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Sarah 's review

The Reading Group: A Novel (P.S.)
by Elizabeth Noble

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44305.The_Reading_Group_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Reading Group: A Novel (P.S.)" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1170258924m/44305.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44305.The_Reading_Group_A_Novel?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Reading Group: A Novel</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24891.Elizabeth_Noble">Elizabeth Noble</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13216963?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 3 of 5 stars<br/>When five women convene one Wednesday night in January for their first reading group meeting, they have no idea how their lives will change over the coming year. Polly is a 40-something, divorced mother of two whose boyfriend has proposed, and she comtemplates her desire to get married again while also dealing with the unexpected pregnancy of her single, 20-year-old daughter, Cressida. Susan is Polly's best friend, and her mother is suffering from dementia. Nicole has a perfect house, a perfect body, and a husband who's a serial cheater. Harriet is a frazzled stay at home mom who's not sure if she's ever been in love with her husband. Clare is a midwife who can't have the child she so desperately wants. As the year goes on, six women (Cressida is a major character, but not a member of the Reading Group) will have to lean on each other as their stories intertwine in ways they would have never expected.
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<br/>Noble's writing seemed, at times, uneven and inconsistent, although it could be the British slang that made it difficult to follow at times. Sometimes the sentence structure made no sense to my American brain. At first, the characters seemed so cookie-cutter: the perfect woman with the philandering husband, the midwife who can't have a baby, the stay at home mom who can't keep up with the housework, etc. But as the story progressed, the characters' stories evoked real emotion, even if their situations were contrived. One character made me angry. One made me cry. One annoyed me. One evoked my sympathy. While I didn't always agree with the actions of the characters, I appreciated Noble's ability to make me feel and to keep me interested in how their stories would end.
<br/>
<br/>One warning, however: each month in the characters' book club discussion, the endings of the books they read are given away. While this is a realistic portrayal of conversations that take place at club meetings, it was disappointing for me to have major plot twists revealed in books such as <a href="/search/search?q= Rebecca&t=title"> Rebecca</a> and <a href="/search/search?q= Atonement&t=title"> Atonement</a>.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/193255?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Sarah 's review
rating:
bookshelves: book-club

When five women convene one Wednesday night in January for their first reading group meeting, they have no idea how their lives will change over the coming year. Polly is a 40-something, divorced mother of two whose boyfriend has proposed, and she comtemplates her desire to get married again while also dealing with the unexpected pregnancy of her single, 20-year-old daughter, Cressida. Susan is Polly's best friend, and her mother is suffering from dementia. Nicole has a perfect house, a perfect body, and a husband who's a serial cheater. Harriet is a frazzled stay at home mom who's not sure if she's ever been in love with her husband. Clare is a midwife who can't have the child she so desperately wants. As the year goes on, six women (Cressida is a major character, but not a member of the Reading Group) will have to lean on each other as their stories intertwine in ways they would have never expected.

Noble's writing seemed, at times, uneven and inconsistent, although it could be th...more When five women convene one Wednesday night in January for their first reading group meeting, they have no idea how their lives will change over the coming year. Polly is a 40-something, divorced mother of two whose boyfriend has proposed, and she comtemplates her desire to get married again while also dealing with the unexpected pregnancy of her single, 20-year-old daughter, Cressida. Susan is Polly's best friend, and her mother is suffering from dementia. Nicole has a perfect house, a perfect body, and a husband who's a serial cheater. Harriet is a frazzled stay at home mom who's not sure if she's ever been in love with her husband. Clare is a midwife who can't have the child she so desperately wants. As the year goes on, six women (Cressida is a major character, but not a member of the Reading Group) will have to lean on each other as their stories intertwine in ways they would have never expected.

Noble's writing seemed, at times, uneven and inconsistent, although it could be the British slang that made it difficult to follow at times. Sometimes the sentence structure made no sense to my American brain. At first, the characters seemed so cookie-cutter: the perfect woman with the philandering husband, the midwife who can't have a baby, the stay at home mom who can't keep up with the housework, etc. But as the story progressed, the characters' stories evoked real emotion, even if their situations were contrived. One character made me angry. One made me cry. One annoyed me. One evoked my sympathy. While I didn't always agree with the actions of the characters, I appreciated Noble's ability to make me feel and to keep me interested in how their stories would end.

One warning, however: each month in the characters' book club discussion, the endings of the books they read are given away. While this is a realistic portrayal of conversations that take place at club meetings, it was disappointing for me to have major plot twists revealed in books such as Rebecca and Atonement....less

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message 1: by Joanie

04/21/2008 06:54PM

I've started this book a few times but never seem to get too far. I liked "The Friendship Test" by Noble but can't seem to get into this one. Thanks for the warning about the book giving away the endings to other books.