A breezy, unremarkable comic romp with a comforting message of self-acceptance, offering a few poignant moments that...
From Halpern (The Ten Best Days of My Life, 2008, etc.), the story of a wealthy Philadelphia widow nostalgic for her youth who finds her wish granted after her 75th birthday.
Elegant, independent and devoted to her family, Ellie Jerome has much to be thankful for in her life. Still, she cannot shake the nagging feeling that she missed out on something by marrying so young. Her husband Howard was a prominent lawyer who kept his emotions—and his infidelities—under wraps. Also, by living a few blocks away from her adored 25-year-old granddaughter, Lucy, Ellie is curious and a bit envious of the seemingly boundless opportunities modern young women enjoy. So when she wakes up the day after her birthday to find herself in her supple 29-year-old body, she takes it as a sign to do everything that she has long denied herself. She then sets off for a day of adventure with Lucy, who takes very little convincing that the strange lady in her grandmother’s apartment is indeed her grandmother. Knowing that her daughter Barbara and best friend Frida would be harder sells (and killjoys), she ignores their increasingly alarmed phone messages and passes herself off as Lucy’s cousin. She gets a cool haircut, buys a sexy dress and helps Lucy land a big sale for her fashion designs. She also meets a cute guy, Zachary, who asks her out for the evening. She agrees, thrilled, not really sure what the boys these days expect on a first date. Meanwhile, timid Frida and bossy Barbara experience a series of misfortunes while combing the streets in search of Ellie. That gives the two a chance to bond as well, and come to terms with their own regrets. Of course, Ellie cannot hide out for long, and all good things must end, even if they inconveniently end in a young man’s bed.
A breezy, unremarkable comic romp with a comforting message of self-acceptance, offering a few poignant moments that underscore how far women have come in the past 50 years.Pub Date: June 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4391-7112-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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