Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Nov 12, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

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. More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 26, 2008

Jodi rated it:

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 d More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2009

Mommalibrarian rated it:

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 fo More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 25, 2008

LaVenna rated it:

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 an More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2007

Kim rated it:

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 ti More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2007

Dolores rated it:

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 sou More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 12, 2011

Cristi rated it:

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...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 11, 2010

Lois rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 19, 2009

Karen rated it:

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!

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2011

Maria rated it:

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...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 24, 2009

Wendy rated it:

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, More...

1 comment like

Jan 19, 2009

Jenness rated it:

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 sa More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

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...

0 comments like

Jan 02, 2009

Antof9 rated it:

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' More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 12, 2011

Joan rated it:

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 More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Sarah added it

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. tel More...

0 comments like

Aug 19, 2011

Marie rated it:

http://mariesbookgarden.blogspot.com/201...

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 heartach More...

0 comments like

Dec 28, 2010

Jill rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Dec 16, 2010

Heidi rated it:

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 follow More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 04, 2010

Ruth rated it:

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 gro More...

0 comments like

May 13, 2010

Barbra rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like

Jan 15, 2010

Kathy rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like

Dec 11, 2009

Heather rated it:

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 li More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 09, 2009

Sandy rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like

Oct 22, 2009

Mandy rated it:

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 d More...

0 comments like

Apr 30, 2009

Athena rated it:

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 sh More...

0 comments like

Oct 31, 2009

Kim rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 11, 2010

Tiffany rated it:

I loved this book! It's about 4 ladies that are neighbors in Minnesota. After having a snowball fight they return to the new neighbors house for hot cocoa. They find out they all like to read. The books spans 4 decades of the lives of these women and their families. It starts when 3 of them are in their 20's with small children, the 4th one is several years older but has no children. The chapters start with listing the book read,Hostess, date & why it was chosen. I found this a clever way to sta More...

0 comments like

Jun 29, 2010

Angela rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2009

Nicole rated it:

I would probably give this book 3.5 stars. I wouldn't quite go as far as 4 because there were some things that I didn't like or was bothered by, but for the most part I really enjoyed the book and the characters and how real they were and their interaction with one another and also their circumstances. There is a lot of use of the F bomb, which I can always do without. Aside from that, it was a very good and enjoyable read. There was one scene that is pretty graphic and made my stomach turn, rel More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

reviews