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A review by rebroxannape
Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel
3.0
Early in this “slice of life” novel, I said to myself, “Are we supposed to like these people?” Our main character, Bridget, though very wealthy and elite, was letting her summer cottage fall down around her ears, and wore stretched-out sweatpants when going visiting in public. It struck me as something that only a rich privileged person would feel OK doing. As if, along with her deliberate ignorance of internet-based technology, she was trying to cultivate a phony “Look how normal and down-to-earth I am!” reputation. It really put my back up. Later we learn why she is like she is and I felt better about her.
And I had the same mixed feelings about her best friend Will, her adult children, her sister, and her father, all of whom we spend a great deal of time with. Also, Gavin, another main character but separate from the family. There were a lot of characters in this book, and all were interesting and well-drawn. But the more I got to know the main ones, the more I found to disapprove. They, most of them, were essentially all good people at heart, which I recognized. But I was still irritated. I guess that’s a compliment to Amy Poeppel’s writing and her deft true-to-life characterizations. The core group ended up growing and changing for the better and by the end, I wished them well in their, thankfully, new directions. But thank goodness for Marge, the housekeeper, Kevin the handyman, and to a lesser extent, Jackie, her father’s new P.A. (although she was a bit prissy about the cats drinking out of the faucet.)
This book, like the previous two I have read by this author, is centered around first-world problems. But for some reason, this did not bother me in those. In fact, I enjoyed that aspect. It seemed like there were more important things at stake and their problems and dramas were not entirely of their own making. And they did things about them.
I was entertained by this book. There was humor, a little drama, a little suspense, a little romance, and I loved the ending. Everything came together nicely.
**3 1/2 stars**
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/books/
Bridget was not a messy person by nature. She was clean, and she had good taste. But she had a blind spot when it came to seeing when change was needed. When a lightbulb burned out, it stayed burned out. When a window latch broke, it stayed broken. Screens stayed torn; floors stayed damaged. She was sentimental, keeping T-shirts for decades, regardless of their condition, and driving the same car she’d gotten when the kids were born, convinced it would have its feelings hurt if she sold it. Marge was no therapist, but it was clear that losing a mother to cancer at only eleven, the greatest, most difficult loss imaginable, had left Bridget wanting to keep everything in her life steady. The same house, the same job, the same music partner.
And I had the same mixed feelings about her best friend Will, her adult children, her sister, and her father, all of whom we spend a great deal of time with. Also, Gavin, another main character but separate from the family. There were a lot of characters in this book, and all were interesting and well-drawn. But the more I got to know the main ones, the more I found to disapprove. They, most of them, were essentially all good people at heart, which I recognized. But I was still irritated. I guess that’s a compliment to Amy Poeppel’s writing and her deft true-to-life characterizations. The core group ended up growing and changing for the better and by the end, I wished them well in their, thankfully, new directions. But thank goodness for Marge, the housekeeper, Kevin the handyman, and to a lesser extent, Jackie, her father’s new P.A. (although she was a bit prissy about the cats drinking out of the faucet.)
This book, like the previous two I have read by this author, is centered around first-world problems. But for some reason, this did not bother me in those. In fact, I enjoyed that aspect. It seemed like there were more important things at stake and their problems and dramas were not entirely of their own making. And they did things about them.
I was entertained by this book. There was humor, a little drama, a little suspense, a little romance, and I loved the ending. Everything came together nicely.
**3 1/2 stars**
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/books/