Rating: 
Summary: What a depressing book.
Review: I kept waiting for the "revenge" part but it never came. The main character was a wimp who let her husband and his mistress walk all over her. I never felt that the characters were real, they seemed very one dimensional.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Read!!!
Review: This is the first time I've read Buchan, and I'm happy to say I really enjoyed her newest effort. Rose Lloyd is the typical married woman who has it all, only to watch as it all vanishes. After being married 25 years, her husband wants out and she also loses her job. The thing I liked the most about this book was Rose's attitude. She didn't feel sorry for herself but instead found truly inspiring ways of looking at her new life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and look forward to reading this author's other books.
Rating:
Summary: Not a she-devil
Review: If you're looking for the typical she-devil who gets revenge on those who wronged her, this isn't that book. Instead, it's a book about the simple, yet complex, transformation of a woman dealing with an upended life.Rose, head of the book review department at newspaper where her husband, Nathan, also works, finds her tranquil, if somewhat idyllic, life thrown into chaos. Nathan unexpectedly announces that he is leaving her for another woman, who turns out to be Rose's assistant at the paper. In a slightly pat twist, Rose's assistant is also given Rose's job - leaving her without a husband, a job and eventually, a home. Nathan attempts to excuse his infidelity and subsequently atrocious behaviour by blaming the affair on Rose's supposed buried affection for her first love, but even he eventually admits it's a ruse. I found this book an unexpected delight and a refreshing change from the typical "hell-hath-no-fury" tales of divorcees. Some reviewers complained that Rose was not truly "transformed"; I personally saw much of Rose's changed life not as an obvious standout (wearing lingerie, losing weight), but in the smaller bits of her interior: feeling sympathy for the woman her husband left her for, Rose's reaction to her daughter's sudden marriage. "Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman" offers a quiet, introspective look at a heartbreaking event in one woman's life. The book is not without it's flaws, but overall, it is a fine work by a fine author.
Rating: 
Summary: Too British!
Review: The Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan was mediocre. Sooo British. Feelings understated - the weather and other mundane things detailed like a Rembrandt.
Rating:
Summary: not bad
Review: Not bad, but not really good, either. Very symmetrical, middle-aged woman loses her husband AND her job to her assistant, a younger woman she thought was her friend. Some good discussion of how someone feels when suddenly abandoned, but not convincing somehow. At the end, she is offered her job (the younger woman couldn't hack it) and her husband (the younger woman is a mistake, the husband finds) but she turns them both down. She has a new job and she gets back her original lover, whom she left before she met her future husband. Not convincing, don't get the sense that anyone in the book is real, they seem like stock characters ordered to fill up the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Slow Revenge
Review: It was not too bad, wasn't what I expected. Was expecting good old fashion she-devil kind of book. What you get is just a normal story... of a divorced lady, dealing with divorce, like all divorced people do. No pizazz, no drama, no revenge in sight.
It read slow, it was back and forth, present and past...and when she was writing in the present, it was a fast wonderful read (a little like Daniel Steel), but it would drop when she flashed back, and she flashed back often. Most the flashbacks were drawn out and boring. I have to agree with some of the reviews, I never saw much of a change in her, I was hoping for a metamorphosis, a moth to a butterfly. What I got was maybe... a grub to a June bug.
Rating:
Summary: Wrong Title
Review: Instead of "Revenge of . . .", this book would better be titled "Resignation of . . .". I kept waiting for the main character (Rose) to take hold and deal realistically (not ballistically) with her circumstances. However, the author was determined to mold her character into a pseudo-mature, compliant, long-suffering blob. I suppose we are to appreciate how marvelously evolved and noble Rose is. Sorry, it doesn't work! Capitulation should not be confused with strength. This book is fiction indeed -- an improbable manipulation of characters and plot.
Rating: 
Summary: The Victimization of A Middle-aged Wimp.
Review: This book should have been titled The Victimization of A Middle-aged Wimp. No wit or humor evident in this book. Nothing but disaster after disaster until it shot my suspension of disbelief to smithereens. Rose's lack of anger at her rotten husband's outrageous attitude of entitlement, lack of self-defense, then later, her defense of him and his appallingly selfish and narcissistic behavior was enough to make me want to throw the book against the wall. And I would have, too, if it wouldn't have broken my mp3 player. I wanted to shake Rose and say, "Wake the heck up, woman! The man isn't worth the cost of toilet paper. Be a woman--wipe and flush!" In the end--er, scratch that. I never got to the end. Ms. Buchan lost me when Rose allowed her husband and his mistress to take her house from her. But at that point, anyway, it was very clear that Rose was a nonconfrontational coward who stood passively by while her daughter fought her battles for her and said to Nathan all the things that Rose should have said. Last but not least, Rose turned out have terrible taste in men. Hal wasn't much better. This is just another Lit Fic story about a victimized woman. Read the Romance genre. The heroine's are stronger and smarter, and the men--though flawed--are more heroic. Much more satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to Dislike
Review: I understand that REVENGE OF THE MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN was a big hit in England. To paraphrase Scott Fitzgerald, "the Brits are different than you and me." First of all, this book broadcast the forthcoming crises from page one. Right at the beginning, it was obvious what was about to happen to the heroine, who was going to instigate these events, who was going to profit. Even though the scene of euthanizing her cat was one of the most touching I've ever read, this fictional woman is plagued by more troubles than visited the Biblical Job. As far as I'm concerned, all of these sorrows pass the point of plausibility and enter into pure nonsense. Author Elizabeth Buchan clearly is an excellent writer, but the story she has chosen to tell here hardly is original. And, for the millions of real women who have lived its variations, there rarely are such validating happy endings as Buchan contrives. REVENGE OF THE MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN was a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book Club Discussion Book
Review: This book didn't rate real high with me, however, I think it would be a good one for a book club to read and discuss. What happened to the middle aged woman in this story should raise some good issues. The discussion guide raises some very intersting questions. The characters in this book are very well drawn.
I think the book is "too English" to resound well for me. I found lots of unfamiliar words. The main character, Rose, moped around for too long before getting on with her life after her husband of many years leaves her.
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