Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Not Your Average Chick Lit

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
This books tells the story of two women living in Boston. There's Tessa the mother of two who recently quite her job as a college professor to become a stay at home mother. And there's Valerie a single mother raising her son while working as a lawyer. Neither one knows each other, until of course their lives becomes forever linked.

To start of on light note, while this isn't a sequel to her other books there were a few familiar faces. Dex from Something Borrowed makes his appearance as the brother of one of the characters. And while this book isn't Dex and Rachel's story it is nice to check in on them, and see how their lives are going.

As for the book, it similar in some ways to the author's past books. Reading the book it's almost as if you're not sure who to root for. Starting the book I knew what I wanted to happen, and when it almost does by the book's end I wasn't sure if I wanted it anymore. None of the characters come off as perfect, instead they come of as almost a real life flawed person. After all we know no ones perfect in real life. But I'm not sure if I always want that in a light summer read. While part of me does like the fact the characters seem real and easily identifiable, at times I almost wished for an easier read from a so-called chick lit book.

I can't list this book as one of my author's favorite. Nor do I really have any desire to read it again. But while I was reading it I couldn't put it down, and I get the feeling that this will be a book I won't forget. I haven't stopped thinking about it since I read it, and I have a feeling I be thinking about it for a good while.

~Shoshanah

5 comments:

  1. I skimmed this because I literally just got the book out of the library!

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  2. Oh I didn't even know she had a new book out! Can't wait to read it!

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  3. I have about 100 pages to go before I finish this book... I definitely like it, but haven't had the "omg, I cannot put this book down" feeling yet.

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  4. I just finished this book one day last week, and I think I was a bit disapointed by it. I’ve read her others, and enjoyed them, but this, I think, was my least favorite of hers! I found Tessa to be very unlikeable, I can’t say why, and while Valerie wasn’t my favorite, I found myself liking her a bit more, though not much more! It was hard to relate to either character, which may have something to do with my dislike. I would have liked to hear more from Nick’s view. Perhaps alternating the chapters between him, Tessa and Valerie would have been better, because I saw almost nothing from him! Also, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of drama. I kept waiting for some sort of explosion, some major action, some huge shock, but there was nothing.

    I did like how Dex came back, and I went back and read her others and realized she has done the same in each of her other books...brought someone back. I hadn't noticed it before.

    I hope her next book is better…

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  5. I really want to read this!! I just need to find the time to read... Moving is so time consuming and yucky sometimes.

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