Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The lively writing in the first few pages caused me to buy this book. Two-thirds of the way through I closed it and tossed it onto the pile of library donations. The people in this story are surely stereotypes, but they made me (who spent her first 40 years in New York City and worked in several publishing houses) really uncomfortable. Enough dysfunction already. Ick!
Rating: 
Summary: Delicious!
Review: The Quality of Life Report is one of those books that make eating and sleeping seem like annoying distractions. I became completely absorbed in this book and fell in love with its heroine, Lucinda Trout. Lucinda is a New York television reporter who abandons her shallow job (she reports on thong underwear and takeout sushi) and her overpriced mouse-infested apartment in search of the "good life" in the Midwest. But she soon discovers that her new home doesn't live up to her Norman Rockwell fantasies. This greatly distresses the bosses and stylists back home in New York, who insist that the "Quality of Life Reports" that Lucinda files present only the Hallmark version of the Great Plains.The book is stunningly honest, which is what makes it such a compelling read. It also presents a complicated and nuanced view of the Midwest that New Yorkers like myself would do well to see. But what really made me tear though this book was Lucinda herself. Like many of my favorite female protagonists, she is funny, smart and self-deprecating. But Lucinda has something more -- she has a level of confidence, bravery and independence that I often see in my friends but rarely see in fiction. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Quality Book
Review: This book is truly a testament to how you can search and search for the quality of life and it doesn't matter so much WHERE you are, but rather what you do with your life where you are. I felt the book was very well-written, descriptive but not too much, and extremely funny. Being a journalist myself, I totally related to the character and her boss. And I think the irony of the story is well-portrayed.
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