Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jun 01, 2008

Chazz rated it:

Features an overly histrionic birth mother, who hosts her own local talk show, finding the daughter she gave up for adoption some thirty years ago. If you know some people that like to "perform", even in the absence of cameras, you might get some good laughs reading about the birth mother.

Poignant and funny.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 27, 2008

Anika rated it:

Elinor Lipman is one of my favorite authors. I re-read Then She Found Me in preparation for the April release of the film -- directed by and starring Helen Hunt. The book and movie are different (plots vary greatly) but both have the same Lipman charm. Yeah for Elinor (and Helen)!

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2011

Linda rated it:

"My biological mother was 17 when she had me in 1952, and even that was more than I wanted to know about her.” But April Epner is about to find out more - a whole lot more. Then She Found Me is a bittersweet gem of a novel dealing with the reunion of mother and daughter, when the daughter is 36 and the mother in her fifties. April is a serious, reserved Latin teacher whose adoptive parents have since died. Bernice G is a local talk show host, brash, narcissistic, and determined to always ha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 20, 2008

Roxann rated it:

I saw the trailer for the movie that is based on this book and thought I would like to see it - then I found out it was rated R. Saw the book in the grocery store last week and bought it. The first chapter is one of the greatest hooks I have ever read, starting with the sentence, "My biological mother was seventeen when she had me in 1952, and even that was more than I wanted to know about her.", and ending with the sentence, "Then she found me." What follows is a reunion sto More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 29, 2008

Lynne rated it:

I was surprised that this book was so good and I can even say that Elinor Lipman is a bit of a discovery for me. The edition that I have is from one of my library booksale forays into the "oversize paperback" section (which evolved from the slightly higher brow "trade paperback" section, which I LOVED!) The cover art and blurb are chick-littish. I'm not a snob, but I'm not usually attracted by ultra-modern girly stuff. However, something about it seemed Bridget Jones-ey o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 22, 2008

Nell rated it:

Elinor Lipman tells stories that might be about people you know, with characters, relationships, and situations all layered and believable. I almost feel as if I'm looking into people's windows. In her novels I've read, the endings are happy but not pat. I looked for Then She Found Me after hearing Helen Hunt interviewed about making a movie of it, and it has great movie potential: April Epner, a 36-year-old Latin teacher who knew she was adopted, is approached by her birth mother, a local talk More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 08, 2008

Sari Lynn rated it:

I've enjoyed Elinor Lipman's books in the past, and picked this one up to read after seeing a trailer for the Helen Hunt/Bette Midler film. It became immediately apparent that, outside of the main characters, the film holds little resemblance to the book. (See Lipman's blog post on Amazon.com for the story of how the film came to be so different.) I enjoyed the book quite a bit, and although I couldn't get Midler out of my mind as Bernice G! - she really rings true to the character in the boo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2008

Dawn rated it:

I was so surprised to see that this book had been turned into a movie. It wasn't a very good movie, which is probably why I didn't know anything about it until I saw it on a flight home last summer. The movie was almost nothing like the book--which was great. I loved the premise--a "Sally Jessie Raphael" type (now I think of it, they should have cast Oprah, but Bette Midler played the role very well in the movie) decides to look for the baby she gave up for adoption years before. T More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 09, 2008

David rated it:

I had my doubts when I first started reading this novel - narrated by an adult adopted person (sensible and down-to-earth) who is unexpectedly contacted by her birth mother (flamboyant to say the least - in the movie the birthmom is played by Bette Midler). The plot seems headed for improbable and unrealistic, but takes a surprising turn toward reality and ends up being a nice, sweet story. The movie is apparently not as good as the book.

This was the author's first novel, published More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2009

Helen rated it:

Boring, snoring. I was listening to this on downloadable and missed a part. I realized then that I didn't care enough about the characters or the story to go back to here I had left off. So I quit. It was quite liberating, really.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 30, 2008

Darla rated it:

I don't know why I read this...maybe the report on NPR about Helen Hunt working so hard to make the movie. I don't know, reading it made me NOT want to see the movie. It was okay but not real memorable. Another one of those contemporary bestsellerish books. I'd recommend this to folks who don't like Danielle Steel but like Jodi Picoult.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 16, 2008

Karen rated it:

I've read several books by Lipman, but I think this might be my favorite so far. I loved it. The characters were so well developed and quirky, and I grew fond of all of them, even Bernice! The plot moved along very well and I just enjoyed reading it. My only slight quibble is that the subplot about the "other daughter" seemed to sort of fizzle out without being resolved--she seemed like she was shaping up to be an interesting character, and then she just disappeared. But really, that i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 04, 2010

Karen added it

High-school Latin teacher April has just lost her adoptive parents when her birth mother comes into her life like a whirlwind. She is Bernice G, known for a housewife-approved, early-morning talk show and expects April to fawn all over her. April tentatively enters into a lunch-date relationship with the boisterous woman and tries to sort out the many lies and half-truths about her past. Helping her research some of Bernice's whoppers (such as her birth dad was JFK) is her school's librarian Dwi More...

0 comments like

Sep 28, 2010

Jane rated it:

Not as funny, witty or heartwarming as I expected.

An obnoxious woman enters the life of her biological daughter, now 36 years old, whom she gave up at birth. This is not what I expected. Other reviewers used the words: bright, funny, charming, raising laughter and tears. I was hoping to laugh out loud and to be surprised and delighted, but I wasn't. Bernice was eccentric and interesting only when I would think of Bette Midler playing her in the movie, but she wasn't enjoyable to More...

0 comments like

Jul 09, 2010

marg rated it:

Having read two Lipman books, I see a pretty pronounced theme or at least patterns - screwball lady who is meant to be unlikable in a harmless, laughable way, a bizarre parenting situation where adult children are reclaimed by doting parents who are somehow forgiven for not being around.
That being said, I enjoyed this book a lot, despite its flatness.
This story is about a woman whose birth mother finds her decades after giving her up as a seventeen year old scared girl. The birth mo More...

0 comments like

Mar 06, 2010

Stacy rated it:

Excited to read this book - due to turning into a movie - However, disappointed.
Story line creative... Mom gives up baby for adoption and keeps tabs on child as she grows up. Follows her life until her adoptive parents pass away, then reaches out to meet her.

Mother, played by Bette Midler, daughter played by Helen Hunt.
Knowing 'mother' is Bette Midler helped the reading as her character became so vivid. Through the pages, however, Helen Hunt's character became boring, More...

0 comments like

May 15, 2008

Katherine rated it:

I read this book in anticipation of the upcoming Helen Hunt movie, which I thought looked pretty good. It turns out the movie story and the book story are pretty different, but I genuinely enjoyed the book. It was well written - much better than I expected from the look and feel of the story/cover - and it was fast-paced and witty with very real feeling characters. All in all, not the best book I've ever read but genuinely enjoyable.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 31, 2011

Anita rated it:

Perhaps I was influenced by the cover art, which screamed the fact that this book had been made into a movie. But, partway through, I said to myself, this would be so much better as a movie. It almost reads as a screenplay in parts. A lot of dialogue, with only minimal setting.
Especially in the first half, I felt practically assaulted by the needy, nosy birth mother. If it were a movie, on the other hand, the camera could focus more on April and make you more appreciate her relative matu More...

1 comment like

Sep 13, 2007

Giovanna rated it:

Lipman's books look as if they must be 'guilty pleasure' books, but I swear they're good--Lipman has a singular voice and dry sense of humor. They're in a class of books that is hard to come by--maybe not 'literary fiction' but fun: well-written keen studies of people. Though I and others might argue that they are 'literary fiction'! If only the covers didn't scream 'chick lit'...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 18, 2011

Marlene rated it:

I enjoyed this book as a good read. The characters were interesting, and nicely developed. The basic plot is an adopted child, now an adult, coming to know her really quirky birth mother. Many of the characters are kind of quirky, but realistically so. There are many ways to approach the novel. Some will take the adoption angle. Others will look at family relationships. There is even the Holocaust approach. Or finding love. And as a teacher myself, I enjoyed the references to the main character More...

1 comment like

May 31, 2008

Sarah rated it:

Very sweet, lightweight, and enjoyable. A pleasant and entertaining read about a woman in her mid-thirties who, after the deaths of her adoptive parents, is contacted by her birth mother: a self-centered local talk-show personality whose policy of truth-telling is somewhat loose.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 05, 2008

Doneen rated it:

Not at all what I expected from a book about adoption and the search by the biological mother for her daughter given up as an infant. It was actually hilarious! The mother is a piece of work and definitely not someone the daughter was interested in getting to know. Fun book.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 01, 2009

Mary rated it:

What fun it was to read this book! April Epler's adoptive parents were Holocaust survivors, serious, sometimes sad people with German accents, but they loved her and gave her a good home. After their death, she meets Bernice, her flamboyant talk show host birth mother, and later her real father, who was not, as her mother originally told her, JFK! The dialogue in this book is so well written, it makes you laugh out loud. As a former teacher, the scenes at school were just priceless.
This i More...

0 comments like

Mar 09, 2009

Mary rated it:

April Epner, adopted daughter of two Holocaust survivors, never really thought much about her birth mother. When her mother Bernice, local TV celebrity and drama queen extraordinaire, shows up out of nowhere, April's fairly quiet life as a single Latin teacher of 36 will never be the same.

By turns sweet and hilarious, this was a fun story set in Boston. The characters were great: I could sympathize with April's mixed feelings towards Bernice (who was sort of annoying but such a funny More...

0 comments like

Jun 27, 2007

Danielle rated it:

Not my favorite Elinor, but still great fun. Just found out (Aug 07) that it's being made into a movie, and it's Helen Hunt's feature directorial debut. With Colin Firth and Bette Midler as the mom - what fun!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 06, 2010

Karen rated it:

This was a book club read, but I was disappointed because it wasn't very "discussable". It's more of a beach read. So it was entertaining, but nothing too deep.

It's about a 36-year-old woman named April who is adopted, and after both her parents die, her birth mother Bernice contacts her. Bernice is really obnoxious, and I expected to eventually like her, but I never did. I never understood why April put up with her and even wanted to have her in her life. There is a s More...

0 comments like

Oct 31, 2010

Sidna rated it:

I read this book quite a while ago and am surprised I had not written a review of it.

This is the story of a woman who is adopted as a child. When her adoptive parents die, her birth mother arrives on a scene. She is a loud, outspoken tv talk show host.

Having adopted two children myself, neither of whom ever expressed an interest in finding their birth parents, I was sort of interested in reading it. I don't remember a lot of detail about the book.I looked up a review onli More...

0 comments like

Jan 25, 2010

Amy rated it:

This definitely had the writing style of Elinor Lipman. Her characters are always a bit quirky/socially awkward. Being adopted myself, it was especially interesting to see how April dealed with her birth mother, Bernice, contacting her and wanting to build a relationship.

I got a kick out of Bernices dramatics. She's definitely a drama queen. But I found April's ability to look past Bernices' neediness and see the root of her behavior. It was a mix of funny and sweet.

More...

0 comments like

Feb 10, 2009

Kimberly rated it:

I was hoping as I got into this book it would become more interesting...more witty or heartwarming- it didn't. I thought the bernice character would be more interesting, but she was not enjoyable to read. I did like the relationship between Dwight and April. For that reason alone I gave this two stars instead of one. I also feel like the author was trying to create a "shock" factor in the book by using the word Fuck a lot to describe sex. It didn't work for me. It just seemed out More...

0 comments like

Mar 13, 2011

Jody rated it:

A novel about a woman that was adopted as a baby was found by her bio mom as an adult; this was unique as there were insights from everyone involved (the bio parents, the adopted woman and the family that adopted her. Well written, likeable characters. Funny, I loved the parts when the bio mother made up ridiculous stories about who the Dad was. It was interesting to see the characters develop from strangers into family.

I especially enjoyed the romance between the 2 main characters; I More...

0 comments like

reviews