Book Review: Leftovers by Arthur Wooten

Rating

4 Stars

 

The Short Version

Leftovers is a book about making mistakes and getting second chances. Though it was a bit predictable at times and a little slow in the beginning, the novel had me rooting for the heroine in the end. Fans of literary or historical fiction will probably really enjoy this novel, since the book covers everything from the role of women in the 50's to the start of McDonald's. I don't usually read this genre, but it was a pretty good read.

 

The Details

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So when Wooten sent me an ARC of Leftovers, I have to admit that I wasn't expecting a novel for adults. My last and only read of his was Wise Bear William, which for some reason had me thinking that this would be another children's book.

….nooooooooo.

Leftovers is about picking yourself up by your bootstraps when absolutely everything in your life has crumbled to bits. It's a real success story, complete with cuss words and near-death experiences. Even though I wasn't ready for that, I still enjoyed the read.

Here's the blurb:

Vivian Lawson's fantasy of being the perfect 1950s suburban housewife is shattered when an uncontrollable event changes her life forever.

Destitute and left to fend for herself in a man's world, she searches her New England town unable to find a job. With nowhere to turn, Vivian takes the advice of her wisecracking best friend, Babs, and reluctantly becomes a Tupperware lady.

Vivian struggles with low self-esteem as well as stage fright but with the support of Bab's lovesick brother, Stew, and the creator of Tupperware's Home Party Plan system, Brownie Wise, she may just find the strength to conquer her inner demons and take control of her life.

A story of empowerment, Leftovers is a delectable romantic dramedy with an inspirational journey that reveals to us what can be achieved by using one's guts, determination and a little bit of a self-deprecating humor.

Keep in mind that this is literary/contemporary fiction (depending on your camp and branding style, either term applies). I'm a fan of wizardry and magic and full moons, so this isn't my usual read. I think I didn't enjoy it as much as the book really deserved because of that. So keep that in mind as you read through the review.

Hmm. That came out more ominously than I intended.

The story itself was inspiring. I was rooting for Vivian, and each time she grew as a person, I smiled. There are a lot of lessons here, and a lot of good morals.

That said, it was a bit cookie cutter in parts. I don't want to give anything away, but the ending was pretty much what I expected would happen. It was a very neat bow. I used to be of the "I want a perfectly trimmed ending" camp, but that has changed in recent years. Still, it was by no means bad…just predictable.  That might be a staple of this genre; I don't know.

The story often wandered into what *I* thought were excessive details about clothing or hairstyles. Maybe I'm the odd chick out, but I couldn't care less what characters are wearing most of the time. I barely care what I'm wearing, though. I mean, you want to know that they're wearing clothes, but I didn't need that level of detail. Other people might love that.

The story is written in 3rd person omniscient. At first, I thought it would follow the vein of Terry Pritchett's Mort, and while it did settle out towards the end, it was a bit confusing and shaky at first. The scenes would switch between characters without a real break or indication of a change, and I had to reread passages a few times in the beginning to figure out what was going on and where I was.

For instance, there's one moment where two characters are talking on the phone. In this scene, we switch between characters within just a couple of paragraphs, learning of their environments and background conversations without a momentary pause in between. That kicked me from the narrative because, with the omniscience, I actually lost track of where I was completely.

Wooten's narrative becomes smoother as the book goes on, though, so either he polished it out or I got used to it. Either way, I stopped thinking about it a third of the way through.

I won't make any comment on editing because Wooten told me that he was still polishing the final draft of the novel while I was reading my ARC. (Sorry about it being in the rating above. My theme will not let me delete it.)

All in all, I think you'll enjoy Leftovers if you read a lot of literary or historical fiction, or if you have an affinity for the fifties. It's a real story about not giving up, and I like rooting for the underdog.

Grab Your Copy:

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | CreateSpace

Win Your Copy:

Wooten was kind enough to let me giveaway the ARC as part of this review, so enter below for your chance to win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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