This was a great contemporary novel with a male perspective on life and love. It was refreshing, the voice clean and crisp and I found this book real...moreThis was a great contemporary novel with a male perspective on life and love. It was refreshing, the voice clean and crisp and I found this book really easy to read. Andy was a lost soul and even though I found him likeable, I didn’t love him every moment in the book. Even so, I felt like I understood him and his motivation and enjoyed this novel about possibilities even when life knocks you down multiple times.
Andy Dunne is in his early thirties and is a down and out weather forecaster whose wife has just left him. As he attempts to pick up the pieces of his life, everything suddenly changes when his friend and secret love, the much married Hillary, convinces him to audition for a new gig which he nails and he is suddenly thrown into the limelight. Andy has many choices to make. Will he make the right ones and figure himself out along the way?
This was a fast read and I got completely absorbed into Andy’s world. The writing was quick, witty and fast paced. I loved Andy’s relationship with his sister’s family, especially his niece as well as seeing him exploring his feelings, how he represses his emotion and ignores his health. It was not unlike several males I know, so I found it believable and I loved the change to a male perspective as we typically read mostly stories with female protagonists.
This book deals with some sensitive subjects, but was a more light-hearted read and they were handled tactfully. I liked the weather aspect to this story, finding it original, interesting and full of symbolism.
This novel is was a great read with a fresh voice and I can’t wait to read Jessica Z and Shaun Klomparen’s future novels!
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I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to find out Carrie’s history and I was brought right back to high school with this easy read. I don’t n...moreI really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to find out Carrie’s history and I was brought right back to high school with this easy read. I don’t normally pick up Young Adult books, but made an exception for this one, being an avid Sex and the City fan. I don’t know if this novel would be appreciated by a younger audience because the story is set in the 80’s and they might not get the lack of cell phones, let alone the busy signal of the home phone line but it would...
I loved this novel and laughed out loud from the first page right through to the end, and I haven’t even had a baby. I do know many women who have in...moreI loved this novel and laughed out loud from the first page right through to the end, and I haven’t even had a baby. I do know many women who have in the last year though so I’ve heard all the stories and many of them are told in Wilde’s novel from the good, the bad and the ugly.
This wasn’t just a novel about being a new mom, but about the main character, Joy, finding herself amidst the chaos of motherhood including the lack of sleep, piles of laundry and a new dynamic with her increasingly distant husband. Add her newly engaged mother, a smothering mother in law and a resurfacing ex-boyfriend to the mix and we find Joy struggling to figure out just what she wants out of her new life. Every new mother should read this book. Perhaps even their baby-less friends and husbands to get a glimpse of what their friends or wives are going through.
There were times that I wasn’t sure about Joy’s character which is my only complaint. She was so self-absorbed at times that it became hard to take (possibly my own fertility issues skewed my opinions here), but about half way through the novel we find out exactly why she was so grumpy with her husband and she rounds out as she comes to a few realizations along the way.
This novel was well written and Wilde’s descriptive flair was vivid throughout with descriptions and comparisons I found unusual, but accurate. Several are still with me, making me jealous that I didn’t think of them first!
If you want a laugh out loud, interesting and absorbing read on new motherhood check out this book. I will definitely be seeking out Wilde’s novels in the future.
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I had to work at this novel and was tempted several times to put it down. This doesn’t happen to me often, but before I begin, a brief description of ...moreI had to work at this novel and was tempted several times to put it down. This doesn’t happen to me often, but before I begin, a brief description of the book.
We follow Minnie, a television producer in Toronto, whose boss decides she needs a break at the same time her great uncle Rex asks her to come to Prince Edward Island to look after his house when he goes into a seniors home on a trial basis. On her adventures in PEI, she finds a simpler life, falls for a fisherman in the village and learns a little something along the way.
My first issue with this novel was McCormack’s flair for language which I found over done. There were multiple words I was not familiar with and could not even figure out their context from the sentence, the first occurring on the third page. I have a university degree and am well read, yet this book had me rereading sentences over and over again as I got lost amidst her prose.
With this overuse of language though comes one of the positive things I discovered with this novel, and the only reason I rated it 1.5 star instead of 1 star. There were a few heavy scenes which were much stronger due to her writing style, although one of them I almost couldn’t read because the narrative was too much. It may well be that McCormack’s talent lies in writing in a genre other than chick lit. I found in her prose a few unique gems that have stayed with me including this passage describing a pick up truck: “But he had also forced a weapon into my hands, a ton of steel that could pop muscles open like grapes and squirt blood across the road like the Lord’s ketchup.” But unfortunately, others, such as “I didn’t just drift off – I was swept to unconscious like flotsam in the path of effluent” or “The urine coloured sky” just didn’t work for me.
This novel was well researched and the education I received about the fishing industry and environmental impact will remain with me. McCormack also highlighted such details in her previous novel Six Weeks to Toxic with the main character’s role in the movie industry.
I wasn’t able to relate to Minnie’s character, had a distinct lack of empathy for her and couldn’t figure out what drove her or what she even wanted. I found the plot slow, even her fast paced life in Toronto at the beginning of the novel and wasn’t even sure much of that was even necessary. I thought the characterization and plot were lost in translation because of the over done writing. This novel left no emotional impression on me and I didn’t care in the end what happened, although I did warm up slightly in the middle and became more curious as to what would happen, but by that point I had already been tempted to put the novel down several times.
The ending wasn’t predictable, but didn’t leave me satisfied either, although that might have been because I just didn’t care as much about Minnie’s adventures as I wanted to.
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I really liked this novel and found it heavier than typical chick lit and it might not even be considered such, but it didn’t deter from my enjoyment....moreI really liked this novel and found it heavier than typical chick lit and it might not even be considered such, but it didn’t deter from my enjoyment. I laughed, cried and wanted to shake sense into Jennifer at times and felt every ounce of her anguish and grief.
Jennifer works in a man’s world of mechanics, having followed in her father’s footsteps, but becomes lost after his sudden death and in her grief is clinging to the past as everyone around her seems to be moving forward. This is a novel about loss, deception, love and acceptance and Jennifer wades through it all to find her self identity without her father.
Chaulk creates real characters that are flawed and confused and I enjoyed watching Jennifer try to pull herself up and figure out her life without her father. The relationship with her grandmother was touching and the complicated relationship with her mother and estranged husband I found intriguing and infuriating.
My only concern was the slower beginning, which I seem to be saying often lately about many novels. The flashbacks jolted me out of the story, but as I got further into the novel, I realized how critical they were. Memories, often misunderstood and altered by innocence and age, played an integral role with Jennifer’s coming to terms with her father’s passing.
Overall, I thought this was a great book and loved the story. It was unique, full of East Coast Canadian details and had such raw emotion that made me squirm and shed tears yet also laugh and smile at times. I would highly recommend this novel and would most definitely read another of Tina Chaulk’s books. (less)
This was another lovely read by Milly Johnson. It was her first novel and I enjoyed it just as much as A Spring Affair which I happened to read first...moreThis was another lovely read by Milly Johnson. It was her first novel and I enjoyed it just as much as A Spring Affair which I happened to read first. I did find the Yorkshire Pudding Club didn’t grab me in the beginning in the same manner as A Spring Affair, but regardless, I enjoyed loved this chick lit tale and can’t recommend her novels enough.
I laughed and cried and noticed the characteristic Milly Johnson smile that appears on my face as I read her novels. It’s a dopey, silly, happy grin that is plastered on my face for chunks of her books and it’s such a lovely feeling! This grin alternates with sharp intakes of breath at times though because her chick lit is not always so light and fluffy and has heavy subjects thrown into the mix, but I think this makes me love her stories even more.
The characters Milly Johnson creates are so well developed and The Yorkshire Pudding Club was no exception. I cared about all the women and wanted happy endings for all of them. There were times I wanted to give some of them a good shake, but that just shows how much I wanted them to get their act together! Her stories move along at a perfect pace, not too slow or fast and I enjoyed how the women played off each other and how each one had such a different story and attitude towards pregnancy.
The only reason I gave it a less than perfect rating was that there were a few reasons it took me a while to get into this book. First, the story is about three friends and alternates from each one’s perspective so it takes a while to get into. Fine, that’s understandable, but I also had a hard time with all the characters naïve understanding about early pregnancy symptoms (this could just be due to my over-education of the subject though). But once I had a handle on their characters and worked my way past the point where they realized they were pregnant, I couldn’t put this book down.
The last reason it took me a bit to get into this novel was that I had a difficult time with the British terms used (Plonk, Bairn and Bonny to name a few), but once I got used to them, I became fully immersed yet again in the wonderful world Milly Johnson created. I was able figure them out, having read many British chick lit books in the past, but this had more than I had ever seen! Her subsequent novels don’t contain as many though, so don’t be put off all her novels if you weren’t able to understand the terms above!
So, if you don’t mind some naïve women, and getting to know them in rounds and can understand British terms, you’re laughing and will love this book! Not to say that I didn’t – I did, once I got past all that and wasn’t able to put it down.
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