Rating: 
Summary: As Enjoyable as a Trip to the Beauty Parlor
Review: Feminine fiction at its finest. Oh, BRIDGET JONES and similar titles are fine, but how refreshing it is to find a heroine in "women's fiction" who's concerned with something other than calories or the size of her hips.
Patty Jane is an engaging character, an abandoned wife who pulls herself up by her bootstraps to raise her child, and the love stories are funny, sad, and charming. I recommend it highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Family Life
Review: This is the life of two sisters, Patty Jane and Harriet...they surmount a difficult childhood and both find the love of their lives only to be met with tragedy. This is a northern version of Steel Magnolias. The women are strong and fiesty. Patty Jane marries Thor (yes, Thor) and plans her life with him, a mystery disappearance leaves Patty Jane with a young child on her own. But she isn't on her own, Harriet is there, forcing her to go on with life. Harriet falls in love herself with a very unlikely suitor. Again tragedy hits the family. I liked this book very much, from its strong characters to a familar locale. It is a fast read and very enjoyable. I will read Ms. Landvik's other books.
Rating:
Summary: Homey, sad and sweet
Review: Patty Jane Dobbin and her sister, Harriet, go through what they call 'The Dobbin Terrain - all hills and valleys'. They experience loss, illness, friendship, birth, depression, new starts, the ugliness of alcoholism, love and laughter. Ms. Landvik has the ability to make you cry and then immediately laugh. Very good novel. I recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Life too predictable? Take a House of Curl dance break!
Review: Patty Jane is that All-American girl who got her All-American guy in the 1950's. But like all others in her small family, she is not going to live the idealistic All-American life of prosperity and happiness. Or at least not in the way promised by the media of her day and age.A fairly mindless story, this work of fiction leaves no guesswork, no imagination and no surprise. All of the characters and elements of the story are presented in an obvious way to contribute to the obvious end of the story. They are not some meaningless reference meant to distract the audience from figuring out what becomes a predictable conclusion. The story will nonetheless pass the time during a long ride in the car. The female narrator of the story was an excellent choice. She somehow managed to capture a different voice for each character and keep them straight, much like a single puppeteer staging a multiple puppet show. In any case, dear listener is certain to enjoy the story. When it becomes tiresome, there's always time for a House of Curl dance break.
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful novel !!!!!!!
Review: Patty Janes's House of Curl is a delightful book. I just couldn't put it down. I highly recommened this book that made me cry, laugh, and smile. Its a romantic book filled with tragedys and at the same time laughter.
I give the author Lorna Landvik nothing but praise.
Rating:
Summary: House of Curl is More Than A Beauty Shop
Review: Patty Jane and her sister are wonderful characters. This book brought smiles and tears. It was a very good novel about relationships and all the ups and downs in their lives. If you enjoy reading about ordinary people who have a way of making every day extraordinary, you will like Patty Jane's House of Curl. I immediately ordered Your Oasis on Flame Lake and plan to read it as soon as I finish the 3 books I am now reading. I hope this review is helpful. It is my first time to do this.
Rating:
Summary: I recommend this book to everyone!
Review: I was given this book as a gift by someone who knows my great love of books. I was not disappointed. It's the one book I hate to keep, since I want to give everyone the chance to read it. The characters are well developed and delightful. It's at once fun, funny and quite moving, best of all, beautifully written. My only disappointment was that it wasn't one of my book group's books. It would have been wonderful to discuss. I've yet to find anyone who doesn't thoroughly enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: pleasing melodrama basks in glow of female bonding
Review: Told in a deceptively simple voice, Lorna Landvik's debut novel, "Patty Jane's House of Curl," is a moving and evocative triumph. Never deviating from its melodramatic structure, "Curl" successfully blends splendid characterization, trenchant social commentary and compassionate feminist perspective. Landvik, with humor and conviction, celebrates the tenacity of female connections, the eternal surge of the human heart for love and the galvanizing energy we find in our search for that special person who completes our life. Though hairdresser/abandoned wife Patty Jane Dobbin is the central character in the novel, she gains depth and power through her relationships with the other pivotal women in her life. Her sister Harriet, enormously talented and resolute in her love for her sister, encounters the zenith and nadir of life and, with subtlety and courage, instructs Patty Jane as to life's meaning. Ione, Patty Jane's perfectly-presented mother-in-law, whose capacities to create mouth-watering delectables and vocabulary-deflecting malapropisms, serves as a quiet, but sure symbol of the Norwegian influence in this Minneapolis-based novel. Patty Jane's daughter, Nora, grows up not only the tumultuous 1960s but in a literal den of female friendships -- a hair salon where women talk and listen to each other. Readers will rejoice at the four significant men who appear, disappear and reapper in the lives of the Dobbin women. This sensitive, sweet novel does not flinch when treating the vexing issues of male abandonment of families, alocholism and female loneliness. Landvik's success as an author derives from her love of humanity, her earthy sense of humor and her unflagging belief in the transforming power of love. She has created a moving, gripping work, that, despite its conventional adherence to melodrama, entices the reader to truly care about the characters who populate her work.
Rating:
Summary: Fun summer read
Review: This is a good, mindless beach read. If you're looking for something with a lot of depth or surprises, this isn't the book. If you want something quick and "beachy," pick this one up. I enjoyed the Minneapolis "scenery" in the book, having visiting there quite a few times.
Rating:
Summary: A Mixture of Sorts
Review: [....] I agree with comments on both sides of the fence. This book is not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. I would agree [...] that this novel does have some unbelievable plot twists, but if you take it for what it is-a fun read with some twists and turns of sadness mixed in, I think you will enjoy it. Patty Jane's House of Curl does have the same essence as Steel Magnolia's. The characters are quirky and lovable. If you've read Where the Heart Is, this novel is similar in that a lot of tragedy does occur. Just when things start going well, you can be sure that something sad is lurking around the corner. But I feel the characters are developed and the setting is a cozy one. I really enjoyed this book and will read more by this author.
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