Rating: 
Summary: The postman only rang twice
Review: --and Katinka puts new sheets on her bed. For a 31-year-old divorcee, this lady sure is empty-headed. No wonder she cannot write fiction unless she lived through it. Could it be that the author went along the same track? The only highlight is Max, probably because he is not a grownup. Cityslickers like Jake should never try to live in the country; they'll scream at the first earthworm they see. And Louie is right in sticking to stamps in Cambridge.
Rating: 
Summary: smart, funny, beautifully written!
Review: A friend gave me this book in the midst of my tending my newborn baby--and guess what, I kept reading while diapering, while nursing, while I should have been sleeping. I couldn't stop. The characters were so real they were breathing off the page, the prose so sparkling and full of surprises I couldn't stop smiling, and the plot so delightful and ingenious that I cannot wait to read the next effort of the supremely talented Ms. Medwed--in fact I've already ordered it from Amazon! More, more, Ms. Medwed!
Rating: 
Summary: Well-Fleshed Out Characters
Review: at the end of the book, i wanted more. that's how i know if i like a book. cared about katinka, even though she drove me nuts sometimes. could ms. medwed write a sequel please!
Rating:
Summary: Hotmail
Review: Boring, boring, boring, snore, snore, boring, boring, snore, snore. I didn't even finish the book. I tried and tried, I promise that I did. It wasn't that the writing didn't show real talent. The book is well written, it is just boring, boring, boring. Did I mention that the book was boring? I really wanted to like the book. There were times when I thought, this isn't so bad. Finally more than a month passed and I realized that I hadn't touched the book. Usually I can't wait to get home from work to read "just one more chapter" of the book that I am reading. This didn't happen with Mail. I couldn't care less about what ended up happening with the characters. I just ended up forgetting to read it. I have had more fun waiting for my own mail to arrive.
Rating: 
Summary: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Review: Boring, boring, boring, snore, snore, boring, boring, snore, snore. I didn't even finish the book. I tried and tried, I promise that I did. It wasn't that the writing didn't show real talent. The book is well written, it is just boring, boring, boring. Did I mention that the book was boring? I really wanted to like the book. There were times when I thought, this isn't so bad. Finally more than a month passed and I realized that I hadn't touched the book. Usually I can't wait to get home from work to read "just one more chapter" of the book that I am reading. This didn't happen with Mail. I couldn't care less about what ended up happening with the characters. I just ended up forgetting to read it. I have had more fun waiting for my own mail to arrive.
Rating:
Summary: Big Disappointment
Review: Despite the review in the NY Times which prompted me to rush forward and pay hardcover bucks for a first novel by someone I'd never heard of, I'm disappointed to say that MAIL is absolutely ordinary. The characters are barely two-dimensional...the only authentic ones are an 8-year old boy and a bag of flour named Daniella.
The highest compliment I can ever give a book is to wish I had written it. The sad fact is that if I had written this one, I would have wished it were better.
Rating:
Summary: What a twit...
Review: For a first novel, it's probably semi- autobiographic. I was hoping that this book will be different. Katinka is a dim-witted and neurotic twit, deserving both Seamus and Jake. This is a sad statement of our society when we cheer for a character like that as if we feel guilty of a better life than hers.
Rating:
Summary: WACKY AND WONDERFUL
Review: I doesn't get any better than MAIL. A freelance writer who turns her obsession with mail into an obsession with her mailman who is 100 percent MALE. A mother and daughter having simultaneous affairs in the same apartment building. Mameve Medwed's first novel is quirky, brilliant, hysterically funny. A fabulous read.
Rating: 
Summary: Return to Sender
Review: I have to say, after recently reading a few other titles in the genre of "thirtysomethings-trying-to-hold-a-career-while-searching-for-a-lifetime-partner" (*Bridget Jones*, *Animal Husbandry*), that *Mail* stood as the least enjoyable. Exluding the fact that the characters are flat, the book is just not written with any lyricism. I mean, I didn't expect this to ressemble Joycean prose, but even in contemporary women's novels, I guess I still expect the writing to flow. The metaphors seem contrived, as did the humor. However, I didn't regret reading this for 2 reasons: it was fun to catch the Harvard locale references and I thought the author accurately captured the true feelings of a single, smart, childing-coveting woman who babysits a precocious, fun "Max-type" kid.
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting social commentary
Review: I liked this book which at first seems to be about social classes and people who are snobs. However it seems to me it is about a focus on aspects of a highly structured society. Such as the one seen for school teachers, postal service, nurses and city hall functions. After a confrontation with her mother Katinka decides to change back to her maiden name and asks how to do it. The idea that a person has to place a public notice, and obtain a certified copy of a birth cerificate to change their name is not really necessary, but probably less hassle in the long run. I took a course in Law for the Layman and the teacher said you need no legal court order to change your name. You can do it by your self with no court assistance. It seems to me with the breakdown of society infrastrucure such as the collapse of large company employment and downsizing, erosion of retirement benefits, shift to part time employees with out benefits that the fabric of the highly structured society is in decline. Also seen is the rise in unwed mothers, as well as the growth of living together rather than marriage. The handwritting seems to be on the wall and MAIL is a reminder of a former time that is slowing changing. It still makes for an enjoyable book to read. Nice to see her grow up and take charge of her life.
|
