Helpful Score: 3
This one didn't pass the 50 page test and I abandoned it gladly. Intensely disliked the main character and that did it for me. Others may fare better, especially if they have read her earlier work and appreciate the author's writing.
Helpful Score: 3
I have mixed feelings towards this book. The main character was interesting - and the snippets of her journey to that point in her life were also interesting. However, I found the book very difficult to get through, and the look at the character was bogged down by plot ideas that were not believable.
Helpful Score: 3
I read the two books previously published by Lori Lansens and eagerly awaited the chance to try her newest book. I didn't expect a plot as unique as "The Girl's", but I guess I did expect more than what I found. The life of Mary Gooch, small town girl with a serious weight problem who married the class jock and has pretty much spent the twenty five years since then eating her way through her days. On her 25th wedding anniversary her husband leaves her after depositing $25,000 in her bank account.
The rest of the story is about Mary's search for her husband and in doing so, she begins to find herself. I felt the story was not only unrealistic, but not very believable. In fact, I had a hard time believing that this mundane novel had been written by Lori Lansens. I went back and read over other reviews and was surprised it was so well liked. I will await more wonderful stories by Lansens,
but I wouldn't recommend this one.
The rest of the story is about Mary's search for her husband and in doing so, she begins to find herself. I felt the story was not only unrealistic, but not very believable. In fact, I had a hard time believing that this mundane novel had been written by Lori Lansens. I went back and read over other reviews and was surprised it was so well liked. I will await more wonderful stories by Lansens,
but I wouldn't recommend this one.
Helpful Score: 1
Wow... I am not really sure where to start! I have really mixed feelings about this book, completely due to the ending. I was just not satisfied with the way things were "resolved." I like endings to be a bit more concrete. But as far as character studies go, this was superb (it would also make a good diet book, as some of the descriptions were frankly nauseating - believable, but sickening... it will be a long time before I can even think of eating chocolates from a box!). I enjoyed reading this, and the writing was surprisingly beautiful. I appreciated the "shout-out" to the main characters from _The Girls_, and the shift to California was very reminiscent of _The Tortilla Curtain_ to me.
It was really just the loose nature of the end that bothered me, especially since I kept expecting things to happen that never did. All in all, this was a great character study, but a novel with a rather incomplete plot resolution.
It was really just the loose nature of the end that bothered me, especially since I kept expecting things to happen that never did. All in all, this was a great character study, but a novel with a rather incomplete plot resolution.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved Lori Lansens' The Girls, but this novel simply didn't have the same extraordinary plot or characters. A morbidly obese, kind-hearted woman whose husband leaves is not the foundation for memorable fiction. Her journey of self-discovery is interesting, but not absorbing. The lack of resolution at the end confirmed my two-star rating. I had hoped for something more from this author who wrote The Girls with such faultless prose and timing.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I stuck with it but it was a chore in many ways. The intimate details of Mary's
emergence into a more self actualized person was at times
enlightening and at many other times wearisome.
emergence into a more self actualized person was at times
enlightening and at many other times wearisome.
I enjoyed the book but wish the ending could have been more climatic. This book made me laugh, feel sad, and related very well to Mary Gooch. Good book.
