The Unprofessionals : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Excited at first, then lost interest completely
Review: Having grown up on Long Island and Nantucket, I was excited to see a first novel set in such familiar surroundings. I am interested in the topic of drugs, both legal and illegal, and my expectations were very high as the novel began.

After twenty pages I started to wonder where this novel was going, and then I found myself speed-reading to see if there was any developing story, and then I lost interest altogether. I almost never completely lose interest in a novel, especially one that is so promising to begin with, but this novel was dreadful. The protagonist is overbearingly anal and whiny and the story goes absolutely nowhere...it is though we are reading a diary, and a diary of a life that is simply rather boring and full of anxiety about anxiety. Five yawns to this one.....

Rating:
Summary: The Professionals: (Is it) A Novel (?)
Review: I have enjoyed many of Julie Hecht's stories in the New Yorker, but I don't feel that her style can sustain a reader's interest for 227 pages. I read the whole thing, but was puzzled by it. The first 20 or so pages never mention "the boy," then all of a sudden, his life is the whole focus.

I suppose the main character is revealed by her reactions to events in the boy's life, but not much. She is the same character who appears in the stories and much of this is a continuation of the stories which in themselves were somewhat chronological in the character's life. If a reader comes to this without having read any of the stories, he or she is bound to be lost.

I found the boy totally unsympathetic and not a believable character. I was much more interested in the main character's observations on modern life and her trips to various stores. I would have liked to learn more about her relationship with her husband. It's amazing that she has one. Who could live with her?

Anyhow, if she writes another book, I won't be reading it. Enough is enough.

Rating:
Summary: Struggles
Review: I have to admit, this book grabs you. You're thrown into this 49 year olds battles with herself and those around her. The plot development was slow, but only being 14 myself, it was a satisfying read. Her struggles are expressed through a series of events throughout her relationship with this "boy" which tests her sanity as she matures into middle age.