Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
13th out of 297 books
—
495 voters
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
by
Lorna Landvik (Goodreads Author)
The women of Freesia Court are convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can’t fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together—the foundation of a book group they call AHEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons), an unofficial “club” that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline. Holding on through forty eventful years, there’s...more
Paperback, 512 pages
Published
March 29th 2005
by Fawcett
(first published January 1st 2003)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
I read this on the recomendation of my dental hygenist. When I finished it I passed it on to my mom who LOVED it. I think that might be the target audience here - Women a generation or two older than me.
It's not that the book is bad - it's just kind of predictable. I found that was true with the other Lorna Landvik book I read as well. I was able to see things coming from a mile away. *sigh* Yet the writing was good enough that I never put the book down so I guess that's something.
Did I mentio...more
It's not that the book is bad - it's just kind of predictable. I found that was true with the other Lorna Landvik book I read as well. I was able to see things coming from a mile away. *sigh* Yet the writing was good enough that I never put the book down so I guess that's something.
Did I mentio...more
4 likes · like · see review
view 2 comments
The fact that "Angry Housewives" was set in a Minneapolis neighborhood near Minnehaha Park gave me high hopes. That and the fact that it took place from 1968-1998 because this is a timeline that dovetails with my mother's adult life.
But ... it lacked a sense of setting. Minnehaha Park was visited by the composer Dvorak (I think!) and the poet Longfellow. It has a charming stone pavillion, covered with trees, has the best sledding hill in town, has a spooky, stoney, ferny descent to the creek, w...more
But ... it lacked a sense of setting. Minnehaha Park was visited by the composer Dvorak (I think!) and the poet Longfellow. It has a charming stone pavillion, covered with trees, has the best sledding hill in town, has a spooky, stoney, ferny descent to the creek, w...more
4 likes · like · see review
Seems a little weird to think of this as historical fiction but the times it described are over. Not many people seriously carry picket signs. Young men are still damaged by wars (now it is young women also). So many women staying at home with their children. Prehistoric. Almost all of them smoking. Neanderthal. Being there for each other ---- I hope that is still possible. The author cherry picks the most meaningful moments out of her 5 female characters lives and brings them through forty year...more
2 likes · like · see review
This book went on and on and on and on:P I had a difficult time reading it. I was unable to relate to any of the characters. Kari was the only likeable personality, because she was simple, kind, and nurturing. The other characters had serious personality defects!
Merit disgusted me with her habit of stuffing used tissue, q-tips, and paper in her hairdo:( That was her way of getting back at her abusive husband, who had no idea she was doing this. I nearly puked when she saved these items and then...more
Merit disgusted me with her habit of stuffing used tissue, q-tips, and paper in her hairdo:( That was her way of getting back at her abusive husband, who had no idea she was doing this. I nearly puked when she saved these items and then...more
3 likes · like · see review
This book is about 5 neighbors who start a book club in the late 1960's... and the reader lives the next 30 years along with them. Thank you, Mary, one of MY oldest friends (in the sense that I've known you 18 years!) who loaned me this book-- I loved it! It made me realize how fast 30 years will fly by and to live in each moment with my family. This is not a book I would have picked up on my own, most likely, yet I can say that it is probably one of my favorite novels I've read in a long time....more
This book strives to be a sweeping, great novel, but it falls short. Although short does not describe the story, since it drags on for over 400 pages. The basic premise is good: five housewives and mothers from the same neighborhood meet in the late 1960's and start a book club, and their friendship and the book club stretch into the late 1990's. They meet at a time when things were very different for women, but were changing at a rapid pace.
The five main characters are Faith, a southern girl w...more
The five main characters are Faith, a southern girl w...more
Though I enjoyed the story and the bond created between the Angry housewives, I had trouble with the organization of the novel itself. It went back and forth a lot, and the year on each chapter really didn't have much to do with that particular chapter. I was also disappointed that the books they chose were only mentioned by name, and no comments about the books were made. While I assume some of the story line from each chapter alludes to the books, I wouldn't know because I have not read them a...more
2 likes · like · see review
This started out slow for me but now that I'm into the sections that flesh out the women in the book club I'm really enjoying it.
I just finished the book. I liked how the characters were exposed via the Book Discussion Chapters, although at times the different writing perspective got confusing, i.e. first person narrative vs. 3rd person.
At first I didn't like that the author didn't nicely wrap up the various story lines then decided it's nice to think that the characters keep going on.
I just finished the book. I liked how the characters were exposed via the Book Discussion Chapters, although at times the different writing perspective got confusing, i.e. first person narrative vs. 3rd person.
At first I didn't like that the author didn't nicely wrap up the various story lines then decided it's nice to think that the characters keep going on.
2 likes · like · see review
This is a great Book Club starter book! It really got us going and shows how people from different backgrounds can really enjoy reading the same books!
There were some excellent parts in this book. Some of the characters were extraordinary and had such great impact on me (I think often of the wife who wrote nasty notes and pinned them up in the bun her abusive husband made her wear). However, there were too many characters. The book spanned too much time. It needed some major editing. I honestly believe there was a 4 star book in this (and for me, 4 stars is bestseller worthy) maybe even two good books, I also loved the character who adopted a...more
Who knew that the Great American Novel would turn out to be by and for women ---and about BOOKS? But it all makes sense when you think about it.
This books spans the '60s to the '90s, and beneath the 'Aga Saga' exterior beats a heart of history, anger, wonder, national issues making local lives miserable or better, and the general upheaval of family, friends and phobias.
Vietnam, Eric Segal, Arthur Hailey, Erica Jong and all the "who?"s of my parents' generation, plus books I remember secreting to...more
This books spans the '60s to the '90s, and beneath the 'Aga Saga' exterior beats a heart of history, anger, wonder, national issues making local lives miserable or better, and the general upheaval of family, friends and phobias.
Vietnam, Eric Segal, Arthur Hailey, Erica Jong and all the "who?"s of my parents' generation, plus books I remember secreting to...more
3 likes · like · see review
the title of this book had thrown me off as just fluff untill it was recommended to me by my daughter. And she was right I loved it. Perhaps it is because the 4 women in the club loved and struggled through the same time periods I did. I was so envious of the closeness of these friends and how their friendship endured for over 30 years. Their choice of books for the bookclub were varied and interesting. How much fun would it be to start an angry housewives spin off book club and read the same bo...more
3 likes · like · see review
Jan 17, 2009
Katrina
marked it as to-read
The women of Freesia Court are convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can't fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together, the foundation of a book group they call AHEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons), an unofficial club that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline. Holding on through forty eventful years, there's Faith, a lonely mother of twins who harbors a terrible secret that has condemned her to living a lie; big, beautiful Audrey, t...more
Book review from BookCrossing: I finished this book this morning at my brother's house in Zurich. Brought it on this trip because it's on a friend's wish list :)
I made some notes on the plane for my journal entry, and will add them here later. The one thing that keeps coming back to me is that this book reminds me quite a bit of The Future Homemakers of America, except that I liked this one much better. Both books follow a group of women who are friends over multiple decades. I'm always interest...more
I made some notes on the plane for my journal entry, and will add them here later. The one thing that keeps coming back to me is that this book reminds me quite a bit of The Future Homemakers of America, except that I liked this one much better. Both books follow a group of women who are friends over multiple decades. I'm always interest...more
Synopsis:
The women of Freesia Court are convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can't fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together -- the foundation of a book group they call AHEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons), an unofficial "club" that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline. Holding on through forty eventful years, there's Faith, a lonely mother of twins who harbors a terrible secret that has condemned her to living a lie; big, beaut...more
The women of Freesia Court are convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can't fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together -- the foundation of a book group they call AHEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons), an unofficial "club" that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline. Holding on through forty eventful years, there's Faith, a lonely mother of twins who harbors a terrible secret that has condemned her to living a lie; big, beaut...more
I've just reread this book. I was looking for something light and amusing but with substance and so this is where I went. Funnily, it was my mother who recommended it - funnily, because she doesn't like books with swearing or sex, and there is a fair bit of both in this novel.
It tells the story of five women, living in the same middle-class street, who meet and become friends. all different, they decide to form a book club. Each chapter is from the point of view of the woman hosting the book clu...more
It tells the story of five women, living in the same middle-class street, who meet and become friends. all different, they decide to form a book club. Each chapter is from the point of view of the woman hosting the book clu...more
I devoured this book! I suppose that it might be delectable is implied with its title; however, what is not necessarily implied is this book's depth and richness from a title that seemed frivolous and silly to me. Told from the different perspectives of four women I wish I knew, (along with some later chapters told by their gay male friend), this novel spans the 60s through the 90s, covers how to be a friend, wife, and mother, and paints a beautiful picture of how to embrace the wisdom that come...more
The five women of Freesia Court call their book club AWEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons). Each of them is unique, and as the reader follows them along beginning with the 1960s and into the ‘90s, their lives unfold boldly and colorfully. They experience what most women experience in their lives: children, husbands, abuse, alcoholism, death, politics, sex and all sorts of other mentionables and unmentionables. The one thing they share, however, is their love of books. This part of the novel fa...more
This book begins where it ends, September 1998, with Slip in the hospital dying of Hodgkins Lymphoma, with her book clubfriends, Faith, Audrey, Kari, Merit and Grant at her bedside.
In 1968, a group of women who live in a culda sac, decide to start a book club. Each chapter, highlights a different character, and what is going on in their life. They end up naming the book club "Angry House Wives Eating Bon bons" after Eric, Merit's husband, states at a party that, that is what these women in the...more
In 1968, a group of women who live in a culda sac, decide to start a book club. Each chapter, highlights a different character, and what is going on in their life. They end up naming the book club "Angry House Wives Eating Bon bons" after Eric, Merit's husband, states at a party that, that is what these women in the...more
3 likes · like · see review
I have never been so happy to discover a scheduling conflict.
This was a book club selection, and I realized today that I can't make it to this book club meeting. And while I did make it through the first 80 or so pages, I was dreading the discussion... I couldn't think of anything nice to say.
I won't give this a star rating (it seems unfair to rate something that I didn't finish) but I could tell right off the bat that this fell on the wrong side of my "show vs. tell" meter. The characters were...more
This was a book club selection, and I realized today that I can't make it to this book club meeting. And while I did make it through the first 80 or so pages, I was dreading the discussion... I couldn't think of anything nice to say.
I won't give this a star rating (it seems unfair to rate something that I didn't finish) but I could tell right off the bat that this fell on the wrong side of my "show vs. tell" meter. The characters were...more
http://mariesbookgarden.blogspot.com/...
As my book club selection for August, I wasn't too sure what to expect. I've read Landvik before and enjoyed her books, but I believe this one was my favorite yet. She typically sets her stories in Minnesota, like this one.
Kari, Faith, Slip, Merit, and Audrey are housewives in small-town Minnesota in the 1960s. They live on Freesia Court and start a book club (fairly unusual back then). Through the years, they share their heartaches, secrets, and intimacie...more
As my book club selection for August, I wasn't too sure what to expect. I've read Landvik before and enjoyed her books, but I believe this one was my favorite yet. She typically sets her stories in Minnesota, like this one.
Kari, Faith, Slip, Merit, and Audrey are housewives in small-town Minnesota in the 1960s. They live on Freesia Court and start a book club (fairly unusual back then). Through the years, they share their heartaches, secrets, and intimacie...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
As with most of my latest reads, this novel is not one I would have chosen off the shelf for myself. The title would have certainly scared me off. But that seems to be the beauty of belonging to a book club... you get introduced to novels you wouldn't have given a chance.
While this certainly won't go down as one of my favorites, it was a very enjoyable read. This book is about a group of similar aged women in a Minnesota town in the late 60's who decide to form a book club. The story follows the...more
While this certainly won't go down as one of my favorites, it was a very enjoyable read. This book is about a group of similar aged women in a Minnesota town in the late 60's who decide to form a book club. The story follows the...more
404 pages.
Follows a women's book group, and the books they read, through 30 years.
From her sensational sleeper hit Patty Jane’s House of Curl to her heartwarming novel Welcome to the Great Mysterious, Lorna Landvik has won the hearts of readers everywhere by skillfully balancing hilarity with pathos, and bittersweet insights with heartwarming truths. Now she returns to her beloved, eccentric stomping ground of small-town Minnesota where the most eclectic, and engaging group of women you’ll ever...more
Follows a women's book group, and the books they read, through 30 years.
From her sensational sleeper hit Patty Jane’s House of Curl to her heartwarming novel Welcome to the Great Mysterious, Lorna Landvik has won the hearts of readers everywhere by skillfully balancing hilarity with pathos, and bittersweet insights with heartwarming truths. Now she returns to her beloved, eccentric stomping ground of small-town Minnesota where the most eclectic, and engaging group of women you’ll ever...more
I loved this book just as much as I loved all of the other novels of hers that I have read. A wonderful read.
Back Cover Blurb:
Sometimes life is like a bad waiter - it serves you exactly what you don't want. The women of Freesia Court have come together at life's table, fully convinced that there is nothing that good coffee, delectable desserts and a strong shoulder can't fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together - the foundation of a book group they call AHEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bo...more
Back Cover Blurb:
Sometimes life is like a bad waiter - it serves you exactly what you don't want. The women of Freesia Court have come together at life's table, fully convinced that there is nothing that good coffee, delectable desserts and a strong shoulder can't fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together - the foundation of a book group they call AHEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bo...more
Hi everyone,
I have finally bitten the bullet and joined a local face to face book club with some of my neighbors and friends, and this was the first book on the list for the year. I was a bit hesitant at first to join as some of you know that I'm a pretty die hard fantasy fan, but I am capable of expanding my horizons.
This was a good book that had me by Chapter 1. Landvik gave me a lesson about history (I was born in the late 70's and am of the age and time of most of the youngest Freesia Court...more
I have finally bitten the bullet and joined a local face to face book club with some of my neighbors and friends, and this was the first book on the list for the year. I was a bit hesitant at first to join as some of you know that I'm a pretty die hard fantasy fan, but I am capable of expanding my horizons.
This was a good book that had me by Chapter 1. Landvik gave me a lesson about history (I was born in the late 70's and am of the age and time of most of the youngest Freesia Court...more
I don't think this is a book I would have chosen to read on my own, simply based on the title. In general I try not to judge books by their covers (or titles) but I assumed this one would be complete fluff, for lack of a better word. I'm so glad that this was a selection for our book club, though, because for that purpose alone it made me appreciate the group of women I gather with monthly to discuss our latest read.
Rather than fluff, what I got was the decades-long story of the lives of five wo...more
Rather than fluff, what I got was the decades-long story of the lives of five wo...more
I loved this book and enjoyed getting to know the characters so deeply. Landvik's writing style is easy and enjoyable.
This story follows the friendship of five women living in the same neighborhood over a forty year span. Faith is the mother of twins who works hard to keep her image of perfection while secretly hiding the truth of her past. Merit is quiet, insecure and hiding the fact that her doctor husband is emotionally and physically abusive. Kari is a grieving widow who adopts her niece's...more
This story follows the friendship of five women living in the same neighborhood over a forty year span. Faith is the mother of twins who works hard to keep her image of perfection while secretly hiding the truth of her past. Merit is quiet, insecure and hiding the fact that her doctor husband is emotionally and physically abusive. Kari is a grieving widow who adopts her niece's...more
This is such a good book - I would recommend it to all of my friends, especially my women friends. It is sort of like a "chick flick" but in a book, and better.
It is simply written, I can't say that it's literary genius or anything, the writing is good - it's the perfect summer read.
It's the story of a group of women, who live in the same neighborhood... and have a book club. They are literally all different shapes and sizes ;) and live different lives, have different values, different histori...more
It is simply written, I can't say that it's literary genius or anything, the writing is good - it's the perfect summer read.
It's the story of a group of women, who live in the same neighborhood... and have a book club. They are literally all different shapes and sizes ;) and live different lives, have different values, different histori...more
I usually don't read chick lit. but the title piqued my interest. I decided to give it a try and I'm glad I did. It was a wonderful book!!
Five women who are neighbors meet in a snowball fight and decide to start a bookclub. The book tells their stories by years not chapters. The beginning starts in the late 60's and the end is in the 90's. We get introduced to Faith, Audrey, Merit, Kari, & Slip. Faith a lonely mother who carries a deep secret and is so afraid of anyone finding out that she...more
Five women who are neighbors meet in a snowball fight and decide to start a bookclub. The book tells their stories by years not chapters. The beginning starts in the late 60's and the end is in the 90's. We get introduced to Faith, Audrey, Merit, Kari, & Slip. Faith a lonely mother who carries a deep secret and is so afraid of anyone finding out that she...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Page Turners Book...: Angry Wives Discussion Question 3 | 3 | 15 | Mar 10, 2012 07:11pm | |
| Page Turners Book...: The Characters | 2 | 11 | Mar 10, 2012 06:53pm |
Lorna Landvik is a mother of two and wife of one. She is the author of eight novels, including the best-selling ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS, PATTY JANE'S HOUSE OF CURL and OH MY STARS. Also an
actor and playwright, Lorna has appeared in many stage productions. She is a new and passionate neophyte to the practice of yoga, which is a fine antidote to her long established practice of lounging.
More about Lorna Landvik...
actor and playwright, Lorna has appeared in many stage productions. She is a new and passionate neophyte to the practice of yoga, which is a fine antidote to her long established practice of lounging.
Share This Book
23 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“Sister Ignatius taught me in Sunday School that "in the beginning there was light," but to me, it was always an incomplete sentence, which God should have known to ammend: in the beginning God created light...to read by.”
—
27 people liked it
“What I had come to love about book club (besides the fabulous desserts and free liquor) was how in hearing so many opinions about the same book, your own opinion expanded, as if you'd read the book several times instead of just once.”
—
26 people liked it
More quotes…
