Search - The Quality of Life Report

When I read the blurb for this book I thought it was similar to my life. I worked on the East Coast and relocated to the Southwest. But that's the end of the similarity. I guess it's an okay book but why do authors think cliches and stereotypes are the way to go? You could really see the developments happening before they did. Also, why do people repeat the back-cover description instead of giving an honest review? I would like an opinion, not something that came off the back of the book. Stop the insanity! If you didn't read the book, don't write about it! Sounds fair, doesn't it?

the simple life never looked so complicated.

I thought this book was alright, but I didn't think there was really an arc to the plot. The story is as cliche as they come- jaded New Yorker seeks a simpler existence in a small town, but ends up with a much more complicated one. There are some funny parts to the book, but most of it consists of the main character, Lucinda Trout, moaning about the mess she's made of her life and drinking cheap wine. I just had a hard time believing that a character with so much self-awareness would act as she did. All of the other characters are so heightened, it seems very odd that the main character is the only one who thinks and speaks like a regular person. There are so many late 90's/early aughts cultural cliches in the book that it already seems utterly dated seven years after its publication date. If it had only aimed to be a vacation read and had displayed more whimsy, I would have enjoyed it, but the author's attempts to inject it with substance and depth felt forced and clumsy. Disappointing.