Maybe Next Time

Rating:
Summary: Stunned by the Story
Review: Apparently some people just don't like good writing. They'd rather waste their time on soap opera tales with cheesy dialogue and really poor grammar. It just mystifies me.

I have really high expectations of Karin Kallmaker. After Substitute for Love I didn't think she could move the bar up. Where do you go from credible, complicated characters, sparkling dialogue, realistic tension and pathos?

You go to Maybe Next Time -- it took my breath away.

Sabrina Starling makes so many mistakes, but don't we all? She has help making mistakes from lovers and friends -- isn't that just like life? And when she does something utterly reprehensible I was shocked and yet I ached for Sabrina, too. Her pain was so real that I understood what motivated her.

I don't think I've read such an intense portrait of a strong woman reeling from an onslaught of grief and pain in any lesbian lit. Maybe Next Time explores the good and bad of great talent. Good to make beautiful music -- and bad when the music stops. How does a talented genius relate to lovers and friends who can't comprehend what drives her? And what does she do when the driving force of her life is abruptly taken away?

If you're expecting a cherry-coated romance where you can read with your crotch this is not your book. Not that it isn't downright HOT repeatedly. There's just so much more going on than a romantic story of mistakes and casual sex. When Sabrina goes to bed with someone she's got a *reason* (unlike those really horribly written and unbelievable women in the Around We Go series) and it's the reasons that made me laugh, cry, hurt and plead for Sabrina to get it right, the next time.

This isn't a romance, this is a novel. This isn't "merely" genre fiction to get warm and get off with, this is a piece of lesbian experience. I will read it again. And again.

And recommend it to everyone I know, even those friends who still scoff at me for liking "romance" novels. This is easily the best book I've read in 2003.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read!
Review: Grab the tissues and settle down for an intense journey with Sabrina Starling. Karin Kallmaker has truly outdone her own previous work with the portrait of a woman driven by talent and frustrated love to conquer her profession while making a hash of her personal life.

This is an erotic, moving tale that challenges every conception of what a "romance" is supposed to be. I am a big fan of many other writers, but I admire the sheer breadth of what Kallmaker achieves in a wide range of novels and characters. When I pick up one of her books I never wonder "which heroine will be the wounded, dark one and which the sweet, loving patient one" as I do with some of Radclyffe's work. Nor do I have to worry that I'll encounter weak or outright bad writing. And her characters are so real, and they live in the real world.

Maybe Next Time's characters are more flawed than most. Bree is kind in her very heart, not a diva, and she would not ordinarily use someone else's heart to forget her own pain. But when she does just that, it is so heartbreaking to all concerned that I was two tissues down halfway through that part of the book. Bree grieves over what she's done, and my goodness so did I. Parts of this book are so tragic it touches all the emotions, because there is nothing so moving as tragedy overcome with hope, and possibilities of happiness where only sorrow and despair had existed before.

You will be sorry if you don't read this book. Kick back, keep the tissues handy...and as someone else said, you'll be wishing to see this story on the big screen. The settings are lush, the structure of the tale intriguing and ultimately, quite quite satisfying.

Rating:
Summary: Astounding Read
Review: Have you ever seen "When Harry Met Sally" and not been frustrated for the characters? This book has a similar premise, except it has much more drama and much less comedy. Bree Starling, a gifted violinist whose talent has been groomed from a young age, loses her parents and moves in with her mother's childhood friend, Lani. Lani's daughter, Jorie, isn't happy about having to share her life with Bree, and she makes sure everyone knows it. But, there is an underlying passion between the two girls that only Bree is willing to openly admit. After several tries to win Jorie's heart, Bree gives up and embraces a risky lifestyle. After her career is cut short by carpal tunnel syndrome, Bree finds herself facing Jorie again.

This is not a light read. The book is structured as flashbacks to Bree's life as she processes her feelings about facing Jorie once again after Lani dies. I was so taken with this book that I took it to work, closed my office door, and read until my eyes hurt. Kallmaker certainly doesn't disappoint with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Exasperating!
Review: I can sum this book up in one word "Frustrating." The story had so much potential, but it ended up being a major let down from what one expects from such a talented author such as Karin Kallmaker. A few times I had to stop and re-read the back of the book to make sure it wasn't Kallmakers alter ego Laura Adams. (I kept expecting a pirate to appear so it would start to make sense!)
I only give it three stars because even though it was disappointing, it was still well written and some of the dialogue pertaining to the violin was really exceptional.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe Next Time
Review: I really enjoyed this book. The flash backs were easy to follow.

I have lived through the pain of loosing a career that I loved and like Bree I made a mess of my person life. She had lost control over the one thing she always had contol over; all she needed was that one woman that could make the pain go away no matter what the cost. She had to pay for what she did by living with the guilt and so did I.

As Far as Jorie goes most of us have had to deal with pain of wanting the unattainable girl.

This story reminded me of a line from a Nikki Giovanni poem.

Why did I give this story four stars instead of five? Because Wild Things still holds that place for me.

Rating:
Summary: What happened to Kallmaker?
Review: I usually love Kallmaker's books, but this one disappointed me. The main characters just aren't likeable. Bree is horribly immature. Her one love is her music and when that is gone, she is nothing. Jorie is too scared and confused to know what she wants. (Although I agree with another reviewer - I liked Diane and Pam.)
Kallmaker spends too much of the book centering on the negative that even the reader becomes depressed.
I will buy Kallmaker's next book. But if it is like "Maybe Next Time," that will be the last book of hers that I buy.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome to the Pit of Despair
Review: I'm a big fan of Karen Kallmaker's books. I usually give them 4-5 stars, but I had to force myself to finish this book. If anyone else had written it, I wouldn't have bothered. I kept expecting the book to improve, but it didn't until 3/4 of the way through, when Kallmaker starts to finally wrap things up. People seem to really love or really hate this book, so I recommend you check it out from your library before buying your own copy.

The theme of the book is grief. Sabrina "Bree" Starling, a world-renowned violinist, has been injured & can no longer hold the violin, let alone play it. Bree is self-absorbed & emotionally stunted, so this loss plunges her into a miasma of depression & guilt. As the book is written from Bree's point of view, we get dragged right down with her.

Frankly, I didn't like Bree enough to care if she came to terms with the loss of her playing ability or not. Not did I find the other characters in the book likeable or interesting. Jorie, Bree's childhood sweetheart & adult obsession, spends most of her time fighting the fact that she's gay and in love with Bree, and screwing up yet another chance at a permanent relationship with Bree. She won't tell Bree what she wants. Bree is no better at telling Jorie how she feels. They do stupid things because they think they can't have the person they love. Their inability to communicate and continued immaturity are puzzling, since both were raised by a very wise & loving woman. I wanted to reach into the pages and smack them. Failing that, I wanted them relegated to secondary character status. Unfortunately, they're the main characters, so that couldn't happen.

Kallmaker did not cushion the unlikability of the main characters with likable secondary characters. The secondary characters mostly seemed 2-dimensional and not quite real. Since the book is told from Bree's perspective, this is certainly consistent with Bree's tendency to view the world as Bree's Music, Jorie, & the unimportant stuff. The only characters I liked were Diane & Pam, a still-very-much-in-love 18-year couple that Bree breaks up by seducing one of them. (Hence Bree's guilt.) Yet another reason I did not like Bree. By the end of the book, Jorie has grown up and Bree has begun to mature, but it's too little, too late.

This is certainly one of Kallmaker's more technically complex books, with the back-story doled out in hints & dribs & drabs. Kallmaker handles the story & flashbacks well. I just didn't like the characters. In fact, I would have preferred to read a book where Diane & Pam were the main characters & Bree was merely a catalyst. A love-betrayal-pain-rebuilding-forgiveness plot would have been much more interesting to me than "all grief, all the time". In summary, I'm saving my money for Kallmaker's next book. It has to be better than this one.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome !
Review: I'm not familiar with Karen's work since I've only read like a couple of them. But I really like how the main character find that there is other things in life than her violin and how she misinterprets everything in her life as a major disaster. It makes you think at the very end, if both Brie and Jorie found happiness or not at least the main character Brie (Sabrina) grew up and realizes that she needs to listen to the people around her and stop thinking too damn much .

Rating:
Summary: Maybe Next Time
Review: I've been a HUGH fan of KK's since I picked up the first book, but this was 2 bits shy of terrible. The story on a whole was fairly good. WHAT I DISTASTED was the jumping around from the present to the past; from one point in time to another. I never knew where the story was in BREE's life. She needs to tell this story in a more patterned clear cut cohesive manner. God what a waste of my 10 bucks. I think this one sold on her reputation and if the next one is this bad, I will not buy another KK book.

Rating:
Summary: Get Over Wanting it Easy!
Review: If you want an easy read, a quick romance and lots of bedroom time don't read this book. But if you do read this book then read what Karin Kallmaker actually wrote -- not what you wish she'd written because you felt like having the same-old-same-old today. It's like wanting your fix of vanilla ice cream, ordering spumoni and then complaining.

If Maybe Next Time was a PBS documentary or an indie movie (and it ought to be!) I don't think anyone would whine that Bree's story wasn't "good." The jacket copy is a BIG clue this is not your typical romance! Among other things, this is a story of "personal tragedy."

I found it absolutely uplifting, touching, wrenching, heartbreaking. I cried and at the end was *very* relieved and happy for Bree. Her music was a curse and when it was lifted she had to start over and she made some really bad mistakes (oh and thank you whoever you are who gave away a KEY element of the plot -- that's nice for those who haven't read it yet!) and she finds the power to atone, to change.

As for Bree being unlikeable and immature -- whatever. I think anyone who is thrust into the performing world at a young age won't be mature in some ways, and yet unbelievably controlled and mature in others. Reeling from the betrayal of a lover, Bree pulls herself together to give a critical performance at an audition. How many of us more "likeable" people could conquer our anger and hurt that well?

I have followed Karin Kallmaker's writing since In Every Port and I see her FINALLY breaking out of the old Naiad cookie cutter. I am stunned with every new book. Maybe Next Time was powerful, well-written, complicated and deeply absorbing. Is it her best romance? Maybe not. Is it the best thing she's ever written -- yep. I would definitely say it is. If you don't read this book because it's not the typical 200-page girl-meets-girl, misunderstandings and hot sex, and live happily ever after story then you're missing out. There's nothing wrong with that kind of book, but there's more to life than vanilla ice cream. And this book is simply no comparison to a lot of 400-page potboilers where the lesbians aren't even sexual. Please. I thought we were past the era of fading to black when it comes to the part where the characters do the things that make them lesbian. Bree is sexual; she likes women. It's a big part of her story, the how, who and why she has sex. Those scenes are just plain hot.

Personally, I think Karin Kallmaker writes the feel-good kind of romance better than anyone, and I'm sure she will again and I'll enjoy it. But I hope because those less interested in good literature are whining about her having the audacity to write something that makes them stretch doesn't make her stop. I want our community to have this incredible writer who conveys a *realistic* range of lesbian experience. I'll take *anything* she writes over some of the unrealistic drivel getting vanity published these days, and most of the highly-lauded "novels" out there. I just finished a "must read" *serious* work where I was supposed to identify with a cross-dressing drug-addicted bicycle messenger. The book was good but give me Kallmaker's universally appealing characters any day. I have been shoved off my preferred paths in life along the way by tragedy, misfortune and pain, and if that's true of you then I don't see how you wouldn't find Bree's struggles totally absorbing.

I think I'll add that if you want to show that you read something closely and have a considered opinion to offer you might want to spell the author's name correctly. That would be Kar*I*n, not Karen. Plus, it's Dian*A* not Diane. Also, if you want to read a sample, visit her web site and you'll see what you're getting.

Read it, let it be what it is, and you won't regret a moment. Books like Maybe Next Time don't come around that often. Please keep writing them, Ms. Kallmaker, because some of us *do* get it.