Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons Author:Lorna Landvik From her sensational sleeper hit Patty Jane’s House of Curl to her heartwarming novel Welcome to the Great Mysterious, Lorna Landvik has won the hearts of readers everywhere by skillfully balancing hilarity with pathos, and bittersweet insights with heartwarming truths. Now she returns to her beloved, eccentric stomping groun... more »d of small-town Minnesota where the most eclectic, and engaging group of women you’ll ever meet share love, loss, and laughter.
Sometimes life is like a bad waiter—it serves you exactly what you don’t want. The women of Freesia Court have come together at life’s table, fully convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can’t fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together—the foundation of a book group they call AWEB—Angry Wives Eating Bon Bons—an unofficial “club” that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline.
The five women each have a story of their own to tell. There’s Faith, the newcomer, a lonely housewife and mother of twins, a woman who harbors a terrible secret that has condemned her to living a lie; big, beautiful Audrey, the resident sex queen who knows that good posture and an attitude can let you get away with anything; Merit, the shy, quiet doctor’s wife with the face of an angel and the private hell of an abusive husband; Kari, a thoughtful, wise woman with a wonderful laugh as “deep as Santa Claus’s with a cold” who knows the greatest gifts appear after life’s fiercest storms; and finally, Slip, activist, adventurer, social changer, a tiny, spitfire of a woman who looks trouble straight in the eye and challenges it to arm wrestle.
Holding on through forty eventful years—through the swinging Sixties, the turbulent Seventies, the anything-goes Eighties, the nothing’s-impossible Nineties—the women will take the plunge into the chaos that inevitably comes to those with the temerity to be alive and kicking. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons depicts a special slice of American life, of stay-at-home days and new careers, children and grandchildren, bold beginnings and second chances, in which the power of forgiveness, understanding, and the perfectly timed giggle fit is the CPR that mends broken hearts and shattered dreams.
Once again Lorna Landvik leaves you laughing and crying, as she reveals perhaps the greatest truth: that there is nothing like the saving grace of best friends.« less
a favorite of mine, full of humor, hardship, and adventure. The character development is good and well-thought out, though some might see a cliche. Not a typical chick-lit novel, but much more complex. I really enjoyed reading it (twice).
This was the first of Lorna Landvik's books that I read and I was very pleasantly surprised. I loved the way she showed the reality of the ups and downs of long term friendships between woment. She really has a way of making the reader feel as though these women are personal friends of the reader. Enjoy!
A fun read..... Women in Minneapolis form a book club (e.g. title of the actual book) that spans 30 years. Chapters are cleverly arranged in chronological order and feature the Book club book and hostess -- and then updates her part of the story.
I was tempted to write down all the titles of books this fictional book club reads and try to read/reread them. Plot: Interesting stories about each woman's hopes, trials, challenges, and relationships with others in the club. All are characters you want to know more about as you go along.
Read this book for my book group.I liked reading about other people who were in a book group and what they were reading and what they were thinking and doing.This book brought a lot of discussion.This is a good book and I recommend it whether you belong to a book group or not.
I wasn't really sure how I'd like this book since I've seen mixed reviews of it and since sometimes I can't get into a chick-lit story where the characters are older than my parents. But, the writer did a remarkable job in creating characters who you can visualize and writes a story that just compels you to keep reading. I loved how the characters all grew as individuals and didn't annoy me by remaining static and boring. It just made them come to life.
The only reason that I put this down was because I got too tired to read anymore (I started this book intending to only read a couple chapters before going to bed around 3am and I stayed up past dawn.) and got to the point where the book bonked me in the forehead when I was "just resting my eyes so I could read further". But, as soon as I got up a few hours later, I was back to the book so I could finish it.
I don't care what age you are, there is so many wonderful things about this book that it's one of the best I've read in a long time!