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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing Waste of Money, Jun 6 2004
By A Customer
It seems this book was enjoyed by all who have reviewed it so far, so I know I'm in the minority when I say I regret having spent my money on it. I bought it because it was touted as a clever update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, only set in a Jewish senior citizen complex in Florida. What's not to like? Plenty, in my view:1. A muddled point of view. The book opens with what appears to be the story of Carol Newman, a youngish woman plotting to assist the love life of her reluctant mother-in-law by setting her up with a wealthy widow. It quickly becomes apparent, though, that this is not Carol's story at all. Unlike Pride and Prejudice, where it is very clear that Elizabeth Bennett is the protagonist, I found it hard to tell who the main character was supposed to be: May, the mother-in-law, who is so thinly drawn that she's almost a cipher; Flo, her acerbic friend, perhaps the most fully realized of the female characters but still one-dimensional; or Lila, another friend who makes brief but insubstantial appearances. Because the characters are so superficially drawn, it becomes hard to empathize with any of them and,for me, impacted any possible enjoyment of the novel. This book would have benefitted from having a clear protagonist from whose point of view the entire story is told. 2. Too much "telling" rather than "showing." A good writer makes characters and situations come alive by dramatizing them, so that we see the characters set in motion and come to appreciate them based on their actions. Perhaps the author's "day job" as an English professor intruded too much here, because she tended to be very didactic and to have characters sum up changes in attitude/behavior in lengthy monologues, rather than showing this to the reader with action. An example: the author intends it to be a pivotal moment in her story when the wealthy widow, Norman Grafstein, finally stops playing the field and settles on May as his interest, but we see nothing of what led up to his choice. Instead, we are given a summary of it: "Suddenly he saw things differently...it suddenly seemed obvious to him that May was the sweetest woman he had ever met. He would be happy to have her as his date for what remained of his life." A modern reader is too sophisticated to appreciate things being spelled out for her in this way. It's rather like reading the Cliff Notes version of a novel, instead of having the pleasure of watching the story unfold. 3. There is no conflict in the book. Having conflict, or obstacles characters must overcome, always makes a story more engrossing. Here, there is nothing at stake for any of the characters, who are comfortably well off in retirement, don't seem particularly lonely or sad, and for whom choosing marriage or romance at this stage in their lives seems about as eventful or significant as deciding between whether to have the fruit cup or the spongecake for dessert. The only possible exception to this is the character of Lila, who needs to supplement her retirement income to continue to live in the complex and seeks a husband for this purpose, but her character is so thinly drawn, the prospective husband arrives, woos her, and marries her so effortlessly, that her story is devoid of any drama. 4. The author has centered her story around Jewish seniors and so makes every effort to provide a sense of them as a subculture. At times, however, she will use Yiddishisms that she doesn't define, which makes it difficult for a non Jewish reader to understand. This keeps the story from having a universal appeal. 5. Many of the chapters begin with lengthy and unneccesary exposition. For example, the author can't seem to talk about seniors auditing classes at a local college without giving all the excess detail of how the practice started, what happened, why it was partially curtailed, etc. She does the same with numerous incidents: excruciating detail about how the senior citizen complex prepared for the arrival of members' grandchildren, how the complex's board worked, how parties were planned for. This disrupts the narrative structure of the story and is another example of the author's penchant for didactics over plot. When all this unnecessary exposition is subtracted from the novel, precious little of a plot remains. It is my experience from reading reviews on Amazon.com that the majority of people who submit a review on a particular book do so because they enjoyed it, but I think another point of view can be helpful to a reader contemplating buying a book. For this one, I would recommend borrowing it from a friend or the library, rather than purchasing it. I also think it has a limited appeal. If you like sweet stories about not particularly nuanced characters, all of whom get their own happy ending after no discernible struggle, you'll like this book.
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