Home :: Books :: Literature & Fiction  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction

Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Welcome to My Planet: Where English Is Sometimes Spoken

Welcome to My Planet: Where English Is Sometimes Spoken

List Price: $13.00
Your Price: $9.75
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 10 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good, but not the light read the title suggests.
Review: On the surface, this book appears to be similar to recent spateof humorous novels about contemporary young single women struggling to find their place in the world ("Bridget Jones Diary", "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing", "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" - just to name a few). While this book is frequently as funny as the others, it has a much more serious side. "Welcome to my Planet" is really about a young woman trying to work through a serious depression. Shannon, the main character, has reached adulthood without any real ambitions beyond a vague desire to marry and have someone take care of her. Since she's still struggling to figure out how to have a relationship, she more or less falls into graduate school and starts building a future career despite herself. Olson writes some very funny dialouge, but the humor is incidental to the character's struggle for emotional maturity and stability. Consequently, this the book is not the light entertainment experience suggested by the book's title.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: frighteningly similar to my own life....
Review: I almost can't say I enjoyed reading this book (although I eventually will). The character of Shannon was so similar to my own life, it was almost eerie. I realize that Bridget Jones and some of her campatrios may have been funnier or wilder or moved their lives along at a faster, more adventurous pace, but what really struck me about Ms. Olson's depiction of a late twenties single girl was how REAL it was. How many of us have ended up in a Thai prison such as our beloved Bridget? More of us can relate to having a fling with a guide on a trip and wishing that he was in our real lives, while finding nit picky faults with the people that actually are. More of us can relate to the sad realization that life is NOT like the Love Boat like we had always assumed as children. More of us can relate to wondering if we ought to move back in with our mothers or set them on fire. There was not much of a fast paced plotline in this book, but reading it was comforting to me. I wanted to hug Shannon, and thank her for reminding me that my angst is a) not uncommon and b) not as bad as I make it out to be. I loved reading this book; it was like peeking into the journal of another woman like me. It was reassuring.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Loved It !
Review: This is a very funny, quirky book that I would recommend to anyone with a witty sense of humor. She has a different way to look at life that I find hilarious...I can't wait for her next one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enjoyable and fun...
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. It is the perfect book to read when you feel as though fate and destiny have left you out of their plans and you are giving up on finding your soul mate. I read this book in about 2 days and it was such an easy, smooth read. For a first novel, I was very impressed and the author, writing about her self basically, is witty and some of the things she says I can totally relate to, or I have felt myself. Though I have not read Bridget Jones' Diary {I saw the movie!! :)} I can see how the two books would be similar. I highly recommend this book about a woman trying to find herself. She has a good relationship with her family but her counselor just...I dunno. I did not like her at all. I think I could have done a better job than that!! Anyway...it is a woman's struggle for independance (and being okai with it), love, and what she wants to do with her life. At 29, she feels she should already know. I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A different sort of book
Review: I am not sure what I expected when I bought this book. It was a surprise to read. Welcome to My Planet is the story of Shannon Olson, an almost 30 single girl with plenty of problems. She has credit card debt, a boyfriend or two, and a mother who is full of comments. I kept wondering if this book was based in reality or if it was entirely the figment of the author's imagination. The characters are entirely believable. You can definately relate to them. It was fun to see her interaction with her mother, her sister and with her boyfriends. Mixed in with it all were comments from Shannon to a therapist, and the therapist's comments back to her. It made for a different point of view, with flashbacks at unexpected places. Ms. Olson laid the groundwork out in the first several chapters and flashed back to them to help develop the characters more fully. I think that this helped the book immensely. I liked the book, but it's probably not one that will be read over and over and over.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good, but different
Review: It's hard to say exactly how I feel about this book -- and probably even harder to explain! Welcome to My Planet is a different kind of novel, one that doesn't just jump right out at you with a clear-cut, black and white, obvious storyline. It's a thinker novel, not breezy or light-hearted. While there are many funny moments, the dark tones outweigh the light ones by far.

Welcome to My Planet is told in parts and interspersed with many counselor sessions that tend to ramble on about the intricate workings of an under-stimulated mind. The heroine, almost-30 Shannon Olson (oddly the same name as the author), is very disappointed in life. She expected everything to be easy and the opposite of what she's gotten so far. Beginning with a no-good boyfriend, a meaningless job, and a obsessive dependency on her mother, Shanny's story seems very miserable and lonely. Her counselor sessions start fairly soon with expectations that maybe she can work her depression out, but the progress is very long and drawn out. Reading this novel was very stressful at times. Shanny was a very unpleasant character, very self-absorbed, never taking care of herself and always obsessing about those around her. While this does not necessarily make this a bad novel, I think for me personally, it made it a little unattractive to enjoy.

Good points about the book: Shanny has a very wry sense of humor which I always enjoy. When reflecting on her growing up years, Shanny and her sister deliver some funny moments. Also Shanny's mother, Flo, is an absolute scene-stealer. I believe the humorous parts is the saving grace of this book -- without them it would be far too depressing.

Sounds like I don't have much good to say. Welcome to My Planet is just a little hard to explain. It's vagueness bothered me, as well as the continuous gear-switching -- going back and forth in time was a little tough to get used to. For those who enjoy a mix of pleasure and pain (psychologists would have a field day with this one), endings that leave room for interpretation, and a diversity in characters, I recommend this book with two thumbs up.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Can we please move along?
Review: Ugh!! Reading Ms. Olson's book was not a fun ordeal. The story was extremely fragmented. I know it's a little "in fashion" right now to write in an off-the-wall style but at least give us some adventure and some laughs.

I kept reading and thinking "The next section will move the story along. The next section will not be so hum-glum. The next section will be funny."

It just didn't happen. I read one review that compared this book to Bridget Jones. I don't think it even comes close in the humor department.

I love reading and I'm usually open minded. This book made me feel I'd been really wasting my time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Fun Read
Review: I really enjoyed the book, it made me think of Bridget Jones' Diary kind of style, where Shannon goes through typical troubles of in a single woman's life (i.e. breaking up, dating again, etc.). There were parts of the book that just made laugh. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading something at the beach, but not for someone who is looking for deep reading.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not a Bad Book, But Not a Great Book
Review: This book follows the lead character, Shanny, through her late twenties and into her thirtieth year. Shanny has the typical boyfriend troubles, parent troubles, and money troubles that have been so commonly depicted in books such as Bridget Jones's Diary lately. "Welcome to My Planet" is much more realistic than the majority of these novels...Shanny suffers from depression, has to move back into her parents house, and suffers through the ex-boyfriend-turned-friend trauma.

I gave this book 3 stars because there were some things I really liked about it and some things I really disliked about it. I enjoyed the relationship Shanny had with her mother, and I thought that was the brightest spot in the book. Also, I liked the realistic tone it had, with Shanny suffering from medical problems and also the depression. That was a nice change from the sometimes over-the-top tone this type of book can sometimes have.

One major flaw was lack of character development. Although I appreciated Shanny and Flo's relationship, I couldn't bring myself to "relate" to either of them. I was also bothered by Shanny's sometimes whiny tone....this character has so much in life going for her, you just sometimes fee like yelling "shut up and move on!"

Overall, it is not a bad book. I would recommend it as a light summer read, but don't expect it to stand out in your mind for years, or even days, after you read it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely wonderful
Review: I loved this book. It really is a book about nothing and everything. This is so much more insightful than most of the single white female, where is the man who's going to rescue me from my life while my mother drives me crazy books that are out there these days. I laughed out loud when I read things like "I can't believe I'm dating a guy who plays video games" or "parents are the trampoline of life that you spring from again and again until you are comfortable in the air". What single 30 something woman hasn't dated a guy who plays video games and wondered "what am I doing with him?". I guess if the book is about anything it's probably about someone looking for the easy way out in life while knowing deep inside that until she takes the hard road, nothing's going to change. Shanny tries every trick in the book to avoid deal with the hard road. I anxiously await more books from Shannon.


<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 10 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates