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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
I was prepared to not like this with it being a typical American Christian heavy book, boy was I wrong. It was really great. Everything you need for the holidays!
Heartwarming story along the same lines as A Man Called Ove or Storied Life of AJ Fikry about a grumpy older man who leaves Chicago to move to the warmer climate of southern Alabama essentially to die. There he finds a lovely neighborhood of men and women who care for one another and strangers alike. Sweet story.
Fannie Flagg is a great author and while IMO this isn’t a true Christmas story it was still a very heartwarming holiday read. I loved all the characters and of course I love that it takes place down south not far from where we lived!
This was a fluffy feel-good book. With no driving tension or surprises. It was full of cliches and so twee I wanted to hurl.
But if that's what you're looking for then this is a good representation of something I'll never think about again because it was basically a Hallmark movie written down. But sillier.
Some quotes that made me roll my eyes so hard I got a headache:
- "Oh, well, he thought, live and learn. Better late than never. And then he wondered why in the hell he was thinking in cliches." p 69
- (main character thinks an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting is about to start) "... Oswald suddenly realized that he had walked into an Alabama Accordion Association meeting!... Oswald thought about it and wondered which was worse, being an accordion player or being an alcoholic. He figured it was a toss-up." p 103
- "Oswald suddenly felt as if he were walking around in a painting. Then it dawned on him. Everywhere he looked was a painting! Everything was alive with color..." p 117
- there is a 'Mystic Order of the Royal Polka Dots Secret Society' and also a 'Mystic Order of the Royal Dotted Swiss' which are groups of old ladies who do good acts in secret.
I can't type them all, it'd be half the book. I had 22 little scraps of paper marking the most cringe-worthy stuff, starting about a third of the way into the book and it very quickly became practically every other page. Sappy and trite, predictable and obnoxious.
But if that's what you're looking for then this is a good representation of something I'll never think about again because it was basically a Hallmark movie written down. But sillier.
Some quotes that made me roll my eyes so hard I got a headache:
- "Oh, well, he thought, live and learn. Better late than never. And then he wondered why in the hell he was thinking in cliches." p 69
- (main character thinks an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting is about to start) "... Oswald suddenly realized that he had walked into an Alabama Accordion Association meeting!... Oswald thought about it and wondered which was worse, being an accordion player or being an alcoholic. He figured it was a toss-up." p 103
- "Oswald suddenly felt as if he were walking around in a painting. Then it dawned on him. Everywhere he looked was a painting! Everything was alive with color..." p 117
- there is a 'Mystic Order of the Royal Polka Dots Secret Society' and also a 'Mystic Order of the Royal Dotted Swiss' which are groups of old ladies who do good acts in secret.
I can't type them all, it'd be half the book. I had 22 little scraps of paper marking the most cringe-worthy stuff, starting about a third of the way into the book and it very quickly became practically every other page. Sappy and trite, predictable and obnoxious.
This story was so beautifully written, I could hardly put it down.
A great read. Some bad news leads to a relocation, finding friends, a little girl finding a family and a Christmas miracle. A feel good book that you won't want to put down.
This was a typical cute, short Christmas story about love and redemption. The perfect plot for a Hallmark movie.