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Book Review of Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship

Cheap Cabernet: A Friendship
reviewed on + 4 more book reviews


The only reason I read this book through to the end is because it is for my book club. I guess maybe I was also hoping for a point that never arrived.

The people (characters) are so undeveloped that I don't really care what happens to either of them throughout the book. Denise is not fleshed out in a way that makes me really care about her and her MS. Through Becks writing, I actually dislike Denise, and I find it difficult to understand Beck's fascination with her.

In addition, I think that Beck tries to bring in her own upbringing to shed some light on how she grew into the person in the story. Unfortunately just telling me about the growing up without really showing me is not enough to pull me into the story and engage me with feelings. Or make me care. Which it didnt.

The side characters: John, Merle, Ricky, Edith, etc... are so one-dimensional it's painful. I really never had a sense of who John was and what Denises relationship with him entailed. I think thats why I wasnt too upset by her cheating. It felt like she had a non-marriage anyway. Especially at the end when he was in the hospital for reasons unknown and didnt seem to care that he was hurting.

Overall, I find Beck's writing style to be choppy and trite. There are many short paragraphs and terrible dialogue. Its almost like I wrote the book. (By the way, we have the same amount of training in how to author novels zero.)

Beck often changes topics or stories without any type of transition. There are also several conflicting statements that left me confused. But I didn't care enough about the story to go back and figure out why the conflict. I just counted down to the end so I could whine about it to my book club.

In short, I would only recommend this book to my enemies. It was a waste of my precious reading time.