Dish It Up, Baby

Rating:
Summary: Shiny Book, Good Read
Review: Dish It Up is a fascinating look into the very real time life of someone who grew up poor in Kentucky, married young, lived through a hellish marriage, escaped, moved to Brooklyn, divorced, survived, fell in love, moved to Boston and in between learned to take care of herself, find beauty in small things, and discover the tiaras that fit small town girls living it up in the big city. Her discovery journey is quite inspiring and written with wit and candor. At times the candor bites to the bone as when she describes abuse at the hands of her ex-husband. Her genuine unconquerable spirit, however, shines through even the worst and glitters in her description of New York City life and the cubicles of the World Trade Centers.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, original and touching...
Review: Dish It Up, Baby is a refreshingly original work that manages to deal with difficult topics with both poignancy and wit. I was captivated from the first page by Helms' engaging prose and wry commentary on life, love, and New York City. From Possum Trot to Brooklyn, this tale of transformation touches universal themes without every becoming trite. Helms' eye for quirky detail and vivid description bring new insight to everyday experiences. In addition to being a delight to read, the protagonist's journey from a hellish relationship to independence will inspire. Buy this book and settle in to read it cover to cover.

Rating:
Summary: I Loved the Details
Review: I loved the details (especially the blue shopping cart lady with the banana pudding breakfast) and the lyrical, emotional descriptions, especially the protagonist's childhood in Kentucky. I like the style which allows Ms. Helms to be funny and touching and true all at once, without being syrupy or heavy-handed. She is many things (Southern lady, lesbian, cubiclegirl) and they're all a part of the story. Mostly it's a story of a woman finding her way in the world and choosing to "live the life she loves" and then making it happen with grit and determination--in her own words, "Because the alternative was to allow the world to knock you over."

Rating:
Summary: better the first time around
Review: i read "cubegirl" and "cubiclegirl" on the internet. the novel is mostly a rerun of the material that was already on the net, complete with. requisite. periods. if you like reruns on TV, and you've read her stuff on the net before this book, then you'll like the book. it's like that second piece of chocolate cake. or third. or fourth. after awhile, you get a tummy ache.

Rating:
Summary: Strong protagonist, but other characterization a problem
Review: I think the author's choice to call her book a novel instead of a memoir colored my expectations as I read. The book's main strength is the unique voice of the protagonist, followed closely by its beautiful and almost tangible love and appreciation for New York. Its biggest weakness, on the other hand, is the lack of attention paid to fleshing out secondary characters. While the minor, tertiary characters are often deftly characterized, the people important to the protagonist come off as oddly flat or blank. While this would be slightly more understandable in the case of a memoir (where the protagonist takes precedence over all), the lack of convincing characterization made it harder to empathize with the protagonist's obvious emotional attachment to the people in her life. The book also has a tendency to tell rather than show, and I found myself wanting more examples and deeper situational examinations of (for example) the dichotomies that the protagonist embodies and what caused them/their history. The author has a real knack for small, vivid vignettes, but when taken in the context of a whole novel it felt like there was more skeleton showing than those bits of flesh. Ultimately, I hope to read more from this author, as her writing voice is quite good.

Rating:
Summary: Something Happened
Review: I'm pretty sure that other reviewer didn't read the book as it wasn't released as of the date the review was written. Also, if he or she had actually read the book, he or she would know that a great deal happens. Unless you count escaping an abusive marriage as nothing happening...which this person may.

Lifetime makes women's lives all seem like the only part that matters is escaping those marriages. No one ever seems to care what happens once you leave, how the woman cowering in the corner of the kitchen can escape the physical danger and still have to work through the emotional process of leaving. And how at the end of that journey, there can be love, friendship, and fulfillment beyond what she could have imagined while married.

In Helms' story, that journey is invigorating. At the same time it manages to tell the tale of leaving and rebirth, it also captures a time and place in New York City prior to 9/11 that seems lost today. I didn't want to get off the subway once I got into it - and that's saying a lot since I hate the subway.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Journey--Sometimes Rambling, Sometimes Odd
Review: The unnamed narrator in this novel begins her tale with an escape from her abusive marriage. The rage of her husband has gradually escalated over the years, and "four days after the fist and the blood," she flees to Brooklyn. Fortunately she has a decent job which allows her to move into a small place of her own, and she begins the process of trying to come to terms with her past, deal with the issues of the present, and forge a future.

The early chapters of the book are gripping, and the descriptions of her separation, grief, and adjustment are, at times, intense. For the first time in ages, she is alone, and the process of reconciling herself to that will be familiar to anyone going through a breakup. She wants to know if she can make it on her own. She needs to know why her husband did what he did to her. She wonders if she is gay. "I had spent 27 years making sure everything fit into a nice little suburban box. I was finding it hard that I didn't fit into the box so easily any more. I kept looking for a "for sure" test. You know, spin around three times, clap your hands and if you start humming the Indigo Girls, then proof positive. Hand that girl a rainbow sticker and tell her to get her hair cut already" (p. 28).

The first signs of a sense of humor emerge early on. We follow the narrator along through random days at work, her encounters with oddball people, and into episodic scenes where she reflects on and attempts to make a new life for herself. At times, the story is a bit rambling and picaresque. The occasional bit of humor keeps the narrative rolling. For instance, her cat, Maggie, is actually male. "Friends told me I was the only person they knew with a Jewish transgender cat." Another instance: she puts a personals ad in Match.com. "I had no idea what that meant or what it was I thought I'd find there. I just generally believed in the power of the Internet to fix my life" (p. 70). The sardonic wit is welcome, especially since it's often unexpected.

But in between the funny observations and the grief-struck memories, the structure of the novel doesn't quite hold. The book reads a great deal more like an autobiography or memoir, so it's curious that the author chose to specifically label it "A Novel," as though otherwise the reader wouldn't know. As the unnamed narrator moves forward in her healing process and begins dating women and exploring her sexual orientation, the narrative punch decreases. Some of that is because we never really get to know anyone she encounters, and we never even know her name. People come and go, but there's little solidity to hang on to...still, we want good things for the narrator. By the end of the book, she's had an interesting journey, sometimes rambling, sometimes odd, but interesting all the same. ~Lori L. Lake, author of Stepping Out, Different Dress, Gun Shy, Under The Gun, and Ricochet In Time, and reviewer for Midwest Book Review, Golden Crown Literary Society's The Crown, The Independent Gay Writer, The Gay Read, and Just About Write.

Rating:
Summary: I can relate to this
Review: When I read Cubiclegirl several years ago, I was kind of enamoured by her journal, maybe I've grown up. I was disappointed. I'm not going to give her a raving review just because I liked her journal 4 years ago. I might still like her journal, but not in book form. It seems a little contrived.

Rating:
Summary: Pass the saccarine, please!
Review: While "Dish It Up, Baby" by first-time novelist Kristie Helms isn't a bad first novel, it's not great either. It read more like an autobiography, although nothing in the jacket copy alludes to that assumption. The unnamed protagonist, an abused wife, discovers herself battered, alone, and without a clue as to who she is. The odyssey of her self-discovery in New York City is interesting to a degree, but too much effort is spent trying to explain to the reader why abused women stay in relationships. The ensuing drama of online dating and sex drags out a bit as well, as our protagonist discovers she may be a lesbian as well. "Dish It Up, Baby" isn't great, but not an entirely unenjoyable journey into one woman's self-discovery.

Rating:
Summary: I Can't Remember
Review: Yeah, I used to read Cubiclegirl. I'm fairly certain I found her a good read, well, because I kept reading. So, I read this book and it was sterile. I had nobody to love or not love or even care about a tiny bit.

Were there words on these pages? I can't remember. Sterile.