Take a photo of a barcode or cover
jonesa2's review against another edition
4.0
I was surprised by how much I liked this book and by how much I liked and hated some of the characters.
barbara88's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed the book and the writing style, but did not like the ending or the character of Audrey...Her cynicism stopped being funny about 1/4 way through the book.
dennisfischman's review against another edition
3.0
Zoe Heller has done something I thought was impossible. She has written a book full of women and men I don't much like or respect and portrayed nearly every one of them so convincingly that I had to finish the book to find out what happens with them.
It was fitting that I finished this book while in New York. The Litvinoff family would have some of their illusions exposed years earlier if they lived anywhere else on earth.
It was fitting that I finished this book while in New York. The Litvinoff family would have some of their illusions exposed years earlier if they lived anywhere else on earth.
anniebz's review against another edition
4.0
I would have liked to give it 3 1/2 stars - the writing is wonderful, the characters are difficult. I put the book down three times before deciding to finish it.
hollybpoulos's review against another edition
3.0
I did like this book—I would give it 3.5 stars. My problem was with the lack of likable characters. Normally, I don't think a character has to be sympathetic to make a good story, but almost every character in this book is so morally superior and closed-minded, they just left a bad taste. I'm curious as to why Heller wanted to explore such a family.
Audrey, the mother, never redeemed herself (to me). She does have a couple of moments of humanity in the midst of her tirades and scathing sarcastic remarks, notably after Bernice comes into the picture, but good god, could the woman be more atrocious? The daughters felt cliched to me, especially Karla; her "fat girl" thoughts didn't ring true. However, Karla does actually grow by the end, a sign that she's breaking away from her family's perception of her. I didn't quite believe Rosa's religious conversion, though it was fascinating to watch her struggle with it, and her personality was a bit more nuanced. She almost seemed like a teenager rebelling from her parents' morals, despite being in her late 30's. The drug-addict Lenny is a flat character and feels the most like a type; I'm not sure if I'm supposed to believe anything he says or does. Overall, it's an interesting look at a family's breaking a part after a father's stroke, though they clearly weren't "together" to begin with.
Audrey, the mother, never redeemed herself (to me). She does have a couple of moments of humanity in the midst of her tirades and scathing sarcastic remarks, notably after Bernice comes into the picture, but good god, could the woman be more atrocious? The daughters felt cliched to me, especially Karla; her "fat girl" thoughts didn't ring true. However, Karla does actually grow by the end, a sign that she's breaking away from her family's perception of her. I didn't quite believe Rosa's religious conversion, though it was fascinating to watch her struggle with it, and her personality was a bit more nuanced. She almost seemed like a teenager rebelling from her parents' morals, despite being in her late 30's. The drug-addict Lenny is a flat character and feels the most like a type; I'm not sure if I'm supposed to believe anything he says or does. Overall, it's an interesting look at a family's breaking a part after a father's stroke, though they clearly weren't "together" to begin with.
darkspirit's review against another edition
dark
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
celiapowell's review against another edition
2.0
I really enjoyed "Notes on a Scandal", and picked this up on that basis - however, it really fell flat for me. It's a story of a disfunctional family, but the characters just seem to reel through the book from disaster to disaster without ever connecting into a coherent whole with any kind of meaning for the reader.
gdgreer's review against another edition
4.0
How had she ended up like this, imprisoned in the role of harridan? Once upon a time, her brash manner had been a mere posture—a convenient and amusing way for an insecure teenage bride, newly arrived in America, to disguise her crippling shyness. People had actually enjoyed her vituperation back then, encouraged it and celebrated it. She had carved out a minor distinction for herself as a “character”: the cute little english girl with the chutzpah and the longshoreman’s mouth. ”Get Audrey in here,” they used to cry whenever someone was being an ass. ”Audrey’ll take him down a peg or two.”
But somewhere along the way, when she hadn’t been paying attention, her temper had ceased to be a beguiling party act that could be switched on and off at will. It had begun to express authentic resentments: boredom with motherhood, fury at her husband’s philandering, despair at the pettiness of her domestic fate. She hadn’t noticed the change at first. Like an old lady who persists in wearing the Jungle Red lipstick of her glory days, she had gone on for a time, fondly believing that the stratagems of her youth were just as appealing as they had ever been. By the time she woke up and discovered that people had taken to making faces at her behind her back—that she was no longer a sexy young woman with a charmingly short fuse but a middle-aged termagant—it was too late. Her anger had become a part of her. It was a knotted thicket in her gut, too dense to be cut down and too deeply entrenched in the loamy soil of her disappointments to be uprooted.
But somewhere along the way, when she hadn’t been paying attention, her temper had ceased to be a beguiling party act that could be switched on and off at will. It had begun to express authentic resentments: boredom with motherhood, fury at her husband’s philandering, despair at the pettiness of her domestic fate. She hadn’t noticed the change at first. Like an old lady who persists in wearing the Jungle Red lipstick of her glory days, she had gone on for a time, fondly believing that the stratagems of her youth were just as appealing as they had ever been. By the time she woke up and discovered that people had taken to making faces at her behind her back—that she was no longer a sexy young woman with a charmingly short fuse but a middle-aged termagant—it was too late. Her anger had become a part of her. It was a knotted thicket in her gut, too dense to be cut down and too deeply entrenched in the loamy soil of her disappointments to be uprooted.
georgiacopeland's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25