Rating: 
Summary: Compelling but inconsistent....
Review: Although I found the protagonist very unlikeable at times, the writing style and the way the author structured the story made me want to finish it in record time. However, looking back on my own experiences in corporate New York and the burbs, it irked me throughout that the only friend Lisa has is her cousin. For someone as lusty and clever as she, you'd think she would have a close, tightly knit circle of friends, rather than spend her off time either with Eben, when it was on again, or alone, or working out. I would think most single career girls fill their time with friends (in between men, work and working out!). I have to say I liked Eben a lot and wondered what he saw in Lisa - she is clearly older than her years and has a lot of baggage....at times the book was incredibly depressing. I don't know that I would pick up another one of Ciresi's books, and this after reading all 3 of Helen Fielding's books and looking for more lighthearted yet driving tales of single women in the mean, mean world. Give it a go if you are looking for a well-written book, but be prepared for a challenge with the main character.
Rating: 
Summary: Great read
Review: I did not put this book down! I stayed up late reading it, and really felt for Lisa and Strauss. I think Rita does a great job portraying italian-american families. I am an italian-american and we will do anything for our family. I think it is also great how Lisa doesn't just want to meet and hopefully marry another italian guy. She puts the religious issue aside and lets her love grow. I also like the work issues she faces. As every working girl in Corporate america knows this is how it is in a lot of places.I definitely reccomend this book. I am going out today to buy Blue Italian.
Rating:
Summary: Pink Slip
Review: This book was a wonderful, well-written account a women finding herself. She goes through experiences that we all have. It is a good coming of age book for young women.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific book!
Review: I adored this book. I thought it very well-written, the characters believable, and the storyline interesting. I am not Italian and have never worked in a corporate setting, but I found this book to be refreshing, hilarious and extremely sad--all at the same time. I could not put it down. I'm a bookseller and will definitely recommend this book to customers in the future. I'm looking forward to future books by Ms. Ciresi.
Rating: 
Summary: well written. liked the book , didn't like the characters.
Review: First of all, this book was incredibly well written. I liked the author's style and how she'd spring things on the reader in an entertaining and haphazard way. It keeps you on your toes. I finished the book last nite and I'm not sure if I like the characters. I definitely do not like Strauss. His arrogance and bossiness would drive me up a wall. (Whenever he called her "Lisar" -- I would just cringe.) Lisa was okay. I found her incredibly selfish and a real pain in the derriere, yet I felt for her. But, I don't have to like the characters in order to like book. The author's style conveyed very well Lisa's love for Strauss and I was rooting for her all along. I'd reccomend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Just like real life it's both funny and tragic
Review: When I started reading this book I was amused, because I grew up in the very place where her novel takes place. She was dead on with the development of her characters and her descriptions of the different neighborhoods in Connecticut. What really struck me about the book was that it was closer to home then just geography. Anyone who has ever been a part of a large ethnic family knows that you have to take the good with the bad and that in the end you stick by your family even if they make you crazy. I could also relate for her search for love wherever she could find it. Having lost friends and loved ones to disease I could easily relate to how her character dealt with tragedy. Good going Ms. Ciresi !
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Wonderful book I did not want to put it down. I thought that the characters and relationships were very believable. Easy read and a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Could not put this one down!
Review: Once I started this book, I could not put it down. I especially liked that no character and no relationship was perfect, making this that much more enjoyable. This book of love and romance totally riveted me because it was totally realistic. This book will leave you with a good feeling in your heart long after you have finished reading it.
Rating:
Summary: heartwarming and funny
Review: When I first began Pink Slip by Rita Ciresi I thought I was going to never get through it but the pace picked up after the first 40 pages. I really got into the book until the last hundred pages where I admit to scanning thru until I got the interesting parts. While I thought the writing was a bit sophomoric - the topic was anything but.Lisa is a young in age (25) but old in experience, having lived enough life for someone twice her age yet she still seemed a bit immature in her relationship with her sort-of Boss Eben Strauss who is quite a few years older than her. The story centers on Lisa's career move from her tiny rat infested apartment in Brooklyn and crummy job in publishing to a decent apartment in the 'burbs and a decent job at Boorman Pharmaceuticals in their editing department. There she meets a man who is her complete opposite and falls for him hard - the main problem? He is her boss... That can only lead to trouble and it does yet the reader still roots for love to win and corporate policy to look the other way. Lisa is a well drawn character with flaws like the rest of us and her relationships with her cousin Dodie, her boss Peg and of course Strauss are very realistic. While I wished that more time was spent on their relationship towards the end of the book instead of on Lisa and her family - the book was very enjoyable. Hopefully Rita will write a sequel so we can find out what happens for all of the above!
Rating:
Summary: entertaining and touching
Review: Genuinely funny and caustic dialogue alternates with real pathos in this engrossing story of an office romance between two unlikely co-conspirators. Lisa and Eben are engaging, fully 3-D characters, as is Lisa's best friend and mentor (and Eben's unlikely rival for her affections), her gay cousin Dodie. You really come to care about these flawed but sympathetic people. AIDS, the Holocaust, sexual harassment, Italian-American family relations, albeit familiar subjects often exploited for their topicality, are treated here credibly and movingly.
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