The Good Wife Strikes Back

Rating:
Summary: Another Vengefully Wonderful Read...
Review: After reading (and loving) REVENGE OF THE MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN, I picked THE GOOD WIFE STRIKES BACK. I enjoyed it just as much as REVENGE.

Elizabeth Buchan has such a beautiful way of telling stories. She describes those emotions that we feel, but cannot name. Not everything is anger, jealousy, love, hate, joy, and sorrow. No, there are some emotions that are so complex, so intertwined and messy, it's impossible to unravel them and give them title.

Fanny seems to have the ideal life--a life she deliberately chose and has, for the most part, been happy with for the last 19 years. And yet, she finds herself yearning for something that is hers and hers alone.

Any woman caught up in the needs of her family, of her career, of the expectations of friends, husbands, in-laws, and children, will understand and appreciate Fanny's point of view. What woman has not fantasized about the path not chosen? The lover not taken? The job given up?

THE GOOD WIFE STRIKES BACK is a wonderful read. A big HURRAH! for Elizabeth Buchan.

Rating:
Summary: On Target but Not Her Best Work
Review: Elizabeth Buchan, whose previous work Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman, seeped into my consciousness as I read it, was a better choice than this tepid attempt. Tepid isn't all bad, though, unless your expectations are for something either hot or cold. In this case, the lead character, Fanny, has a real marriage. She is married to a self-absorbed elected official, has a great daughter, and carries the burdens of her husband's sister, her parent's failed relationship, and her own discontent. Fanny does it so well, that we hardly realize what a struggle it must be for such a vibrant, intelligent woman to make herself into these variations.

Then it becomes clear that this is the genius, and the failing, of this good novel. We never see the struggle. Even when Fanny confronts her husband about an affair, or her interfering, alcoholic sister-in-law, we don't get the feeling that she really sweats any of it. What we get is the gentle picture of a woman skimming the surface of life, at least at first.

Finally, with the death of her father, and the death of the sister-in-law, we began to see what Fanny is made of. At that point, we empathize, sympathize, and understand that Fanny's seeming disconnection from the turmoil is in fact protection for a deep and sensitive spirit.

I enjoyed this book. I found the writing lucid, poetic in places, and very readable. Men and women could read this book and get something out of it, particularly in examining the smooth, placid surface of Fanny's life and its eventual toll. Why such a low rating? Because the feeling was missing for me through most of the book. And I expect feeling when I read Buchan.

Rating:
Summary: More Than It Seems
Review: For some strange reason, Elizabeth Buchan's American publisher has chosen to ignore the fact that she is an award-winning, thoughtful author, and relegate her to the masses of romance novels. Hence the ridiculous title--after her last book, renamed "Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman," do I detect a pattern here? Are American readers too lowbrow to choose a book unless it has a soap-opera title?

No matter. The book is lovely anyway, and more than it seems. It is the careful and often heart-tugging story of a marriage that is not exactly ordinary: Will is a British MP, and his wife Fanny, once a free spirit who ran a wine company with her father, is now the dutiful, adoring wife. Only it doesn't quite work out that way.

Over a series of years and overlapping time periods, we see how the marriage evolves from a crazy-in-love-at-first-sight honeymoon into a real relationship, with all the attendant baggage that comes with it. Will, to my mind, is the most self-centered human being one could imagine, I suppose like all politicians, and it is in his character that Buchan lets us down--I simply could not see why a strong, vibrant woman like Fanny would put up with him. This is explained to us in various months and years of Fanny's adaption to her political life, but it never quite makes sense.

Will's alcholic sister Meg moves in with the young couple almost immediately, and is horribly intrusive throughout the book, and yet the two woman have some strange and yet unmistakable bond. Meg's son Sacha appears at age 16, choosing to live with his mother, and so joins the household that already contains Will and Fanny's only daughter Chloe.

Fanny's father, a wonderful, robust, full-of-life transplanted Italian who loves his vineyard and his daughter with equal gusto, represents the other side of Fanny's character--and so we learn a great deal about her--if not her choices.

I notice that in this version of the book, the publisher took care to change Brit phrases like "jumper" into "sweater," but left "tights" alone. So for those readers who do not know, tights are pantyhose in Britain--it's impossible to imagine Fanny on one of her deadly boring political tea-drinking outings wearing American tights!

Another good book from Buchan--not her best, but well worth reading. Just put a brown paper bag over the title.

Rating:
Summary: I Too Say so-so
Review: Great story about a woman discovering things that make her happy and things that make her not so happy in her relationships and her marriage to a British politician. I enjoyed Elizabeth's thoughtful writing and was pleased at how the story and characters seemed to come full circle. Very satisfying.

Rating:
Summary: The Good Wife Strikes Bad
Review: I also vote negative for the renaming of this book. It almost felt like predjuging an avarage American reader as incapable of raising interest in anything that does not include additional drama. Besides, there is very little drama going on between covers of this book so the change of it's title is completly unjustified.I've reached it's last page feeling unspeakably empty and knowing even less about Fanny Savage then when I started my reading. It's an easy but disappointing reading.

Rating:
Summary: misleading title
Review: i read 'revenge of the middle-aged woman' and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was also a good book although the title 'the good wife strikes back' is misleading. How did she strike back? She stayed with him (her husband) and didn't follow her chance of going back into the wine business. Maybe the 'new start' had this in mind but the reader i think is left in the dark almost although a sequel was planned.

Rating:
Summary: Savor This Book
Review: This book was an engrossing but soothing read with considerable depth. With humor and tenderness the author peels back the layers in the life of the "good wife" married to a somewhat self-absorbed a Member of Parliament. Buchanan has a true understanding of the compromises (and sometimes less than appropriate sacrifices) that are involved in a genuine partnership. I recommend this book highly and enjoyed it even more than Buchanan's previous works, including "Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman."

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but not great either
Review: This is the first time I've read any of Ms. Buchan's work. I found her language flowery, yet functional, and I liked her use of metaphors. The book isn't a chore to read, but it didn't reach out and grab me either. The characters are all rather flat and unimpressive and it was hard to care about any of them. The story moves very, very slowly with plenty of flashbacks that sometimes make it hard to remember where you are. The text is first person and heavily-narrative, which adds further drag to the story. Not a bad read, but easy to forget.

Rating:
Summary: Delicious, delightful, de-wonderful reading!
Review: This is the third Buchan novel I've read so it's time to confess I'm a fan, and I'm not just waving air. This is a particular kind of wit that was inspired earlier by Fay Weldon and Buchan has done more with it. Buchan's novels are irresistable and mighty tasty reads. There's wit aplenty and intelligence as well as a worldview of interest. This one, "The Good Wife" has to do with a loyal MP's wife who, 20 years down the marriage pike, has to reassess her existence, her life, her marriage. It's quite good indeed.

The other two Buchan books I enjoyed are: Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman and Perfect Love, this latter could have been somewhat shorter (editors note same). Buchan writes entirely fine novels but I dislike her titles which probably help her to sell well so I should shut up. I think the titles diminish the literary quality of the novels which is high.

Rating:
Summary: I Too Say so-so
Review: Though a few chapters to read, I found the story to be nothing but the ordinary story of a middle age woman and her political lifestyle via hubby. The conversations and plot rendered nothing different than going next door in Middletown Suburbia or down to the local church and talking to the members or neighbors.

I felt the body of the story was overwhelmed with too many descriptive terms making the story flow with edge. I can't say that I have completely enjoyed it. It was one I skimmed more than spent turning the page with a hunger to find the next reference, action or deed. Books I have enjoyed are: "Secret life of bees" and "Hemorrhage in my Head" by NMR