About Face

by Carole Howard

From the outside, Ruth seems to have it all: a high-powered career, happy marriage and family. But her inner Peace-Corps-Volunteer is hollering to be let out.

When she bumps into Vivian, her long-lost friend and former hut-mate, she realizes how different she is from the person she used to be and wonders if she’s lost part of herself—the best part—in her quest for “the perfect life.” Her internal tug of war gathers steam and knocks her seemingly perfect urban life out of kilter.

As they struggle with their differences and try to resurrect their friendship, the two women realize—with humor and a growing respect—that they each have strengths to contribute to a venture neither would have discovered on her own, one that melds past and present to shape an exciting and surprising future.

This contemporary literary novel toggles between flashback scenes in West Africa and present ones in Manhattan, as it chronicles the power of the women’s friendship. The characters are simultaneously memorable and down-to-earth, and readers begin to feel they’ve known them for a long time. They’re treated with affection, nuanced understanding, and a healthy dose of wit. This fast-paced, funny, and honest coming-of-middle age classic playfully walks the line between humor and wisdom as it deals with serious issues of mid-life and aging.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

328 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 16, 2013

About the author

In addition to her latest book, a travel memoir, Carole Howard has published short fiction, personal essays, a walking guide to Paris, and two novels.

TALES OF A SILVER-HAIRED VOLUNTEER tells of her five volunteer experiences, each for two months, in the developing world, helping non-profits with her management consultant skills. Some incidents are funny -- looking for cheese in Thailand -- and some are serious peeks into other cultures -- cheb ou djenn for lunch every day. Then there's the encounter with the gorillas. Or the sex workers teaching about condom use. And many others. Her conversational style will make you feel like you're traveling to all those exotic places with her.

DEADLY ADAGIO is a murder mystery, set in West Africa, with a musical undertone. The protagonist chafes at being the wife of a U.S. Foreign Service Officer. When her friend is murdered, everyone tells her not to get involved in the investigation because it might put her in harm’s way. But she does. And it does.

ABOUT FACE, her first novel, is a coming-of-middle-age story. The protagonist’s “contemporary marketing executive” self is playing tug-of-war with her “former-Peace-Corps-volunteer” self, while she’s in a power struggle with her new boss as well as her disobedient hot-flashing body.

Carole has traveled extensively, visiting and/or volunteering in about 50 countries, including 15 in Africa. Her African experiences inform both novels.

Carole lives in New York State's beautiful Mid-Hudson Valley with her husband. Happily, her daughter (another wanderluster), son-in-law, and grandchildren live nearby.

Reviews

[Tonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruth seems to have the perfect life, she enjoys her job, she has a loving husband and a successful son, but something isn't quite right with her life anymore. She has a new boss who seems to be gunning to get her to quit, suddenly the charity work tied to her job is no longer approved and office politics are getting out of control. Her husband has announced that he wants to retire from his job and would like her to retire as well. And she runs into Vivian, who worked together with her in the Peace Corps and whose life has gone in a drastically different direction from Ruth's in the corporate world. Ruth has to decide what direction she wants to take, is she truly happy as is, or is there something else out there for her?

I really enjoyed the writing style of the author, she has a knack for weaving the characters stories and lives together. The stories from the past flow into present day. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction about strong women and relationships.

I received About Face from Net Galley and Glenmere Press.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author can turn a phrase with her eyes closed. Open the book at any page and find something like the following:

"The try-on room's monitor must have been selected by the same central casting agency that used to hire the matrons in the movie theaters, the ones who made the kids take their feet off the seat in front of them. With her slightly humped back and her sensible shoes, she enforced the 'five garments per person' rule as if she were dispensing divine justice."

I especially love the many glimpses she gives us of a Peace Corp volunteer's life in Africa. Although these segments are written in a light-hearted vein, they deepen the character and shed light on her current dilemna - how to find her way out of the corporate world and provide a needed service, while continuing to have fun with design and management.

This novel is a real treat.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

About Face by Carole Howard is a honest, witty and refreshing look at the life of a middle-aged woman.
Ruth Talbot is a happily married 53 yr old Marketing Director of a Cosmetics Company. She has constant power struggles with her new boss, continual hot flashes, and yearns for her time spent in Africa as a volunteer in the Peace Corps while in her early 20's.
At a crossroads in her life her husband tries to convince her to take early retirement and Ruth thinks he's crazy. Or is he?
Then a long lost friend comes back into Ruth's life and new opportunities present themselves. Will her life have meaning again?
I definitely empathized with Ruth throughout the story and found it to be a relevant and refreshing account of mid-life.

[Rebecca Kenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really disappointed with this book. I found the writing very juvenile and a lot of what was in it was not needed. It reminded me of a script for a cheesy made for tv movie. I didn't like any of the characters, the main character Ruth was a little full of herself and her friends were just plain obnoxious. I thought the book would have been more about a lady who quits her job to travel but it was more about her current job, marketing a product that hasn't even been created yet and then having memories about a trip she took when she was younger. I didn't see much relevance at all.

[Anita Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carole Howard's About Face is well-written and engaging. Ruth Talbot is a smart, funny and very perceptive cosmetics industry executive. We root for her as she struggles not only with the glass ceiling, but also with the realization that her success has come at the cost of her youthful values. As Ruth revisits her past, Howard brings to life both the corporate NYC scene, and the African village where Ruth was a Peace Corp volunteer. A great read.

[Julie B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn’t like it

All the back and forth and maybe it is, but then maybe it isn’t, drove me crazy. Terrible relationships, even as friends. I don’t know how I ever made it through this book other than the fact that I skimmed the last fourth of it.

[Williesun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here, finally, I present you my review of Carole Howard’s ‘About Face’. I say finally because I have finished the book a while ago but life was busy and I didn’t get around to actually writing a review until now. Of course you haven’t noticed any of this finally business as it was all happening outside of this blog. Anyway.

About Face is about a 50-something business executive who struggles with hot-flashes, her husbands early retirement and connecting her Peace Corps roots with working for a make up company. Adding to this is her reconnection with her Peace Corps buddy which brings her struggles up even more.

I get that you have to be pretty passionate, and maybe even a little bit naive to go off with the Peace Corps and you hope to change something in the world; maybe you can even change EVERYTHING! I honestly get that because I am still waiting for my groundbreaking idea that will revolutionise something, anything! Alas, I will not find that thing while blogging my way through all Disney movies but that’s a story for another day.

Ruth, that’s our executive, isn’t a happy camper since she got a new boss and he doesn’t like her. She wants to prove herself and the feminist in me cheers her on even more so for it. I mean, I stand up straighter on purpose when I’m around a certain male colleague of mine because it makes me tower over him and gets me all irrationally excited. Aaargh, sorry, I am in a rambly mood today.

The novel was a welcome change from the lot of YA novels I have read recently and it is interesting to read about the other end of the age spectrum, so to speak. I wouldn’t call Ruth old but she has to figure out how she fits into this world with her changing body and maybe not having all too many years left in the workforce.

My favourites were the parts when she talks about her time in Africa, what living there was like. Meanwhile I wasn’t too interested in all the executive business stuff, considering the business classes of my degree were those I could have lived without. I don’t give a crap about marketing because it always bored me to no end so I had to struggle a bit through some of the novel’s parts. Mildly struggle though, it really wasn’t too bad.

I would have liked to see more of The Brain Trust, her group of other 50-something women all going through the same changes. They were in the story a fair bit but their sole purpose was so that Ruth could bounce off ideas off of them and that was a bit sad. I would have also liked to see more interaction between her and her husband.

The ending was pretty obvious from the moment Ruth met her Peace Corps buddy again and maybe that’s why I couldn’t bring myself to care much about her new product line at her current job. It’s great she got one last success under her belt but, ehhhh, I thought that should have been just a vehicle for something we were supposed to learn through this book and not the main focus.

All in all I enjoyed About Face and I think this has been about one of the oldest protagonists I have read in a while. Which of course is a good thing because most standard novels land in the middle age group of late 20s to early 40s maybe and there is a lot of ground that isn’t covered. So yes, non-standard female protagonist books are always welcome here.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won "About Face" by Carole Howard through the Goodreads Giveaway.

This novel was well written and I found I was glued from page one.I somehow feel that I was chosen to read and review this novel, as I fit into the age group of some of the Focus Groups that were held to illicit their comments. Ruth Talbot, a 53 year old marketing Director of a Cosmetic Company, is engaged in a nasty power struggle with her new boss while she's also burning up from hot flashes. Then her husband has been offered a buyout package for early retirement, which he wants to accept.He says "Let's both retire". Retire? She's not old enough to retire. Is she?

I liked on page 114 of the novel she states"Maybe middle-age is just the time when it's not reasonable to expect the kind of passion from work. Is it time to give up and grow up?"

Can her stroke-of-genius product idea for her cosmetics company cure all her ills? It only helps her win the battle with the boss. Then she finds a way to turn her life upside down and inside out so everything fits just right for her.

I felt and walked in Carole's footsteps, as she made the choices in life for which she must be accountable. An excellent read.

[Lissa00 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ruth is at a crossroads in her career and her life. Well into her fifties, she is a successful business woman and a former Peace Corp volunteer and these two parts of herself start to come into conflict as her husband tries to convince her to retire early and she begins to reevaluate her life. What follows is a meditation on what it means to age and how the direction our lives take may not be what we imagined when younger. Even though I am not yet to Ruth’s age, I definitely empathized with her situation. I thought the sections of the book that explore her Peace Corp time in Africa were interesting and I would have like to see more of them. At times this book slowed down and Ruth’s musings on her own life could be monotonous. Overall though, I enjoyed the honest and refreshing look at aging and thought that this was a book worth reading for that alone. I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Petesea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started Chapter 1 and thought that this was about rich folks and put it aside. When I had nothing else to read, I picked it up again. I appreciated the dilemmas facing Ruth and the truth that Vivian shared when talking about Ruth not liking her job - "If you don't like it, find something else." Then the book became interesting to me as a corporate drama with some old school hippie friends thrown in for a very different juxtaposition. Maybe I should try to relate my dreams to my life the way that Ruth does.

[Gretchen Gibbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, from the clever title (with matching clever cover) to the twists at the end. Jane Fonda says the years after 50 are our Third Act, the most important part, the climax. Mostly literature focuses on the earlier acts, so it's a pleasure to find this book that deals with the later drama, capably and with humor and compassion.

[Judy Pedersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

About Face asks one of the biggest questions of our lives: Is that all there is? Carole Howard's Ruth Talbot
invites us into her life to have a look around the terrain. A delightful examination of a life lived fully.

[Mystica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humorous look at growing old. Descriptive of two periods of time in the life of Vivian and Ruth - one in West Africa and one in present Manhattan the story delves into friendship and how friendship between these two women evolve.

[Faye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruth seems happy with her life. Then she bumps into an old friend from Peace Core days in Africa. That brings back memories of a simpler time.
It is also about women's friendships. Accepting middle age is also important in this story.

[Ronna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A smart, fun, thought provoking read. Loved the heroine and rooted for her throughout her easy to identify with adventure.

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. Recommended it to a friend for her book club; would be a great discussion about women, starting companies, getting older, and make-up.