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Summary: finally, an RDI for adults!
Review: Absolutely loved this book. Read more like good women's fiction than some of the recent, whiny, self-absorbed stories about neurotic 20 somethings that seem to be the usual chick lit fare lately. This is an intelligent, entertaining, and witty look at a married 35 year old woman dealing with a husband who has an affair, and all the changes that entails in her otherwise fairy tale life. Shows real growth among all the characters, and has a satisfying ending that makes sense as well.
I would definitely pick up this author's next book. RDI has entered a new league with this one...and at well over 400 pages, it is a story you can really sink into.
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Summary: deep character study
Review: Faith and Peter Martin celebrate their fifteenth wedding anniversary, which he completely forgot about, with friends and family including their two teenage children. Peter apologizes to his wife blaming it on the pressure at work caused by new a new chairwoman at the publishing firm where he works as a director. At the party, Faith's friend Lily makes a seemingly innocuous remark praising Faith for being "marvelous to trust him".However, Lily's casual comment makes Faith relook Peter who has bought new clothing and lost weight. She checks his credit card where she finds he bought flowers for someone. She questions him and he blows her off as being silly. Ultimately, she believes he is innocent and praises him for his faithfulness only to have him break down and confess he had an affair. As Peter tries to win back his wife, Faith begins to branch into other areas encouraged by her daughter and best friend. OUT OF THE BLUE could have been another "He did, she did" tale, but is more than that due to the rich cast that turns the prime theme of deceit into a deep character study. Faith lives up to her name until she learns Peter cheated. Peter feels guilt over his actions and his subsequent cover-up. Their daughter Katie steals the show with her Freudian analysis of everyone around her while Lily is a rip the skin off of everyone else magazine editor. These and other secondary players make for an upbeat amusing tale of relationships in the modern age that will have every spouse checking his pockets. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: Another great one from Isabel Wolff!
Review: Fan of Isabel Wolff? Then get ready to read another great one from the author of The Trials of Tiffany Trott and Making Minty Malone! Faith Martin, AM-UK!'s weather girl, is having a thunderous time. Her husband might be having an affair, and it is up to her to get to the bottom of things. As her suspicions mound and things begin to take some unexpected turns, Faith has opened up to some interesting possibilities... Out of the Blue is filled with Wolff's signature poignancy and humor. The emotions that the protagonist goes through are quite realistic. I love the characters, especially Lily, Sophie and Peter. Wolff has outdone herself with this new gem. Red Dress Ink made a wise decision in signing up this talented author. I look forward to reading more of her work.
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Summary: Not as good as her other work
Review: I've loved Wolff's other books, her characters are fun, funny, the stories move fast and the characters are endearing. But this one could have been written by another author, for all it resembled her other works. Maybe I couldn't get into the older character, but I actually stopped reading about 1/4 of the way through. I would definately try another Wolff book, because I think she's a fabulous writer, it's just that this story did nothing for me. Neither the plot nor the character grabbed me. I'll have to try again next time.
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Summary: Marriage and Divorce
Review: Isabel Wolff's "Out of the Blue" deals with Faith, a suburban wife who has been married for fifteen years to her college sweetheart, Peter. Faith always considered her relationship with Peter to be wonderful until she suspected him to be having an affair. Peter later confessed that he did indeed have an affair and Faith's was incredibly devastated. She was still very much in love with Peter but unsure of how to deal with his fling and suddenly another man, Jos, was paying attention to her. Jos was charming, attentive, good-looking and Faith became torn. Even though this is a Red Dress Ink book, it is not your typical chick-lit as this book deals with a much more serious topic - infidelity. Wolff tries successfully to add humor to such a grave situation. In addition, her main character is married and in her thirties unlike other chick-lit authors whose main characters are usually single and in their twenties. Her characters are well-developed, making you feel that you really know them. My only complain is that the book is quite slow and there seems to be no surprises. Once you get the storyline, that's it. So, it can be a little boring at times. However, I still think it is a good book especially since it was written well.
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Summary: Marriage and Divorce
Review: Isabel Wolff's "Out of the Blue" deals with Faith, a suburban wife who has been married for fifteen years to her college sweetheart, Peter. Faith always considered her relationship with Peter to be wonderful until she suspected him to be having an affair. Peter later confessed that he did indeed have an affair and Faith's was incredibly devastated. She was still very much in love with Peter but unsure of how to deal with his fling and suddenly another man, Jos, was paying attention to her. Jos was charming, attentive, good-looking and Faith became torn. Even though this is a Red Dress Ink book, it is not your typical chick-lit as this book deals with a much more serious topic - infidelity. Wolff tries successfully to add humor to such a grave situation. In addition, her main character is married and in her thirties unlike other chick-lit authors whose main characters are usually single and in their twenties. Her characters are well-developed, making you feel that you really know them. My only complain is that the book is quite slow and there seems to be no surprises. Once you get the storyline, that's it. So, it can be a little boring at times. However, I still think it is a good book especially since it was written well.
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Summary: Loved it...
Review: Just read it! I read it in 2 days. Made me laugh and cry. I love a book that makes me feel. Thanks Isabel for writing it!!!!
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Summary: Fun and Insightful Read
Review: One can't help but feel badly for Faith Martin, wife and mother of two befuddled teenagers. She's clueless, and as her name suggests, faithful to her family and career. Her husband of fifteen years, Peter, is not as "faithful." Wolff details Faith's quest for truth and love with splashes of humor and eloquence. The novel's dialogue is entertaining and true to life, which is something not always found in the romance, chick-lit genre. There is definitely more substance to this Red Dress Ink choice! So, read on and meet Faith Martin, an 'everywoman' that every woman can relate to and identify with. The characters are fun, the dialogue is witty, and Faith's journeys make for an enjoyable and insightful read.
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Summary: very good, breaks the chick-lit formula and seeks new ground
Review: Out of the Blue begins on January 6, as Faith and Peter are celebrating their 15th anniversary with family and friends, including Lily, Faith's best friend since they were 10 years old. Peter and Faith married very young and have 2 teenaged children. Faith has moderate fame as the weatherperson on a London morning show, and Peter is a bigwig in publishing but feels so pressured by nasty co-workers that he has hired a headhunter to help him find a better job. Through conversation at dinner -- and the fact that Peter makes the Freudian slip of calling 15 years a "millstone" rather than a "milestone" -- Faith suspects Peter of cheating and starts spying on him. Through an unexpected number of circumstances, they start divorce proceedings. The book is outlined in chapters, each chapter representing part of a month of the following year (i.e. "July continued"). It is Faith's story, but we know about Peter because of the children and the fact that they run into each other. Each starts up a new relationship. The story is rounded out with storylines about friends and co-wrokers, particularly Sophie, the intelligent commentator at Faith's show. Unfortunately, other storylines aren't well-done (i.e. her mother always vacationing and teaching her son how to gamble.) Still, it is definitely a good story, entertaining and original with an ending you cannot guess.
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Summary: I Was Blue With Boredom
Review: Out of the Blue is written by Isabel Wolff and is 443 pages long. The main story line focuses on Faith Martin, a weather girl for a morning news show based in London. She is about to celebrate her 15th year of marriage at the start of the story, and she and some close friends gather for an intimate evening at a nearby restaurant. Things are fine until one of Faith's closest friends, Lily, plants a seed of doubt in Faith's mind about her husband Peter's fidelity. (This happens after Peter goes home, of course). Faith protests that she totally trusts Peter-hadn't they been married for many years, had two beautiful children and were quite content? She shrugs off her friend's questions and goes home. Never mind that the two of them had been sleeping in separate rooms for months. Never mind that Peter always was preoccupied with his job and other matters. Never mind that their relationship had become kind of stale lately. However, once that little seed of doubt is planted, Faith begins questioning everything and comes to realize from the signs that maybe Peter is having an affair after all. She goes to great lengths to find out, questions him mercilessly, and even hires a private detective. Nothing is turned up. But worn down from Faith's constant questioning, Peter does indeed admit one night that yes, he had an affair. At first Faith doesn't know what to do, but she finally kicks Peter out and tells him she wants a divorce. From then on, the rest of the novel consists of how she gets a new boyfriend and moves on with divorce proceedings, how Peter moves in with the woman he was cheating with, and how other mind-numbing happenings happen. Her new boyfriend, Jos, seems to be a kind, charming, funny and intelligent man, but why does Faith's dog hate him so much? And is Faith's friend Lily as helpful and caring as she comes off? Over the course of the novel, this and other mysteries will come up and be dragged out mercilessly until the bitter end. If one can actually make it to the end of this book, that is. The story had some potential; it could have been the exciting, meaningful, and soul-searching type of book that leaves one with a good feeling when it's over. Or at least it could have been an entertaining and funny bit of fluff to keep one occupied for a few hours. However, neither is the case here; the story line for Out of the Blue is dragged out for a little too long, leaving the reader hungering for tasty morsels and details for such a looong time that it gets ridiculous. I mean, 443 pages is long for a Chick Lit book to begin with, but when it is filled with a story and characters as boring and lifeless as cardboard cutouts, it gets to be quite excruciating. That brings me to the next thing about Out of the Blue that I didn't like very much: its characters. Faith, the main heroine throughout much of the book is boring, lifeless, and seems to have no real emotions. The characterization in Out of the Blue was surprisingly awful for a book of such length. I instantly couldn't stand Faith's friend Lily either because she is clearly jealous of Faith from the beginning and is a manipulative witch. The fact that Faith can't see that for so long simply amazes me. Jos, Faith's boyfriend, has absolutely no substance, and I had a hard time seeing him as the important character in the book that he is made out to be. As for Faith's children, although Katie is depicted as an intellectual young girl who is always spouting a psychological analysis of everyone around her, she also came off as flat and boring. The good part of this book is that the author did clear up the "mysteries" that were plaguing me throughout the novel. I enjoyed the last twenty-five or so pages of Out of the Blue, when things finally began unraveling and making sense. Now, I'm all for a suspenseful story line; in fact I adore suspense. However when it is dragged out for 443 mundane and ridiculously lifeless pages, it becomes a problem. I began reading this book a week and a half ago; I just finished it this evening. Normally I can devour a book of this length in several hours.
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