Four Wives

This topic has been done. And redone. And done again. Who does it best? Olivia Goldsmith tried, so did many, many others. Writing the parallel stories of four women (why four? Is it the magic number?) during a stressful period of their lives has been done so many times that all the women blend into one singly whiny woman in my brain.

Occasionally there is a book about four women that rises above the others and makes a fun read. Unfortunately this is not one of those books. It's not a bad read, it's just that the characters are extremely one-dimensional and very, very blah.

I didn't enjoy this book at all. In fact I'll venture my most candid opinion...I think I wasted my time reading it.

The Opposite of Love

A feel-good and girly book. I'd call it "Advanced Chick-lit", maybe. The story is not always happy, but in most parts extremely humorous and kept me reading well into the night. Julie Buxbaum captures the emotions that we experience during and after a loved one's illness and death extremely well, especially the state of being in denial.

There is also the traditional nice boyfriend, the office lech and the evil office Cruella de Ville who uses the office couch for nefarious purposes. A set of entertaining friends, a distant father and a loving grandfather round off the cast of characters who are characterized very well and help the plot along.

A nice read when you don't want to read anything too heavy. Reminds me a lot of the early writing of Marian Keyes. A fun and entertaining book.