:34am