Rating: 
Summary: Agree about the dates...and the book.
Review: Call me a spoil-sport, but that issue with the dates REALLY bothered me as well. It's a very sloppy mistake which seems to epitomize how I felt about this book. It's clever at times, but Dorcas (the narrator) goes from being a funny, irreverent sage to an out-and-out pill awfully fast and Willett's narrative style is wildly inconsistent. Literary and thoughtful at times, a messy spew of words the next. And that date mistake. How does a writer do such a thing? How does an editor not catch it? It only indicates that no-one involved in the writing or publishing of this book cared enough or took enough time with it. So why should I or any other reader?
Rating: 
Summary: Amusing sendup of New England values and the literary life.
Review: From the opening paragraph, a woman's description of being struck by lightning, the reader of this book learns to expect the unexpected-and gets it. Dorcas Mather, the narrator, is a librarian in Frome, Rhode Island, who quietly catalogues books while a hurricane bears down on the town. Fortified with some scotch she has brought for the occasion, she is bent on cataloguing one particular book, her own personal "hurricane"--entitled In the Driver's Seat: The Abigail Mather Story by her twin sister, Abigail Mather, and a ghostwriter, Hilda DeVilbiss. With delightful mockery of the book publishing process, Dorcas reveals that this book is making her sister into a national heroine for not only surviving her "marital horror" but for doing something about it. Exaggerated, over-the-top paragraphs from the novel written by Abigail and Hilda alternate with Dorcas's iconoclastic and sometimes cynical tales about the real Abigail, as the dual history of the Mather sisters unfolds. Because the narrative moves back and forth between the events as told in Abigail's book and Dorcas's much later reflections on these events, the plot is not linear. The reader learns in the first twenty-five pages that Abigail has committed a "savage act of assertive self-realization," otherwise known as murder, but it is the circumstances which led to the murder and the divergent views and lifestyles of Abigail and Dorcas which provide the interest and intrigue for the reader. As Dorcas tells us, "Abigail and I divided up the world. Sacred and profane. Spiritual and physical. Mind and body." Abigail, sexually liberated since the age of 14, is, according to Dorcas, an "amoral exhibitionist." Dorcas, by contrast, "knows what it feels like...to experience desire," but she has rejected it completely, finding love-making "ridiculous." The novel is a light, breezy, and often satiric send-up of New England values, the literary life, family interdependencies, our pre-occupation with "self-image," and the cruelties we humans perpetrate upon each other. Firmly rooting the novel in its Rhode Island setting, with its storms, hurricanes, and blizzards racing up the Atlantic coast, author Jincy Willett recreates the tumults and storms of her characters' daily lives, leavening the action with humor at the same time that her characters both create and meet their own disasters. Uncomplicated in its plot and simple in themes, the novel chooses to amuse and entertain rather than provide new insights for the reader. It is a lively look at two peculiar sisters, whose opposing views of life and conflicting values may not seem so peculiar in the end. Mary Whipple
Rating: 
Summary: Fun and Thought-Provoking
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait for someone I know to read it so that we can talk about it. The characters are well-drawn and convincingly detailed. The sisters' brutal honesty is refreshing. I found myself flipping to look at the author's picture several times, amazed by her often profound insights. I did not want to put the book down because it was exceptionally well-written and entertaining. I hope Jincy Willet is hard at work on her next novel. Meanwhile, I am reading her short story collection and it's very good, too.
Rating:
Summary: Fun and Thought-Provoking
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait for someone I know to read it so that we can talk about it. The characters are well-drawn and convincingly detailed. The sisters' brutal honesty is refreshing. I found myself flipping to look at the author's picture several times, amazed by her often profound insights. I did not want to put the book down because it was exceptionally well-written and entertaining. I hope Jincy Willet is hard at work on her next novel. Meanwhile, I am reading her short story collection and it's very good, too.
Rating:
Summary: An unsung winner!
Review: I'm with the reader who got knocked out of the reading slump by this book. I had been skulking through bookstores for months, surviving on skanky short stories from literary magazines and ancient novels written fifty years ago -- can't anyone write something new? I kept demanding. The title of this one nearly made me pass it by, since I feared it would be another cute bit of froth from some workshop adolescent wonderchild, but by the fifth page I was knocked over with delight. "Now that's what I'm talking about," I said, by page fifteen, and by the middle of the book I was on Amazon.com, searching for Willett's other books and mourning deeply that she's only put out one so far...I'm a little puzzled by the ending of the book, but I just need to read it again, which I will, in a month or two. This is the sort of book that needs to be read and reread, and can be read and reread. Yay! Oh...and as for the reviewer who got bent about the error with the dates...didn't even notice that, myself. Too busy being engaged by all the rest. Loved the description of being inside the eye of the hurricane, for instance, and the clarity of the language in general. I also really like the bit where Dorcas is snowed in at the Sport shop & the great description of her snowshoeing crosscountry...not to give too much away, but this is, no kidding, a great book & a great read. Get it! Read it! Pay no attention to those dates behind the curtain!
Rating:
Summary: Witty Novel with a Cheeky Title
Review: It is unlikely that Winner of the National Book Award will actually be a winner of the national book award but this fine, funny novel by Jincy Willett earns its cheeky title. It smoothly satirizes the type of novels that Oprah was once famous for selecting for her book club. Not bad books in themselves but of a type. The author of this book plays with that type in this story of twin sisters, one earthy ... and one cerebral ... and an abusive man who enters their lives. There will be abuse and there will be revenge but mostly there is humour, particularly in the voice of the narrator, the purer sister. It is a delightful read.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing funny about this one.
Review: The blip on the front cover sold me. Augusten Burroughs, author of two of the funniest books I've ever read, "Running with Scissors" and "Dry" says that this book by Jincy Willett is "the funniest novel I have read....ever." Augusten, your books are dark and amazing snort laughs...but this one...the only thing funny about it is the title and your little blip. It's as if the dust jacket in on the wrong book. All the characters were boring and unlikable. Dorcas tells a story about her sister 'ala Anna Nicole Smith and her love Conrad 'ala any of the Baldwin brothers. The only developed character was Guy 'ala Danny Devito playing Mr. Magoo. This book is not dark, it is not funny, it is on the fence between the classic "The Shipping News" and The Simpson's Show. I don't recommend it and hate that such a great writer as Mr. Burroughs was tricked into loving it.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing funny about this one.
Review: The blip on the front cover sold me. Augusten Burroughs, author of two of the funniest books I've ever read, "Running with Scissors" and "Dry" says that this book by Jincy Willett is "the funniest novel I have read....ever." Augusten, your books are dark and amazing snort laughs...but this one...the only thing funny about it is the title and your little blip. It's as if the dust jacket in on the wrong book. All the characters were boring and unlikable. Dorcas tells a story about her sister 'ala Anna Nicole Smith and her love Conrad 'ala any of the Baldwin brothers. The only developed character was Guy 'ala Danny Devito playing Mr. Magoo. This book is not dark, it is not funny, it is on the fence between the classic "The Shipping News" and The Simpson's Show. I don't recommend it and hate that such a great writer as Mr. Burroughs was tricked into loving it.
Rating: 
Summary: Deceptive Marketing
Review: This book has clever marketing but it is a far cry from what the title suggests. It hints at fame, honor and really bad weather but I had only sheer cussedness compelling me to finish reading this tome. On a scale of 10 this one barely makes it past 1.
Rating:
Summary: Funny!
Review: This is a really strange book. On the plus side you have Dorcas, the librarian, through whose eyes we are involved in the action. As viewpoint character she is easy to identify with, sympathetic and astute. But the other major characters, including her obese twin sister Abigail, are gross caricatures, overwritten puppets manipulated by the writer. The somewhat bizarre plot works reasonably well, even though we know from the beginning who killed whom and why. However the combination of bizarre plot and bizarre overwritten characters would be outlandiish if it were not that writer has such an acute observation of the human condition and the complex deceptions we work on ourselves in order to protect ourselves from unpleasant truths. This is one sharp writer. And she is VERY funny too. For the insights and humor alone this book is worth reading.
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