Fairytales

by Cynthia Freeman

An Italian-American family in San Francisco rise to prominence as a political dynasty that rivals the Kennedys

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Beatrice Cynthia Freeman  (January 10, 1915 - October 22, 1988), pseudonym of Bea Feinberg, was an  American  novelist. She was born in  New York City, where, as a young girl, she began writing books but abandoned writing to pursue a career running an  interior decoration business. When poor health forced her to give up her business, she decided to dust off an old manuscript from childhood but discovered the cleaning lady had thrown it out. From memory, she rewrote the story.

Ms Freeman specialized in multi-generational stories of  Jewish  families, centering on a female protagonist. Her novel, "No Time For Tears," was No.10 on the list of bestselling novels in the United States for 1981 as determined by the New York Times. Her books were translated into thirty-three languages, selling more than twenty million copies worldwide.

Cynthia Freeman died of cancer in San Francisco in 1988,[1] aged 73.

Reviews

[Heather ~*dread mushrooms*~ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I happened upon a copy of this book while thrifting a couple years ago. It looked like a family saga/bodice ripper, and it was set in San Francisco, so I decided to buy it as a gift for Nenia, thinking it would be right up her alley. Later, on another thrifting excursion, I coincidentally found a SECOND copy, so of course I had to buy it for myself so we could do a buddy read. The signs were clear. I'd never even heard of this book and all of a sudden two copies show up at my fingertips? Pfft. No brainer.

Being isolated in our respective houses seemed like an excellent time to start that BR. I read a few pages the night before we were due to start, and instantly I knew I'd made a terrible mistake.

The book starts on a bizarre note, with the heroine Catherine lamenting her crappy marriage and how her husband, Dominic, never pays any attention to her. From there we get long, rambling, stream-of-consciousness thoughts as she packs up to leave Santa Barbara without telling anyone and go to a retreat in Arizona. Flashbacks to when she met Dominic pepper these thoughts (they were introduced by her parents and she randomly says a scandalous thing to him, and he's like OH BOY, and then five seconds later they're in love and planning to get married).

What makes the narrative so difficult to handle are the loooong paragraphs, the nonsensical switches from third to first person, the head hopping (which also switches from third to first person without warning), and Catherine's tendency to say things like "yes, sir" and "well, I'll tell you" in her thoughts. She also drops her Gs on words ending in -ing because even though she is very, extremely Italian, she is also very, extremely southern.

At some point the flashbacks become the bulk of the story. Almost every side character gets at least a paragraph dedicated to their viewpoint. Quickly it becomes clear that Catherine is bizarrely selfish and entitled, and really manipulative (although kind of bad at it). Every time she talks to Dominic, she has an angle, but she can't just outright talk to them because they'll fight or he'll shut her down. They fight anyway, because he always catches on to her scheming. Their fights stem from the fact that he's determined to be MANLY and pay for their lifestyle himself, without using her money, of which she has a lot, and she wants to buy everything RIGHT NOW. This could be fun to read if only these characters weren't fundamentally unlikable. Sometimes Catherine seems wise and tolerant, and other times she's so painfully, willfully stupid that it hurts to read. Like, she thinks a five-bedroom house in San Francisco is the height of white poverty (no less than nine bedrooms will do), and later, when her accountant is trying to give her advice on why her business is losing money, she's basically all LA LA LA CAN'T HEAR YOU.

The conversations in this book are very long and so uninteresting they could bring a person to tears, yet they helped make it a quick read. When the bizareness ends, the boringness begins. And it stays boring until the end of the book, throughout the marriage trials, Dominic's lame affair, and the marriages of some of the seven famous children (although we never really find out why they're all famous). Then we come back to the beginning, when the family realizes Catherine is missing. They find her, she realizes she's successfully taught them a lesson about ignoring her, and she becomes popular in the media, somehow helping Dominic's political career by telling everyone their marriage woes.

I thought the book was going to end with the two of them reconciling explosively, but it just kind of... ends after Dominic doesn't win another reelection to the Senate. So... yay. Everyone is happy, I think? They're drinking champagne and name-dropping politicians in the last paragraph, so it must be true.

This book was just so bad. It seems like it wasn't edited for content at all. I don't blame Nenia for bowing out early on (I'm a notorious BR DNFer myself), but I just had to read it all so I could write this review. I'm simply baffled at how bad this is. Some of it is the dated attitudes of the characters, but mostly it's just the bad writing, terrible story structure, and characters you can't help but hate.

Be sure to check out Nenia's review, which is much more succinct than mine. It's been a long time since I've written so many thoughts about a book, but this is barely the tip of the iceberg. Just look at my status updates for an idea of how mind-bogglingly bad this is, but whatever you do, don't buy a copy for yourself or anyone else.

[JudiAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually like Cynthia Freeman's books but this time not so much. In the beginning it was very interesting and there were parts that I found fascinating. What killed it for me was the controlling "Italian Southern" whiny, annoying wife. It was the first time that I said hooray when the husband fell in love with another woman. It defiantly was a saga of a messed up marriage. I can't believe I read the entire book!

[Nick Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly entertaining, sweeping soaper spanning 30 years of marriage between two people who can’t seem to live with or without each other. Husband Dominic is proud, ambitious and, surprisingly, sympathetic. Wife Catherine is spoiled, willful, stubborn, immature and a great deal of fun.

[Kya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate books like this terrible terrible terrible

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love triangle.

[Peggy]

1st one I read

[Delores · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woman who wanted it all

Catherine was just too needed. She possessed more the average women, but was too blind to see it. At the end she made it difficult to complete the book. She became quite boring.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this years ago...

[RainLady777 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally like this author. Having said that, I have no idea what the point of this book was.

[Jessica Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like this author a lot. This was a miss.

[Meredith Michaels · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this author but this book just didn't seem to have any point. it was just like a long rambling stream of consciousness that didn't seem like it was edited for content

[Gary Branson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok for the most part, tedious in some places.

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairytales, Cynthia Freeman, PB-B @ 1981, 1982. San Francisco romance, spoiled Southern woman living a fairytale life. Okay.

[Shanna Calleja]

Absolutely loved this book!!!!!!!!! :)