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Summary: I hated to see it end!!
Review: I'm scratching my head in bewilderment at the negative reviews for this novel. In a word, it is wonderful! I started stalling the inevitable end when I was more than half-way finished with it, because I hated to see it end. Suzanne Finnamore understands relationships, old childhood wounds, friendship, and most of all -- women! Even though my life does not parallel Eve's, I found myself relating to her over and over again, having had many of the same thoughts as she over the years.The reviewers who seemed to hate the book.....why in the world would you finish it? Me? I wish there was a volume TWO!! Please, Ms. Finnamore -- don't make us wait too long for your next novel!
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Summary: This above all...
Review: to thine own self be true. Suzanne Finnamore has written a first novel that is a brave, witty and honest look at a sucessful woman - this is a woman who has, through talent, guts and hard work, carved a career in advertising where even brave men "break". She meets and falls in love with "Michael" an older man ..."between us we are almost a hundred years old" What follows is a searingly honest, funny and penetrating journey into the heart and soul of a fascinating and compassionate woman. I found myself cheering "Eve" on as she finally finds herself walking toward "Michael" on her wedding day "when the wedding guests standing in small rows in the sun, like wheat..turn around at once, to look at me. Their faces are pure hope." Otherwise Engaged is a contemporary yet old fashioned love story. I loved it!
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Summary: Witty. Intelligently hilarious.
Review: This book beat "Bridget Jones Diary" by a mile. I loved it even though Eve's engagement was an unexpected horror (to her) and even though I could not relate at all, as my own experience was quite the opposite. But I love the author's style, her one-liners & the book as a whole. I recommend it highly--it's a laugh out loud book--I read it in one sitting in a few hours.
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Summary: Great. Great. Great.
Review: I stumbled across Otherwise Engaged at a small bookstore here in the Back Bay. About five minutes into it I found myself reading passages aloud to friends who were with me at the time. Most books I just plop right back down on the display table. This time I marched over to the register, bought it and then walked out to a coffeeshop where I devoured it. I found it breezy, honest and witty as h***. Unfortunately, my first copy is currently circulating among my friends who call to read passages to each other. So I am buying buying another copy for myself. Brava, Suzanne Finnamore
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Summary: Hilarious, deeply moving, and profoundly thought provoking.
Review: Suzanne Finnamore is a master at handling some of the most serious, promising, and frightening issues in our human lives - fear of marriage and commitment, fear of intimacy, and the fear of addressing our fears face on. She makes them into reading that's at once hilarious, deeply moving, and profoundly thought provoking. She has an insight into human nature that far exceeds her years. As a much older woman, I appreciated this reminder of my own engagement and marriage over 40 years ago, while at the same time becoming delightfully educated about the cultures of the advertising world and of the young by this intelligent and promising writer. I look forward to the next book by Suzanne Finnamore.
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Summary: Answers to the big question,"Will you mmaarrrryyy . . ." .
Review: What a brave book. Tackling so directly the big questions of what-do-most-women-want??????--but are "afraid to ask for"???? Be relieved. You are not alone. And with the insight, intelligence, honesty and blazing wit-- the authoress of this book , shares major clues. I thank her for them all. Get someone's daughter to read this after you read it yourself . . . .you'll smile --you'll laugh to yourself--oh, we women can be silly--but, boy, certainly not stupid. I felt I was in good company with this book under my belt!
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Summary: Devestatingly Funny
Review: I completely enjoyed this intelligent and devestatingly funny novel. You can feel the truth of it in your bones. I loved the way the author just peels back the layers to reveal so much truth about relationships, insecurities and emotions. I kept checking to see how much I had left to read, then pacing myself so I didn't finish it too quickly. Wonderful book.
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Summary: Painfully accurate account of the stresses of pre-marriage
Review: To me it was a wonderful book. It was a very funny read and it showed the difficulties of modern brides. Eve is a bit neurotic, but interesting all the same.
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Summary: Finnamore's wit is only outstripped by her compassion.
Review: Finnamore's wit is only outstripped by her compassion. It's rare to find a voice the can be so comic and acerbic one moment and then turn the corner and take your breathe away with it's incisive view into the human heart. As a guy, I was shocked to find myself connected to this book at so many points. It's vision of the doubts and anxieties that follow commitment show exactly what it's like to be in love
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Summary: A wildly funny, maddenly accurate account of the familiar.
Review: Ms. Finnamore has stolen my soul and I want it back. Nowhere have I experienced such veritable reportage of "the relationship"; the knee-weakening love; the sudden horror of a bedtime routine (the Q-TIP, the cotton ball, the ever-reddened ear); the enchantment of tiny moments; the relentless, teary tightening of the chest and complete dissolution of pride when he appears to ride away, a Harley knight, leaving one forever destined to taste but never savor. The oh-so-perfect rendition of the mother-in-law, alien as in another planet and hopelessly cast as such. The infinitely poignant memory of Daddy, The First Love, and the indelible disintegration of trust as he tumbles from grace. And oh, so much more. I laughed. I reread. I laughed again. And I cried. OTHERWISE ENGAGED is not only white lace, it's more promise than one deserves to expect from a first novel. I humbly urge Ms. Finnamore to treat us again. Soon.
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