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A review by lisadolak
Starting from Happy by Patricia Marx
2.0
I won this book through Firstreads by Goodreads.
I probably wouldn't have finished this book had it not been such a quick read. However, there were parts of it that were so insightful into relationships and people.
"How long were they together?..... Long enough for Gwen to have heard all of Wally's best stories and not hesitate to interrupt him when she felt she could tell one in a more entertaining way than he could......Long enough for Gwen to reach the conclusion that a king-size bed wouldn't be such a bad idea. Long enough for Wally to agree it wouldn't" This is just a piece of the page-long explanation for how long they were together. It made me laugh out loud. And there were many other examples of that type of writing. That's what kept me reading. Well that and I was on the beach with nothing else to read.
Then there were parts that I felt were simply one-liners. "Quarter sized hail changing to half-dollar size fell over all of northern South Dakota, leaving dozens without power. Southern North Dakota was so glad it gloated." By the way, this has not context whatsoever with the story as it was set in New York City. It was just a stand alone "chaplette" which is the author's over-mentioned word for how the book is broken into over 600 chapters. Some of which are no longer than 5 words.
It just seemed as if the author was so busy trying to impress everyone with her infinitesimal vocabulary to the point that she actual writes that Patty (the author frequently refers to herself and it is always in the third person) was able to spell infinitesimal correctly after only two tries, her quick wit and her style that it got in the way of a pretty good story about two people who meet, fall in love, have a family and struggle through the everyday druthers that is the American way of life.
It's funny but even as quick of a read as it was, I felt it would have been so much better had much the unneeded quirkiness been removed. This probably should have been published as a short story or as a magazine article.
I probably wouldn't have finished this book had it not been such a quick read. However, there were parts of it that were so insightful into relationships and people.
"How long were they together?..... Long enough for Gwen to have heard all of Wally's best stories and not hesitate to interrupt him when she felt she could tell one in a more entertaining way than he could......Long enough for Gwen to reach the conclusion that a king-size bed wouldn't be such a bad idea. Long enough for Wally to agree it wouldn't" This is just a piece of the page-long explanation for how long they were together. It made me laugh out loud. And there were many other examples of that type of writing. That's what kept me reading. Well that and I was on the beach with nothing else to read.
Then there were parts that I felt were simply one-liners. "Quarter sized hail changing to half-dollar size fell over all of northern South Dakota, leaving dozens without power. Southern North Dakota was so glad it gloated." By the way, this has not context whatsoever with the story as it was set in New York City. It was just a stand alone "chaplette" which is the author's over-mentioned word for how the book is broken into over 600 chapters. Some of which are no longer than 5 words.
It just seemed as if the author was so busy trying to impress everyone with her infinitesimal vocabulary to the point that she actual writes that Patty (the author frequently refers to herself and it is always in the third person) was able to spell infinitesimal correctly after only two tries, her quick wit and her style that it got in the way of a pretty good story about two people who meet, fall in love, have a family and struggle through the everyday druthers that is the American way of life.
It's funny but even as quick of a read as it was, I felt it would have been so much better had much the unneeded quirkiness been removed. This probably should have been published as a short story or as a magazine article.