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Izetta Autumn'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> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2453737?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 1 of 5 stars I would have said simply, that this is a book best for a summer read, when you've run out of the books that are "serious literature," and that it would be an escape. There are a few laugh out loud moments - a wife desiring that her husband be shanked while he waits outside a gas station bathroom for her. But the other jokes, I don't think are actually intended to be funny - like the way grown womyn over 35 behave and the now cliche dramatization of harried housewives of a certain means. 
 
 Let me start with what I appreciated. As a member of a book club I liked that many books were discussed - many of which I'd now like to read. I also appreciated Noble's realistic portrayal of book group dynamics - there's always an assertive one, someone more mild, someone who never reads the book and likes to socialize. This I found funny and even enjoyable as I compared it to my own reading group. Too, the idea that two different friends with drastically different marraiages interact is a level slightly below interesting. And that's where it ends for me.
 
 I like a good no-need-to-think-too-hard novel just as much as the next person, but the way in which womyn are portrayed in this novel unsettles me. I would have dismissed this if one of the major protagonists (spoiler coming don't read if you don't want to know part of the ending) has an abortion after conniving to get herself pregnant to make her man stay. The plot then delivers a wolf in sheep's clothing dissection of abortion, with which I have serious issues because it ultimately intimates that abortion is bad for womyn because they will be wracked with guilt (and other womyn, namely your friends, won't approve.) While that could be realistic for some communities and interesting to build upon, the complexity (though the author tried) is missing.
 
 For this reason and the number of characters it's necessary to follow, the dialogue which doesn't always flow (this could admittedly, be me as an American reading a Brittish novel), and the sheer length, make this not my number one pick for a lazy summer read. Instead, I would suggest a Sophie Kinsella novel - full of good laughs, completely unrealistic, and no abortion themes (as yet) that disservice womyn. The protagonist may be immature (this is in fact why we love her) but she's at least checked in her fantasies.
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/66038?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Izetta Autumn's review
rating:
bookshelves: 2020-tome, general-fiction

I would have said simply, that this is a book best for a summer read, when you've run out of the books that are "serious literature," and that it would be an escape. There are a few laugh out loud moments - a wife desiring that her husband be shanked while he waits outside a gas station bathroom for her. But the other jokes, I don't think are actually intended to be funny - like the way grown womyn over 35 behave and the now cliche dramatization of harried housewives of a certain means.

Let me start with what I appreciated. As a member of a book club I liked that many books were discussed - many of which I'd now like to read. I also appreciated Noble's realistic portrayal of book group dynamics - there's always an assertive one, someone more mild, someone who never reads the book and likes to socialize. This I found funny and even enjoyable as I compared it to my own reading group. Too, the idea that two different friends with drastically different marraiages interact is...more I would have said simply, that this is a book best for a summer read, when you've run out of the books that are "serious literature," and that it would be an escape. There are a few laugh out loud moments - a wife desiring that her husband be shanked while he waits outside a gas station bathroom for her. But the other jokes, I don't think are actually intended to be funny - like the way grown womyn over 35 behave and the now cliche dramatization of harried housewives of a certain means.

Let me start with what I appreciated. As a member of a book club I liked that many books were discussed - many of which I'd now like to read. I also appreciated Noble's realistic portrayal of book group dynamics - there's always an assertive one, someone more mild, someone who never reads the book and likes to socialize. This I found funny and even enjoyable as I compared it to my own reading group. Too, the idea that two different friends with drastically different marraiages interact is a level slightly below interesting. And that's where it ends for me.

I like a good no-need-to-think-too-hard novel just as much as the next person, but the way in which womyn are portrayed in this novel unsettles me. I would have dismissed this if one of the major protagonists (spoiler coming don't read if you don't want to know part of the ending) has an abortion after conniving to get herself pregnant to make her man stay. The plot then delivers a wolf in sheep's clothing dissection of abortion, with which I have serious issues because it ultimately intimates that abortion is bad for womyn because they will be wracked with guilt (and other womyn, namely your friends, won't approve.) While that could be realistic for some communities and interesting to build upon, the complexity (though the author tried) is missing.

For this reason and the number of characters it's necessary to follow, the dialogue which doesn't always flow (this could admittedly, be me as an American reading a Brittish novel), and the sheer length, make this not my number one pick for a lazy summer read. Instead, I would suggest a Sophie Kinsella novel - full of good laughs, completely unrealistic, and no abortion themes (as yet) that disservice womyn. The protagonist may be immature (this is in fact why we love her) but she's at least checked in her fantasies....less

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