Babyville : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Babyville
Review: Babyville is a perfect read for any gal in her early 30's who finds herself at a crossroad. Whether you are in need of a relationship, need to relieve yourself from one or can't shake the incessant ticking of the "biological clock", there's at least 5 relatable moments to keep you intrigued.

Jane Green's dialogue is so frank and usage of London slang will have you saying cute things like, "I got to go to the loo" or "He's a good shag".

In the end, if you desired a baby...you'll want to wait a little while longer and if you can't stand the little rugrats.... start researching baby names. This book gets 2.5 martini glasses and 2.5 pacifiers from me. (5 stars) Enjoy!!


Rating:
Summary: A little disappointing...
Review: I have been reading how great Jane Green's books were and couldn't wait to read one. "Babyville" was my first ( I even paid full retail for it!). I thought, as a 29 year-old married woman about to embark on my own family, that this would be perfect for me. After finishing it, I thought the book was okay. Maybe my expectations were a little too high? I did like how the book was broken up into three parts and the twists of how they are connected, and characters were likable and believable, but I found myself not quite understanding a lot of their British slang and jokes. I read all three of Sophie Kinsella's "Shopaholic" series which I love, love, love, and her British humor was funny and understandable.
If I could I would give it three and a half stars, but if you skip this one, don't feel too bad. I'm not sure if I'll even venture reading another one of Green's books.

Rating:
Summary: The best of the worst
Review: I made the mistake of buying into the hype and buying almost all of Jane Green's books at once. Now that I've bought them, I figure I might as well read them. They are very quick and easy to read.

Babyville and Jemima J. are the only two of her books that I could possibly see passing along, MAYBE. I think they are fun and easy with likeable characters.

All her other books, I'm sorry, are trash. The writing is horrible and the characters are incredibly unpleasant-full of insecurities or worse, full of themselves. UGH! HORRIBLE.

The women tend to be like those annoying girls that you were in high school with that were silly and full of themselves and would dump their best friend for a boy who dumped them next week and came crawling back to you. Yet these characters are usually in their 30's.

But as for Babyville (and Jemima J.) are much better than the rest.

Rating:
Summary: Bridget Jones Rip Off
Review: I read a few good reviews for the book & picked it up for a fast summer read. A novel about three friends with different stories about pregnancy sounded like it could be entertaining.

First of all, Maeve & Julia are anything but friends, and Sam doesn't become Maeve's friend until deep into the book. It's more like an odd triangle than anything else. Julia's with Mark & is best friends with Sam. Julia leaves Mark to head for a change in NY. Maeve essentially steps into Julia's life. Maeve fills Julia role at work, and her place in bed, and by the end of the book, she becomes Sam's "NBF." Then there's Sam, who's having trouble adjusting to being a new mother. In her struggle, she decides it would be a good idea to pursue an affair with the husband of one of her husband's biggest clients. This blows up in her face, of course.

Still, for me the most annoying thing was the way the author changed voices between characters. For Julia, she speaks in the third person. For Maeve, Green changes to the first person. Then it's back to the third person for Sam. Had Green used Maeve as the narrator for the story it would have made sense and I would have been impressed. Since she didn't, it seemed like sloppy editing.

Rating:
Summary: Realistic but fun.
Review: I really enjoyed this book, and "Jemima J", more than Jane Green's other novels. It gave a fairly realistic cast to motherhood (or the lack thereof), and both I (not yet a mom) and my friends with children really thought it was fun.

Rating:
Summary: Realistic but fun.
Review: I really enjoyed this book, and "Jemima J", more than Jane Green's other novels. It gave a fairly realistic cast to motherhood (or the lack thereof), and both I (not yet a mom) and my friends with children really thought it was fun.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Unexpected!
Review: I truely enjoyed this book. Even though I love reading about pregnancy and babies, I did not want to read another informative book on pregnancy, I just wanted a good fiction book about babies, if that makes any sense. I don't know why I wasn't expecting to enjoy this. It is my first Jane Green book and I guess I was nervous about a new author. Well, I loved it. I loved all the characters and the changes they went through and how they're all connected in the end. And of course, being a romantic, loved the happily ever after, too! Great book and I plan to read more of Jane Green very soon!

Rating:
Summary: Fun Summer Read
Review: If you are in the mood for a light yet funny and insightful read, go for Babyville. This is the first Jane Green novel I've read and I do plan to read more. I never considered myself much of a chick lit type before, but I'm beginning to think that maybe I am although I'm slightly older than the average chick lit reader (I'm 40+). The characters, Julia, Sam and Maive are not particularly complex, but that's okay. There is a great momentum to this novel and I really felt like I was a part of their trials and tribulations. I think my favorite character was Maive because she was the most honest. I felt Julia was really self consumed and Sam was the most immature - but I appreciated what they had to offer the story. I believe any woman can enjoy this story, whether she is a mom or not; Brit or non Brit (I've been to England 3 times and have in laws there so I am not a stranger to English slang and humor). However, women like myself with a toddler can absolutely nod in agreement to the feelings Sam and Maive had after they gave birth. I definitely related to the stress that a newborn child can bring into the marriage and a woman's life, although Sam's situation was a bit dramatic and over the top. It isn't easy becoming a mom and luckily these "chicks" had each other to lean on. Try it, you may really like it!

Rating:
Summary: Bunch of whiners and wimps
Review: Okay, from the gist of the other reviews of Babyville, I am the black sheep but I HATED this book. It started off great. I liked the Julia storyline. I know a lot of desperate 30 somethings who have mistakenly thought having a baby would fix a relationship. But as far as Maeva and Sam - UGH. Who cares? One woman, Maeve, has a seedy one night stand (literally- standing in an alley) and gets pregnant, and then eventually she and the philandering sperm donor realize they are truly soul mates and it was destiny? Ridiculous. And Sam. While her crush on Dan is amusingly psychotic (especially when she is looking for "signs" that Dan loves her and then ignoring them when it doesn't bode well for their fantastical future together), her husband Chris comes across as spineless instead of sympathetic.

Jane Green is excellent at descriptive characters, realistic dialogue and amusing character flaws. But unfortunately, many of her characters come across as shallow, superficial whiners who don't deserve their ultimate happy happy joy joy endings. Skip this book in favor of her far superior novel, Mr. Maybe. You will thank me.

Rating:
Summary: been there... done that... hey, wait!!!
Review: some women can just get prego like *THAT* and some women struggle to conceive. some women have quiet, docile babies, and some women have rowdy rambunctious high-maintanance devil-spawn child. but women are women, and whether we want to or not, in each of our lives, a baby will enter - whether it's the desire for one, babysitting a godchild, or attempting to procreate. jane green writes the struggles of three women, the men in their lives, and their supportive friends, as she interweaves each of their stories into this fascinating book called "babyville". this is a well written book not just about babies in the life of women, but their inner development as they come to terms with motherhood, possible sterility and dead relationship, and postpartum depression. it's a well written book that i'm planning on giving to all my best friends when i become pregnant one day... :)