sonia_reppe's reviews
1293 reviews

Judy's marriage is falling apart and she finds herself getting involved with a 16 year old student. They're both sexually frustrated and they use eachother. Then Judy starts getting possessive and the suspense builds as Zach wants out of the relationship.

Interspersed are scenes from Judy's childhood in Germany. In the present, Judy is a teacher and the year is 1998. The Monica Lewinski scandal makes a good backdrop.
A good job with setting and characters.

This is a delightful tragicomedy about life and love on a grand scale, filled with wacky characters: including a greedy villain, star-crossed lovers, a duke in disguise, the village fool, and the good Padre (priest). I don't know if many people would appreciate this wonderful book. This is different from most current historical fiction. It's written in an old school style--omniscient voice that takes turns from each character, so we see the happenings from a range of views, and the 16th century Tuscan village comes alive. The writing is beautiful, bawdy at times. It reminded me of Shakespeare and opera buffo and old writers like...Orwell, maybe, I dunno. To do this type of omniscient voice is hard and takes talent. I really liked the story, especially the second half, once we got to the race. I should explain that this yearly tradition isn't a normal race. It involves donkeys and riders with one hand tied behind and wine.

Every other woman in the Mops book group hated this. I'm the only one who liked it! They thought the characters were whiny and spoiled; they "couldn't relate." I think most of them just didn't get the black humor. You weren't supposed to like these characters. It was supposed to be a social commentary of sorts, revealing some truths that were not pretty.

In NYC, a group of women friends in the same upper-class (or maybe upper-middle class) socio-economic set live out their unhappiness as they see their lives slipping into middle-age, having given up careers— or the chasing of careers in some cases—in order to be stay-home moms. Except for one, who is really happy. She's a genius who is always head-hunted and offered great jobs. (What does that say? That only really gifted smart women are happy with themselves? It helps that she had a rich husband, haha).

No, really, though. The book was cynical, true-- but I was so surprized that the other moms in the book group hated this. They couldn't relate? Some of them had given up careers. Come on, everyone's unsatisfied with their lives once in a while, or has been. I didn't totally believe their declarations, hand over heart, of "I'm happy with my choice. I can't relate at all." Maybe it's like the book says, that if you don't miss your career, maybe it doesn't miss you. (Like you weren't that great at it in the first place).

I don't mean to bash this group of moms. I think one or two "got it" but sincerely didn't like it. One of the women was turned off by the total absence of any spirituality element, that is, God, or the bigger picture, if you will. The women were very self-centered; but who of us isn't, really? And the book didn't say they were anti-spiritual, it just didn't deal with that element of life. It dealt with the day-to-day banalities and the desire for fulfillment. Which is what life is about, (at least in progressive countries). It's about figuring out what you want to pursue, what you like, making choices about what road to go down, and yes, having coffee with your friends as you make those decisions.

I loved Wolitzer's little digs at modern life. The mention of those "clichéd pinwheel wraps" that everyone gets for parties. I hate those things!! Especially the ones from Cosco! Thank you Wolitzer for shining the yuppified light on that.

This is a good book. A definite "chic" book but with literary writing. A little depressing, but the end is satisfying. I don't want to spoil the ending, but I have to say the ending really made it all good for me. I liked that the women all made choices and found their way to (happiness not the right word?) be more content with life.

I wanted to like this. Aside from a few good sentences in this 512-page novel, and a deceptively good first chapter, there was not much to like.

First of all, how did the publisher get away with saying that this is "warmhearted"? The tone is depressing and annoying. Four out of the five main characters are depressed and I got sick of wallowing in their angst. At one point one of them is thinking that life is meaningless. It's a real downer.

I thought the book was going to be about Henry, the talented shortstop at Westish College--this is what the reviews and bookjacket led me to believe--but he becomes more of a secondary character to Guert, the college's president, and Guert's daughter--both boring characters in my opinion. Pella, the 21 yr-old daughter, at one point swallows an earring in front of her soon-to-be-ex-husband...This shows that she's crazy, (in case you didn't get it by that point). In many scenes, she's washing dishes. One whole chapter is Guert looking at a house that he's thinking of buying...talks with the owners about the roof and stuff...I never thought I'd say this, but: There was not enough baseball in this book!

I didn't believe any of the characters except for Owen, who was the only real, true person that made sense for me. As I'm writing this I'm wondering if he's based on the author...

The other characters did not come to life. I started off liking Henry and Schwartz but I did not believe the changes in them. I didn't understand or feel anything for Pella's relationship with Schwartz, and her sleeping with Henry just came out of nowhere. Can we see a little attraction first? Can you help me understand that? It's Henry losing his virginity--a big thing--but we don't get to see it or learn how he feels. Immediately after, Schwartz catches them. It seems, Mr. Harbach, that you have Henry and Pella sleep together as merely a cheap plot device.

Spoiler alert: Because the tone was so fatalistic, I was not surprized when things kept getting worse for the characters. During the championship game at the end, we find out (along with Schwartz, Henry, and Owen) that Guert has died. He committed suicide; what a nice warm-hearted ending. If that wasn't enough fun, these guys, at Pella's urging, dig up his grave!! And throw the body in the Lake--because that's what he would've wanted(?) Gross!!!

Sorry, the last four pages of the novel where Henry and Schwartz play catch and become friends again did not save the book for me. I would bet that Mr.Harbach tagged on that ending at the suggestion of the publisher, because it just didn't fit the rest of the book, which suggested that everything is meaningless and comes to ruin.

Biggest disappointment of 2011

Humorous, inspirational, engaging, and smart. This memoir of a 29-yr-old single gal trying to face her fears started off kind of annoying but then it got really good, and I think that was the point. She changed; or rather, she re-discovered the fearless girl she used to be.

After getting fired, Noelle took a look at herself and realized she was becoming a worrying, self-doubting hermit who felt her job (as a celebrity blogger) was meaningless, and she never did anything to help the world.

It was annoying because there are conversations with her shrink; at the start of the book she's already been going to therapy for the reason that "she didn't know herself". (Really? You would pay someone money just to get to know yourself better?)

Halfway through the book she actually does face herself and realize that she needs to get off her 5-sleeping-pills-a-night addiction. But this isn't an addiction memoir, it's a stint-memoir: she's going to push her limits and do one scary thing a day. As she uses Eleanor Roosevelt's autobiographies as inspiration, the reader gets to learn some things about Eleanor Roosevelt's life and philosophy.

Some "scary" things were small, like confronting someone or standing up for herself, or going a week without make-up. Others were big like taking a pilot lesson and trapeze lessons. It was amusing to me that nothing made her break-down (even swimming with sharks) until she decided to do a stand-up open mic. She totally had a huge melt-down in front of her boyfriend! She was like, "I can't do this!"
The stand-up chapter is really funny (she eventually gets up the nerve and is a hit). She's a pretty good writer.