Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman
by Elizabeth Buchan
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 317)
This novel could have been a gripping tale of a marriage's end, but instead it read like a watery, detached account from a woman who'd given up long ago. Am I the only reader who rolled her eyes when Rose basically lay down and played dead when she lost her job to her husband's new paramour? Talk about giving up without a fight. Maybe it's the American in me, but I would have been at the lawyer's within minutes after that encounter.
I had trouble believing that the woman dealing with her phi...more
I had trouble believing that the woman dealing with her phi...more
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Read in July, 2008
So, I was prepared to find some tough gutzy women in this book, but I was disappointed. Maybe its because the author is english and their "all stiff upper lip" and what not, or maybe its because the author really doesn't like women even though she is one, but she made every woman in the book either bitter, bitchy, wimpy, weepy or wounded. I didn't find a single female character that I could really say, "yeah, you go girl". The main character is far too motherly, rubbing ec...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Diane by:
work colleaguerecommends it for: fans of female fiction
Quick, predictable read, good for a rainy day. That is: mid-40's woman learns her contented marriage is a sham when her husband gives the "we have to talk" speech and explains he has fallen for his wife's much younger work colleague. The very next week, the rejected wife is out of a job - replaced by that very same younger colleague.
From there, "Revenge..........." reads like a Maeve Binchey novel only the characters aren't as pure nor defined. The one boy/one girl a...more
From there, "Revenge..........." reads like a Maeve Binchey novel only the characters aren't as pure nor defined. The one boy/one girl a...more
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Read in July, 2007
I chose to take this book on vacation with me this summer expecting a piece of fluff. Boy, was I surprised. It is a very insightful, well-conceived and well-plotted story about the transformation of a 47 year old woman's life after everything falls apart. I have some experience with this kind of pivotal point in one's life and I thought this one was very well described. The heroine is not too good to be true. Neither is she a whiner. She is more sophisticated in her tastes - clothes and app...more
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Read in April, 2008
Nothing particularly exciting or memorable about this novel but as Elizabeth Buchan is a writer of such a high standard it held my attention. It was an enjoyable and easy read.
47 year old Rose Lloyd is stunned when Nathan her husband of over twenty years tells her he has been having an affair and has decided to leave her for the other woman. Having not even suspected her husband it is a real shock to discover that the other woman is Minty her work colleague. It gets worse because she looses...more
47 year old Rose Lloyd is stunned when Nathan her husband of over twenty years tells her he has been having an affair and has decided to leave her for the other woman. Having not even suspected her husband it is a real shock to discover that the other woman is Minty her work colleague. It gets worse because she looses...more
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Read in December, 2007
Obviously, being divorced and middle aged myself, there was plenty for me to relate to in this book! Even more so because it is about a woman who decides to "take the high road" in her divorce, even though she has every reason to do otherwise. And being a good person and true to yourself is the best revenge! Actually, though, I'd bet money she didn't pick that title. It was really surprisingly fun to read and not at all bitter. But very poignant in its ability in capturing the he...more
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Read in July, 2008
This was a GREATTTTTTTTTTTTTTT book! I found it on the plane after one of my flites and figured I'd try it. It's the story of a woman who's settled in her life, career, and is finished raising her kids. One day her husband comes home to tell her he's leaving her. The next day she loses her job- and it continues from there. I liked it because it was so realistic. I totally imagined my mom threw the whols stroy, because she went through the same thing and had the same reactions. And she got her re...more
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Even though I’ve never fallen in love and therefore can’t properly understand the heartbreak of having someone leave you for someone else, I can still rage about it quite strongly. This is one of those books that gives me a chance. It’s about a woman with a husband and two grown children, who loves her job and her life. Then she finds out that her husband is leaving her… for her assistant… who also takes over her job. Of course everything turns out OK, but it’s the journey thatâ€...more
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Read in August, 2007
Honestly, don't bother. If you want to read about a marriage breaking apart I recommend Lolly Winston's Happiness Sold Separately, which I thought was a far more memorable tale. The author does a pretty convincing portrait of the shock/grief period after something terrible happens, when you can't do much else but wander around the house. But some of the main characters are barely sketched out, and others are flushed out with details that seem randomly drawn out of a hat.
Nevertheless, I went...more
Nevertheless, I went...more
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Read in January, 2007
Quick read. Funny and sometimes provokes some gut-busting episodic laughter. I am middle-aged and I found myself nodding sympathetically through most of the book...related to this woman's situation pretty thoroughly. Her husband decides to get some action on the side and begins a new life with a younger woman. This story follows the "old wife" as she rebuilds and discovers who she is aside from being a wife. An unapologetical look at one woman's view of her caretaking role in life...more
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I read this for book club and I wasn't impressed. It's about a woman who's husband leaves her for a younger. I think the problem I had with it is that I didn't agree with the author. The character in the book comes to believe that she was partly to blame for her husbands desertion and she didn't do anything wrong! Her husband was a selfish swearword and her character was a little 2 pathetic for me. She kept talking about how he was still a good man bla bla bla.
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Read in January, 2007
I love the way she gets up off the floor and faces life again. Imagine having gone through one marriage, building up your finances, raising children, creating a life together........ all the wonderful times and all the tough, I can't take it anymore moments and surviving only to begin again when the kids leave home.........the main character's soon to be ex-husband leaves all he has built up to begin all the angst over again, Oh the silliness of him!!!
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Read in April, 2008
this book was predictable - the revenge is in an early reference to "a life well lived is the best revenge"
you can figure how it's all going to go in the opening pages ling before the husband leaves and the assistant takes her man AND her job
the college flame whose book she refuses to review at the outset will creep back into ther life
the children are grown but still need her, she understands her mother's life better
yadda yadda yadda
yawn
you can figure how it's all going to go in the opening pages ling before the husband leaves and the assistant takes her man AND her job
the college flame whose book she refuses to review at the outset will creep back into ther life
the children are grown but still need her, she understands her mother's life better
yadda yadda yadda
yawn
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Read in July, 2005
This one started out well, but it got dull and trite in the middle. I know, what do I expect with a title like 'Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman'? The ending was less annoying than the middle, but I thought Rose took it all rather too well - one woman took her husband, her job and then her home and there was no retribution. Unless she didn't really want to be with her husband in the first place... was that the revenge?
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This book was lent to me by Susan Eliason and I found it to be a delightfully written book about a woman who finds both her marriage and job in unexpected ruin and how she adjusts. I enjoyed her descriptions, original and refreshing writing and back and forth transitions as I'm muddling through my first attempt at fiction while I'm working on other writing projects.
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Read in October, 2006
recommends it for:
any woman; many men
My hairdresser gave me this book saying it was hard to get into. Well it was...and the pain detailed here was hard to read. But the ending was worth the effort and I felt I had finished something worthwhile and true. It has become a favorite and even more poignant now that I have gone through a similar situation myself. The best revenge IS living well.
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Read in July, 2008
Fairly empowering book about a middle aged woman who gets left on the scrapheap when hubs goes leaves her for younger flesh, but too much description of her garden which surprise surprise goes wild when her hubby leaves her (ooh, what a powerful metaphor)....the book is very slow but the last third has a nice optimistic feel to it.
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Read in March, 2006
cutesy. I couldn't identify to it totally - it's about a woman who'd lost her husband and then had to reignite her zeal for life and find who she was again, on her own. It was interesting to see the parallels to my life, even minus the glaring differences (i.e. middle age, marriage, death of marriage, etc.)
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Read in December, 2007
The politer term for this would be Domestic Fiction. It's a type, but one I enjoy for some reason, and a well-done example of the genre. A book review editor in London is surprised when her husband leaves her -- and for whom is part of the surprise and shock. How she gets on with her life is the story.
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Read in September, 2007
After 25 years of marriage Rose's husband leaves her for a younger woman. Rose seems a little too good to be true but she comes out on top. The story with all its family interractions kept my interest. The story is set in England and I enjoyed the minor differences in the use of the language.
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