Big City Eyes

Rating:
Summary: It made me want to stay in the big city
Review: Big City Blues has a cute start about woman trying to flee the harsh realties of the city to save her son. But she wants up in Boringville, Long Island filled with freeloading livestock and noisy neighbors. However I did enjoy the son's realtionship with the Klingon wannabe girlfriend and the mother's friendship the police officer.

Rating:
Summary: It made me want to stay in the big city
Review: Big City Blues has a cute start about woman trying to flee the harsh realties of the city to save her son. But she wants up in Boringville, Long Island filled with freeloading livestock and noisy neighbors. However I did enjoy the son's realtionship with the Klingon wannabe girlfriend and the mother's friendship the police officer.

Rating:
Summary: HILARIOUSLY HEARTBREAKING
Review: Ephron writes in spare but pungent prose, painting a story of small-town life at once heartbreaking and funny. It recounts the life of Lily Davis, a neurotic single-parent who takes her awkward teenage son away from Manhattan and the bright city lights to live in the small town of Sakonnet Bay, believing it'll be a safer environment for him. There she takes a job on the local newspaper, makes an acquaintance with the state agent, and hopes for the best. At one point, Lily is sent to cover the story of a basset dog with its head stuck in a bucket, but on its escaping it bites her. The local policeman takes her to get treatment, and when they stop off at a house for an emergency, the nosy Lily takes a wander around and what she sees triggers an erotic flashback in her mind. Lily's life is conjured by the author with resilient wit, showing her character as a determined, obsessive and dryly humorous narrator.

Rating:
Summary: Underwhelming
Review: I have to confess I had higher hopes for "Big City Eyes." I was immediately drawn into the book by Ephron's snappy style and astute and somewhat offbeat observations regarding human nature. But about halfway through the novel, I realized it all seemed familiar, not as original as I had hoped. Lily moves out of Manhattan to save her son, only to realize...what??? That small towns are gossip mills? That bad things happen in small towns? That she can be attracted to a married man? None of this is a big surprise to the reader, especially since it is spelled out in the fly leaf of the novel.

Ultimately, I'm disappointed that the novel didn't chart out a more definite journey of self-discovery for Lily. Instead it skirts around the surface. Perhaps the reason for its superficialness is that its trapped somewhere between a genre mystery and a novel. And as a mystery it fails because we don't really care that much about the victim or the perpetrator.

As a novel, it careens between Lily's tenuous relationship with her son and her equally tenuous relationship with Officer McKee. Neither of these males are exactly likeable or intriguing characters, although we do see something of an emotional breakthrough for the son. Officer McGee is married with children and possibly politically conservative. Thats about all we really know about him. Nonetheless, Lily is inexplicably drawn to him. They shag once or twice, but the affair is over with before its barely begun. The ending suggests to me that Ephron may have a sequel in mind. In of itself, this novel of marginal subplots and unmysterious murder ends with numerous unsatisfying loose ends.

However, I would still read a sequel, in the hope that the story gets better. Lily Davis is a character with potential, and I'd like to give Ephron another chance to really make her shine.

Rating:
Summary: Am I the only one who loved it?
Review: I loved big city eyes. I thought it was funny, easy to follow and believable. her characters are very realalistic, (Not like some books were your suposded to like the book only because the author tells you. Or were the characters are only pure evil or pure good.) Her narrations are wonderful. It's about a reporter who is worried her son is beeing currupted by the city so she moves to the country. It deals with alot of real things in life and is still interesting.

Rating:
Summary: A Perfectly Dreadful Book
Review: I only checked out this book at the library because I had heard about the author and there was nothing else I was interested in.

It is awful! Have read only a few chapters and am not reading any more. If the author thinks she is cute and clever, she has really missed the mark.

This is supposed to be funny? It isn't even a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Wait for the movie version
Review: I picked up this book after recalling how much I had enjoyed "Teenage Romance: How to Die of Embarrassment" as a teen. I put down the book after reading about half of it, and I'm not sure when (or if) I'll pick it up again. It reads more like a plot outline for a film, not a novel. The characters are defined only by their actions, and the actions they take are thrust upon the reader without much reflection. Some of the humor works, though most is forced. Maybe I'd like the book more if I liked Lilly; she's ditzy, condenscending, and hmmm. Why go on? This is a summer beach read -- I'm surprised it isn't in paperback.

Rating:
Summary: Great fun
Review: I was given this book as a gift, started reading it and couldn't put it down! I finished it in record time. Everything about it was almost perfectly done - character development was awesome..very realistic characters who are as neurotic as most people you come across in your everyday life..including yourself. The storyline is fun and intriguing and I found myself laughing out loud at many parts. Yay Delia Eprhon! :)

Rating:
Summary: Out of the ordinary
Review: I would not consider "Big City Eyes" a literary master piece but most of the enjoyable light weight stuff we get everyday, like TV shows we watch religiously each week, are none the less essential to our good times. I do believe that the reviews of this book are accurate and provide the potential reader that this is one for a long plane ride. Lily is a character not far from everyone of us that mentally experiences life. We plug in background music to situations, think about the good old times, and wish life were bigger than it really is. I enjoyed this book because of its difference. At first I was annoyed that it was a simple read but I found myself laughing and having a good time reading it. My next book is "White Teeth" a Zadie Smith novel of a more grandious literary style. I look forward to every new style of writing I encounter. Hope you enjoy "Big City Eyes".

Rating:
Summary: Out of the ordinary
Review: I would not consider "Big City Eyes" a literary master piece but most of the enjoyable light weight stuff we get everyday, like TV shows we watch religiously each week, are none the less essential to our good times. I do believe that the reviews of this book are accurate and provide the potential reader that this is one for a long plane ride. Lily is a character not far from everyone of us that mentally experiences life. We plug in background music to situations, think about the good old times, and wish life were bigger than it really is. I enjoyed this book because of its difference. At first I was annoyed that it was a simple read but I found myself laughing and having a good time reading it. My next book is "White Teeth" a Zadie Smith novel of a more grandious literary style. I look forward to every new style of writing I encounter. Hope you enjoy "Big City Eyes".