Lizzie is simply too common—a binge-eating, exhausted mom who longs to write children’s books. Yawn.
Miserable suburban mum grapples with her unraveling marriage in this debut novel about the disappointments of motherhood.
An undiagnosed case of postpartum depression causes Lizzie Buckley to lose control of her life. It’s been three years since the twins were born, but Lizzie remains overwhelmed. Overweight and disheveled, Lizzie spends her days tending to two rambunctious tots with no support system—she barely has time to recognize how wretched she feels. Lizzie’s dashing spouse, James, has a career on the rise and is often called out of town on work assignments. Resentful that she’s had to take the brunt of the childcare duties, Lizzie identifies James as the cause of all her troubles. At the culmination of one especially exhausting day, Lizzie fires off a disgruntled e-mail to her sister laying out all of James’ offenses and declaring, “You know, sometimes I think I wouldn’t miss him at all if he just disappeared.” Lizzie mistakenly fires off the e-mail to James. The wounded James packs his bags and gives Lizzie just what she asked for—a separation. At first, Lizzie panics. She feels as if this is all one big misunderstanding and that James will come to his senses. When groveling phone calls fail to win James back, Lizzie realizes she’s in need of radical change. A little therapy and a newfound obsession with fitness assist Lizzie in shaking her blues and starting to take some responsibility for her life. The question remains: Will all of her self-improvement bring her closer to James or serve to put additional distance between the couple? Chidley, a native of Swaziland who lived for a time in England, sets the novel in a suburb of London, where children can still run free in lush gardens. The setting is appealing, but the characters and plot are stale.
Lizzie is simply too common—a binge-eating, exhausted mom who longs to write children’s books. Yawn.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-446-17814-3
Page Count: 376
Publisher: 5 Spot/Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
