Rating: 
Summary: Worthwhile 'Departure'
Review: It's fun, it's funny and the food is fantastic! Fifty-something narrator Sheila Katz is great to hang out with as she deals with the crash of tedium and too much change in her family life -- and tries not to gain too much weight in the process. She is in the middle: of the generations, of her husband and daughter, of her past and future. And as she comes to terms with these various conflicts, the reader is carried along for a wonderful off-script ride. Funny but not slapstick, A Departure from the Script has a lot to say about how people change and how they don't. I think its message is: we don't always get the script we want but the departures are how we really learn our parts. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and Thought-Provoking
Review: Life has suddenly become complicated for Sheila Katz. Her grown daughter comes out as a lesbian, her husband refuses to face facts, one of her closest friends acquires a "boy toy," and her amateur theatre group is overrun by stray cats with a flair for drama. A Departure From the Script is a funny, fast-paced novel that chronicles a woman's efforts to come to grips with her daughter's sexual orientation -- and to explore her own.Sheila is shocked to learn that Jenny is gay, but she tries hard to be supportive, even while she grieves for the future she'd always envisioned for her daughter. When Jenny announces her engagement, Sheila puts aside her reservations and goes all out to help plan a traditional Jewish wedding -- traditional except for the part about there being two brides and no groom. Complicating matters is the fact that Sheila must hide her involvement from her disapproving husband while running up wedding-related charges on their joint credit cards. Meanwhile, Sheila's work with an eccentric local theatre group moves from behind the scenes to center stage. Her own sexuality moves to center stage, as well, when she suddenly finds herself attracted to a striking lesbian artist and begins questioning her most basic assumptions about herself and her marriage. Author Rochelle Hollander Schwab thoughtfully explores complex issues about love, sexual orientation, family relationships, and acceptance. And she does it with warmth, humor, and loads of human interest. You don't have to be gay or have a gay family member to relate to Sheila's situation. This book is for anyone who savors a good read. Sheila's balancing act will make you laugh out loud. It will also make you think.
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult issues well dealt with in a delightful story
Review: Rochelle Schwab uses the vehicle of a delightful, fun story to deal with difficult issues in a sensitive, thoughtful, and effective way. In presenting the struggles of Sheila Katz as she deals with the homosexuality of her daughter, and the reactions of her husband, family, and friends, Schwab uses a variety of situations and characters and some delightfully funny happenings. The book doesn't stop at dealing with the sexuality of Sheila's daughter. It takes a hard look at the fluid and sometimes surprising sexual reactions we find in ourselves when we look deep enough. Schwab also takes careful and loving aim at the American cruelty towards those carrying extra weight and deals with the effects it has on the individual as well. Schwab demonstrates a remarkable understanding of human nature, with all its foibles and faults, draws her characters with real clarity--something too few authors do--and builds a story filled with humor, fun, and a little suspense.
The book starts slow, and the first few pages are a little pedantic. However, once the story kicks in, which it does fairly quickly, there's no looking back--you're hooked and avidly reading till the end. I recommend this book especially for those dealing with any gay family member, or for a gay trying to understand family reactions. An excellent book. This is Schwab's second, and I'll definitely be looking forward to a third!
Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous Must-Read
Review: This book has it all- it's funny, touching, realistic, and truly entertaining. A must read for every Jewish lesbian!
Rating:
Summary: I laughed, I Cried...
Review: This book is laugh-out-loud funny, and at the same time it makes you think, which is a hard balance to achieve. It's not a lesbian issue book or a preachy political tract -- it's about real people struggling with real problems, which anyone can relate to, even a straight married person like me for whom gay issues have no direct relevance. What matters is it was a good, smart read. I really cared about Sheila and her crazy family. I couldn't put it down, and I was rewarded by an ending that is completely satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: A Departure fom the Script
Review: This book starts off funny and continues all the way through. The author gives you a real feel for life in a modern day family. It is a new world out there, getting married no longer means it is going to be to someone of the opposite sex. How does a mother deal with that, and a husband who can't, read this book and find out.
Rating:
Summary: Love and marriage -- but with a twist!
Review: This novel is about the ups and downs that Sheila, a loving wife and good Jewish mother, experiences as she helps her daughter, Jenny, plan her wedding. Only one little thing keeps this from being the wonderful affair that Sheila has dreamed of all her life -- Jenny is marrying another woman. Schwab has written an incredibly funny yet sensitive book that explores some of the issues and feelings that loving parents experience when an adult child comes out. Sheila is an unforgettable character who struggles mightily to hide her own ambivalence about Jenny's sexuality and wedding plans, while running interference between Jenny and less supportive members of the family (including her husband Dan). Through a budding friendship with a lesbian artist she meets through PFLAG (a support group for parents of gay men and lesbians), Sheila eventually achieves peace with herself and her complicated family situation. She also realizes a hard lesson - that everyone else's happiness isn't her responsibility. A wonderful read, Schwab's characters and their relationshiops are complex and portrayed with an unfailing eye for truth. Although flawed, these are well-meaning people who do their best to be loving even if often acting at cross-purposes. In the end, Schwab deftly pulls together many different plot threads to provide us with a satisfying and believable resolution. At the end of the book, I wanted to shake the author's hand and give her a hearty "Mazel Tov!"
Rating:
Summary: Timely and Fascinating Story with No Easy Answers
Review: Using amusing, often unexpected humor, Rochelle Hollander Schwab's latest is a delightful novel about family, marriage, and the process of growing comfortable with all shades of the rainbow. Jewish mother/wife/amateur actress Sheila Katz, married for over thirty years, is stunned from complacency when she learns her daughter Jenny is getting married to a woman named Tamara. Dan, her husband, doesn't take the news well and thinks that given time, Jenny will pass through the phase. He's already suffered enough criticism because his son married a Catholic girl-and converted!-and he refuses to acknowledge his daughter's sexual orientation. This pushes Sheila and Dan's marriage to the edge and contributes to the uproar over Jenny's lifestyle. Sheila is a survivor, though, and she definitely does not want to lose her daughter, so she chooses the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" tactic. She starts attending PFLAG meetings, works at readjusting her thinking, and helps to plan the Jewish wedding ceremony behind Dan's back. Little does she know that meeting an attractive lesbian artist will have such an affect her. If her life wasn't turned upside down before, it truly is now. The story of how Sheila and the Katz family deals with this very topical issue is engrossing, endearing, and entertaining, while also sometimes sobering. Schwab uses a smooth and highly readable style to write a novel for the new millennium. With the legalization of marriage in Canada in 2003 and the ongoing social arguments about fair treatment of gays and lesbians, including marriage, this book is timely and fascinating. It's a book all parents-and non-parents-should read. In Schwab's skillful and sensitive hands, A DEPARTURE FROM THE SCRIPT is funny and true to life, but poses no easy answers. Highly recommended. ~Lori L. Lake, book reviewer for Midwest Book Review, The Independent Gay Writer, Just About Write, and TheGayRead.com.
Rating:
Summary: Touching and Funny
Review: What's a Jewish mother to do when the dream wedding she's always envisioned for her daughter turns out--lesbian? This book is wickedly funny and oh-so-poignant. Buy it. (And eat a little while you read it--what, you want to wither away from malnutrition? :*)
Rating:
Summary: Touching and Funny
Review: What's a Jewish mother to do when the dream wedding she's always envisioned for her daughter turns out--lesbian? This book is wickedly funny and oh-so-poignant. Buy it. (And eat a little while you read it--what, you want to wither away from malnutrition? :*)
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