Book Reviews Archives

Movie Night: “In the Heart of the Sea”

December 10, 2015

Michael, the sailer, really wanted to see this movie, and I, the Chris Hemsworth groupie, really wanted to see Chris Hemsworth – in 3D yet – so off we went to the members-only screening at the Jacob Burns Film Center.

Directed by Ron Howard and based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s acclaimed 2000 nonfiction book, In the Heart of the Sea, about the sinking of the American whaling ship Essex in 1820 that inspired Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, it’s an adventure thriller about – you guessed it – a man and a whale. Well, several men and one really large whale.

Told mostly in flashbacks by one of the Essex’s survivors (played by the always-watchable Brendan Gleeson), the story follows the crew aboard the Essex, which, after leaving port in Nantucket, is attacked by a mammoth size bull sperm whale. Adrift at sea on a crippled ship, the crewmen, led by Chris Hemsworth’s first mate who’s at odds with the patrician captain, are pushed to their limits, facing storms, starvation, panic, and despair.

That’s the short version. The long version involves much crashing of waves, breakage of ship parts and closeups of the men’s faces as they cope with sunstroke, delirium and hunger – not unlike last year’s survival-at-sea plot in “Unbroken.” The spoiler here is that there’s cannibalism. Hey, when you’re really hungry and your crewman dies, what else are you gonna do, right?

Thankfully, this is a Ron Howard movie, so our star and my heartthrob, Chris Hemsworth, survives, goes home to his wife and young daughter and lives happily ever after. Essentially, Hemsworth plays Thor with a New England accent. He did have to lose 30 pounds and said the 500-calorie-a-day diet was a killer, but his acting is negligible. He’s eye candy and that was enough for me in an otherwise snooze of a film that felt stiff, its dialogue wooden and predictable. For Michael, on the other hand, the film was two hours at sea and there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

Movie Night: “Room”

October 26, 2015

The Room

When I read Emma Donoghue’s novel, Room, a few years ago, it stayed with me for a very long time. Haunted me is more like it. The story of a mother who raises her five-year-old son – from birth – in a garden shed, held captive for seven years by the man she and her son call “Old Nick,” who provides the bare minimum of food and clothing while raping her whenever he stops by, Room was a knockout to the gut. Not only was it based on a true story that Irish author Donoghue fictionalized brilliantly, but it resonated in the present because of the awful case in Cleveland where the dog catcher or whatever he was held those three girls captive for years.

How could the mother – known as “Ma” in Room – nurture her child as beautifully as she did under such horrendous conditions? How did she come up with the escape plot that ultimately led them both to safety in the outside world? How did she adapt to life with her family? How did her son adapt to the outside world, when his only reality was the tiny space of the shed? It was book that both amazed and inspired.

Now we have Emma Donaghue’s own adaptation of her book for the film version, which won the prestigious audience award at the Toronto Film Festival and has earned raves. I add mine to the list. I absolutely loved the movie, disturbing and tense as it was.

Brie Larson, the actress with the breakout performance in “Short Term 12,” plays Ma and she’s great. You believe every word she says. You feel every emotion she feels. She’s the character in the movie, not some hot young actress playing the character. And Jacob Tremblay, the precocious young actor who plays five-year-old Jack, is a small miracle. What a face. What eyes. It’s been 24 hours since I saw the film and I can still hear his little voice, which Donoghue smartly uses in voice-over narration. I don’t know if the Academy will give him the Best Actor Oscar, but they need to nominate him along with Larson for Best Actress. Oh, and the movie should be on the list for Best Picture. In the supporting role of Ma’s mother, Joan Allen, who’s never given a bad performance that I’ve seen, was terrific too. There’s a scene with her and Jack in which she cuts his hair and he says, “I love you, Grandma.” I lost it and I wasn’t alone. Everybody in the theater reached for their Kleenex.

Highly, highly recommended.

What I Read, Watched and Ate: Favorites of Summer 2015

September 9, 2015

I know, I know. I could have posted a pic of late summer tomatoes, which have been luscious here in CT. Or corn on the cob, fish on the grill, a lobster roll or an ice cream cone. Instead, I gave you a Cobb salad. Big deal, you think. But it’s not just any Cobb. The one above was a creation of one of my new favorite places, Kingsley Tavern in Kent. It’s made of really fresh romaine, avocado, blue cheese, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, celery, chicken and – drum roll – the crispiest, most delicious bacon I’ve ever tasted, all dressed in a light, tangy vinaigrette. I craved a salad on a hot steamy night recently, and Kingsley’s Cobb delivered.

But there were many treats of summer of the edible variety: the grilled prawns at Purdy’s Farmer & the Fish in North Salem, the swordfish at Terra Sole in Ridgefield, the chocolate tasting dessert at Arethusa Al Tavolo, the blueberry pie from the Bridgewater Village Store. To say I ate well this summer would be an understatement.

I was a book glutton too. I devoured novel after novel over the past few months, and while I didn’t love every single one, I did love reading in a joyous, leisurely way. Among my favorite novels were: Days of Awe by Lauren Fox, Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet, Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont, Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum, Disclaimer by Renee Knight, Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor and Department of Speculation by Jenny Offill. I’m looking forward to a whole crop of fall books.

In addition to sports on TV, classic movies on TCM and non-stop news on CNN (it was the summer of Trump, after all), I belatedly discovered Weeds and binge watched the Showtime series with abandon. What great writing, not to mention the performances by Mary-Louise Parker and Elizabeth Perkins. I also went back and re-watched The Affair, also on Showtime, in anticipation of the first episode of Season 2 on October 4th.

I only went to a handful of movies in the theaters this summer, and the few I saw didn’t come close to making a favorites list. “Love and Mercy,” the Beach Boys movie that garnered mostly good reviews, was long and meandering, and though Paul Dano was great and the inside-the-studio stuff was interesting, I was less than enthralled. “Trainwreck,” which I expected to adore because of the hilarious Amy Schumer, wasn’t funny. I don’t know how else to say it. I sat there waiting to laugh and didn’t. And “Ricki and the Flash” was fun in the way it’s always fun to watch Meryl Streep do her thing, but was otherwise forgettable. I can’t wait for the big Oscar-y movies to open. On my must-see list are “Grandma” with Lily Tomlin, Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle’s “Steve Jobs,” “Black Mass,” the Whitey Bulger story starring Johnny Depp and “Carol” with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, to name a few.

Bring on fall!

Now Playing on My Kindle: "Big Little Lies"

August 19, 2014

I really enjoyed Australian author Liane Moriarty’s last blockbuster, The Husband’s Secret, so I ordered her new one right away and wasn’t disappointed. She has a quirky yet accessible style that makes for good storytelling with lots of plot (I like lots of plot) along with well-drawn characters and a healthy dose of both suspense and humor – the perfect combo.

The characters in the new novel are parents of young children attending the same school – helicopter parents to the max. (Apparently, they have them in Australia too.) They all have baggage and that baggage gets transferred to their kids, who act out in often surprising ways. We begin the story knowing something terrible has happened but it isn’t until the last couple of chapters that we learn what – and at whose hand. We meet the mother whose ex has a new wife and child, everyone living in seeming harmony despite their simmering resentments. We meet the beautiful, wealthy couple with the perfect life and the perfect twins and find out that their “perfection” is anything but. We meet the single mom who has very little money and struggles to fit in with the other mothers, especially after her son is accused of bullying one of their daughters and is ostracized. We meet the mean girl mothers with big careers who look down at the stay-at-homes. It’s all here and I lapped it up, even though I’m not a parent and don’t have firsthand knowledge of PTA politics. Moriarty spins a good yarn, period, and she had me glued to the story until the final wrap up. The perfect escapist entertainment.

Next up on my Kindle: Amy Bloom’s Lucky Us. I’m a quarter of the way into it and loving it already.

Now Playing on My Kindle: "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry"

May 4, 2014

What a wonderful novel! A friend suggested I read it and I’m so glad I did. It’s a gem for anyone who loves books and loves reading about bookstores – or who just enjoys a good love story.

A.J. Fikry owns Island Books, an independent store on New England’s Alice Island, a fictional Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard. His wife died and business isn’t great, and he’s not exactly the most social of human beings; it’s safe to say he’s a misanthrope. He grumbles about visits from publishers’ sales reps and almost never hosts author signings in his store, and if he deigns to chat with a customer the conversation will be brief.

There are exceptions, however. He falls for the charming, quirky Amy, the sales rep for Knightley Press, and he grows to appreciate Lambiase, a local cop with an affection for crime novels.

Into his world comes a surprise – a letter from a mysterious woman explaining why she has deposited her infant daughter at the store for him to raise. A.J. is not only not a “child person” but how is he supposed to take care of a baby girl when he can hardly take care of himself?

This story is so charming I hesitate to write more. There’s a reason why it’s currently on national bestseller lists. I’ve already used the word “gem,” but it bears repeating.

Now Playing on My Kindle: "This Is Where I Leave You"

March 14, 2014

Somehow, Jonathan Tropper’s NYT bestselling novel, This Is Where I Leave You, had escaped my notice, or at least until recently. I started reading about the movie version, which Tropper adapted and which opens in September, and I figured I’d better get on this. The movie stars Jason Bateman, Tina Fey and Jane Fonda, among many others.

But back to the novel. Tropper has managed to craft a story that’s a true comedy-drama. It’s so funny at times, particularly the dialogue, and so painfully poignant. Not easy to pull off for any author, but I’m now a huge fan of Tropper’s. I loved this book. Loved. It.

It’s the story of the Foxman family, a crew of non-observant Jews who find themselves sitting shiva after the family patriarch dies. The narrator is Judd, one of the Foxman sons, whose wife Jen has been having an affair with his boss, a shock jock in the Howard Stern tradition. His world rocked by both Jen’s infidelity and his father’s death, Judd trudges off to spend a week with his mother and siblings with whom he doesn’t exactly get along. His older brother Paul holds a lifelong grudge against him. His younger brother Phillip is a charming liar who can never be trusted. And his sister Wendy slings one-liners at him like nobody’s business. And then there’s their mother, a sexy author of parenting books who has a secret love life that stuns everybody.

Along the way there are old friends and girlfriends who resurface and neighbors who show up to pay condolences and Jen, Judd’s perfidious wife, who announces she’s pregnant with his kid.

Oh, the complications.

There are so many twists and turns in this story and Judd takes us through all of them with his uniquely sardonic voice that’s both screamingly hilarious and heartbreakingly sad.

Publishers Weekly said of Tropper in its review, “he has the ability to create touchingly human characters and a deliciously page-turning story.” Yup, he does and he did. I’m already on to his latest, One Last Thing Before I Go.

Now Playing on My Kindle: "The Goldfinch"

November 17, 2013

In all the flurry about seeing movies this pre-Oscar season, I neglected to post about how much I loved – no, revered – Donna Tartt’s new novel, her first in 10 years. The hubbub surrounding “The Goldfinch”‘s publication, combined with its 800+-page length made me wary of diving in, but once I did I was hooked. I can’t even write about the novel because I’m afraid of sounding pedestrian when compared to Tartt’s gift with language; it’s gorgeous.

Suffice it to say, “The Goldfinch” is a mesmerizing, Dickensian, utterly enveloping tale, set over the course of many years, about a Manhattan boy who loses his mother in a violent tragedy, is orphaned, takes up with a cast of exquisitely interesting characters (especially a risk-taking Russian boy with a heart of gold) and nearly dies before deciding not to. The story is about love lost and never quite regained, about survival, about friendship, about art and its power to uplift and transform. I can’t rave about this book enough without sounding like I’m getting paid to do it. I only know I can’t wait for it to settle in my mind a bit more so I can dive back in and read it again.

Now Playing on My Kindle: "The Interestings"

October 21, 2013

For some reason I avoided Meg Wolitzer’s bestselling novel. I like her writing a lot, and I’d certainly read wonderful reviews of her latest book. I guess it was the idea of the story – that a group of kids at an artsy summer camp in the 1970s would call themselves “The Interestings,” It felt smug and turned me off.

But as my business trip to Arkansas approached, I realized I didn’t have plane reading for my Kindle so I went on Amazon, found the book and hit “Buy.” I was pleasantly surprised and found myself completely immersed in the story, couldn’t stop reading and finished it this weekend. I don’t know how Wolitzer managed to juggle such a large cast of characters over such a sweeping period of time and make each one so multi-layered, but she did.

I loved reading about these people and their lives – from their teenage years through their 20s and into their 50s. Jules is the awkward one who wants to be an actress/comedienne but doesn’t have the talent, settling for a career as a therapist in New York, married to Dennis, an ultrasound technician, envying her more exceptional summer camp friends. Ash is the beautiful, delicate one, raised by parents to excel. Her brother Goodman is the charismatic screw-up, believing he’s exceptional but acting like a pain in the ass and never getting his act together. Jonah, the son of a famous bohemian folk singer, is the sensitive, unknowable one whose musical talent was suppressed during his youth by an unscrupulous father-figure. And Ethan is the genius cartoonist, unattractive physically but so talented and ethical that people are drawn to him and his wealth and power.

This core group moves through many time periods and passages, and Wolitzer gets all the background details just right. She presents their dramas in a way that allows them to take their turns telling the story but she maintains a third person narrative voice. Not easy to do. When I got to the last page, I was sorry the novel was over: the mark of a very good book.

Now Playing on My Kindle: "Still Foolin’ Em"

October 13, 2013

I thought the beginning of Billy Crystal’s memoir was so funny I called Michael and started reading parts of it out loud to him. Crystal’s musings about turning 65 are straight out of his standup comedy routine and were exactly the kind of break I was looking for after finishing the second draft of my novel and spending my down time reading a lot of fiction.

After his opening screed about aging, he settles down and takes us on his journey – his childhood in a loving family, his marriage to Janice, the birth of their two daughters, his breakthroughs on the “Tonight” show and “SNL” and, of course, his hosting gigs at the Oscars, plus his big movie role in “When Harry Met Sally…”

Then there are the relationships with the Yankees, Muhammed Ali, Rob Reiner, Howard Cosell, and just about everybody who’s anybody in show business. He’s an amiable storyteller with kind words for those who’ve been in his corner along the way; this isn’t a score-settling type of book at all. It gets pretty schmaltzy when he talks about being a grandfather, but he’s still with the same wife all these years and lives in the same house and seems to be a genuinely good, unpretentious, well-meaning guy – a rarity in Hollywood. I can see why the book is appealing to a wide readership. It doesn’t offend. It plays it safe. And it makes us laugh.

Now Playing on My Kindle: "The Husband’s Secret"

September 24, 2013

What an intriguing premise for a novel…..A woman who appears to have the perfect life (happy marriage, great kids, lovely home, engaging personality) is rummaging around in the attic when she stumbles on a letter, written by her husband and addressed to her with the caveat: “To be opened after my death.”

How odd, she thinks. He isn’t sick. He isn’t dying. When could he have written this and what could possibly be so secret that he doesn’t want me to read the letter now?

Since hubby is on a business trip, she debates whether or not to open the envelop and read the letter. Suffice it to say that she does read it and that it will rock her world and that of her children and the members of her close-knit Australian community.

The book begins as three inter-connected stories, each focusing on a different woman. It’s not immediately clear why Moriarty takes us away from the compelling tale of the wife who’s debating whether to read her husband’s letter, but eventually we see what’s in store and the results are riveting.

“The Husband’s Wife” is one of those compulsively readable novels, part thriller, part domestic drama, part woman on the edge of a breakdown. Moriarty gets the details just right and her characters ring true. I’ll probably go back and read her earlier books.

Now Playing On My Kindle: "Heroic Measures"

September 1, 2013

I’m not even a dog lover and I loved this book. What a gem. In a few spare words, Jill Ciment tells the story of 48 hours in the lives of an elderly couple, their beloved dachshund and the NYC walk-up apartment where they’ve lived for most of their adult lives and which they’ve put on the real estate market for sale – all while the city is in a state of panic over a potential terrorist on the loose. Ciment somehow manages to make a domestic drama read like a thriller, a comedy of manners and a love story. She even gives the dog a few chapters to narrate.

Ruth, a retired schoolteacher, and Alex, an artist who has trouble getting up and down the stairs, are readying their apartment for the realtor’s open house the next day when they notice that Dorothy, the dachshund, can’t move her back legs. They tenderly carry her out of the apartment on a cutting board and attempt to travel uptown to the animal hospital, only to find traffic at a standstill because of a gas tanker that’s stuck in the Midtown Tunnel, causing gridlock around the city. Is the driver of the tanker a terrorist? How will an attack affect the real estate market? Where will Ruth and Alex go if they do sell their apartment? What will become of poor Dorothy?

It’s all described in perfect prose, right down the bidders on the apartment, the other dogs at the animal hospital, the couple with whom Ruth and Alex have dinner in the midst of all this chaos, and, of course, their long and loving relationship.

What a treasure. I’m so glad a friend recommended it.

Now Playing On My Kindle: "The Silent Wife"

August 25, 2013

I became aware of this novel after reading an article about it and its late author in the NYT. The gist of the piece was that the book owes its bestsellerdom to Gillian Flynn’s blockbuster “Gone Girl.” But here’s the thing: while the two novels do feature alternating husband and wife points-of-view and the stories are both about thoroughly unlikable characters engaged in bad acts, the voices of the authors couldn’t be more different.

I loved “Gone Girl.” It was pure entertainment, full of twists I didn’t see coming and lightened up with the author’s sardonic humor. “The Silent Wife” is just plain dark. It’s compulsively readable and I did want to get to the end to find out how things would resolve, but I didn’t exactly enjoy myself in the process.

Jodi is a shrink. Todd is in real estate. They’ve been together for 20 years although never married. Jodi knows Todd is serially unfaithful, but she goes about her life, making his dinner, keeping a neat, tidy house, maintaining her good looks, never rocking the boat. Todd, on the other hand, has been fooling around with the young daughter of his old drinking buddy, gets her pregnant and promises to marry her. Complications ensue and Todd ends up dead.

Harrison, who died before the book was published, had a wonderful, deadpan (sorry for the pun) way of using the third person to tell both stories, Jodi’s and Todd’s, and yet giving them their own distinctive voices. I would have liked to read more of her work.

Still, “The Silent Wife” made me eager to read something breezy and humorous next. Enough with murder and mayhem for this reader – at least for awhile.

Now Playing On My Kindle: "Big Brother"

August 11, 2013

Pandora (yes, that’s the name of the novel’s observant and witty narrator/heroine) is happily married to Fletcher, raising his two children from a previous marriage and running a very successful business that makes talking dolls (long story). While it’s true that Fletcher’s taken on an irritatingly spartan lifestyle, eating only super healthy foods and bicycling for long distances, and she’s put on 20 pounds without realizing it, their life together in Iowa is mostly companionable – until her revered jazz musician older brother Edison flies in for a visit from New York. Surprise: he’s 300+ pounds, has no job, no money and no place to stay. Trouble.

Edison ends up staying for two months during which he and Fletcher grow to despise each other and during which he eats and eats and creates a path of destruction by just sitting down in a chair. When it’s time for him to fly back to New York, Pandora can’t let him go. She makes it her mission to get him down to 160 pounds. Fletcher is not amused.

What follows is a brother-sister act revolving around food – or the lack thereof. Both siblings embark on a drastic diet and learn a lot about each other and themselves in the process.

I won’t say more about the plot because there are twists and turns the reader doesn’t see coming (this reader didn’t). What I can say unequivocally is that “Big Brother” is a superlative novel. Lionel Shriver is a beautiful writer even as her razor-sharp wit cuts through sentimentality, and she tackles the subjects of food and obesity in an unflinching way I’ve certainly never come across before. I’d be tempted to go back and re-read the book if I didn’t have so many other promising ones lined up on my Kindle, but maybe when there’s a lull….

Now Playing On My Kindle: "Is This Tomorrow"

June 28, 2013

I loved Caroline Leavitt’s previous novel, the New York Times bestselling Pictures of You, so I was excited when her new one came out. It did not disappoint, and I enjoyed it even more than the last one.

Set in suburban Massachusetts in the 1950s, it’s the story of Ava, a beautiful, divorced mother of a 12-year-old boy named Lewis. They’re the only Jewish family in their small town, a place of Eisenhower Cold War paranoia where anybody who’s “different” provokes suspicion. When Lewis’ friend and classmate, Jimmy, goes missing, the neighbors shun Ava entirely. The fact that she has a jazz musician for a boyfriend doesn’t help, and when he breaks off their relationship Ava is more isolated than ever.

But the novel is very much about Lewis too and how he tries to cope over the years with his friend Jimmy’s disappearance as well as his father’s disinterest. All the characters in the novel are richly layered, and the story builds to a surprising climax. Just when I thought I knew how things would go, Leavitt took the plot in another direction. She has a wonderful way of turning tragedy into compelling reading and of turning a flawed woman like Ava into someone you truly root for.

It’s so satisfying to finish a book and be able to recommend it without reservation to others, and I do recommend it. Leavitt is a beautiful writer and I can’t wait until she spins her next tale.

Now Playing On My Kindle: "Me Before You"

April 8, 2013

Usually, I wait until I finish a book before blogging about it, but I’m making an exception in the case of Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You. I’m about a third of the way into the novel, and I love the setup, the characters and the possibilities of how things will go.

I’ve been writing a lot about caregiving since You’d Better Not Die came out in November, so you’d think Moyes’ novel about a caregiver would have been on my Must Read List. Somehow, it slipped under my radar despite all the great reviews.

Like last year’s French film sensation “The Intouchables,” which I also loved, Me Before You features a quadriplegic millionaire and his unlikely helper. In this case, the helper is a twentysomething British woman who’s out of a job, lives with her family and has no idea what she wants out of life. She has no purpose other than to contribute to the household income. Her charge is a man who once lived life to the fullest – a success in business and in romance. An adrenaline junkie, he embraced adventure and risk. After his accident, he’s angry, bitter, wants to die. What’s a naive, inexperienced caregiver to do?

I’m about to find out.

It seems that caregiving is on a lot of creative minds these days, and I’m not surprised. It’s rare to find someone who hasn’t been or isn’t being touched by the experience personally, so it’s only natural that the subject has made its way into the zeitgeist. The more we share those experiences, the better it’ll be for all of us.

Now Playing On My Kindle: "The Dinner"

March 27, 2013

I don’t even know where to begin. I just finished this novel, which has been a sensation in Europe and which will haunt me for days, maybe longer. It’s so dark, dense and twisty – much more so than the accessible “Gone Girl” – and the characters are anything but likable. And yet I couldn’t stop reading. I stayed up late to keep reading and got up early this morning to finish it. And now….what to think about it all.

Translated from the Dutch, it’s about two couples who meet at a pretentious, extravagantly expensive restaurant for dinner, and the structure of the novel is formed by the various courses of the meal. Paul, the narrator, skewers the food, the servers, the fact that his brother Serge has chosen such an over-the-top place for them to meet. At first we think Paul’s the sane one in this group, but that perspective changes soon enough and we’re thrown into the reason for the dinner: what the two couples are going to do about the horrific crime their sons have committed.

I kept thinking the story couldn’t get any more ugly and then it does, but “ugly” in a way that made it impossible for me to look away – like rubbernecking when you pass a car accident.

In the end, I loved the novel because I found it thoroughly engrossing and I admired the author’s ability to tell such a complicated story. But I truly hated the people in the story. Which is sort of a contradiction, but then so is “The Dinner.”

Now Playing On My Kindle: "The Lion Is In"

March 24, 2013

What a whimsical novel this turned out to be. I had no idea what I was getting into when I bought it. I’d enjoyed Ephron’s previous work and assumed her latest would be a comedy of some sort, but I wasn’t expecting a story that’s a cross between “The Runaway Bride” and “Thelma and Louise” with a bit of “The Wizard of Oz” thrown in.

Yes, there really is a lion in the story, and he – his name is Marcel – is a very central character due to his almost magical ability to empower the three women whose lives we follow.

Tracee, Lana and Rita are all running away from something. They have baggage, in other words. Tracee is a kleptomaniac who’s stolen a diamond necklace. Lana is a recovering alcoholic who goes to AA meetings when she’s in the mood but is in denial about her anger issues. And Rita has fled her minister husband and his domineering ways. When their car breaks down in a backwater town in North Carolina, they wander into a bar that happens to have a caged lion in it. And they stay, having nowhere else to go, eventually moving into a nearby motel while they earn enough money as waitresses to pay for the car repair.

Over the course of the novel, the three women form an attachment to the lion, to each other, and – in the cases of Rita and Tracee – to the men who offer them unconditional love.

Ephron clearly has a vivid imagination, having come up with such a fantastical plot, but her characters are endearing and her ending is a happy one (always a plus for me). While this wasn’t the comedy I had anticipated, it was a really interesting read – unique and charming.