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Rating: Summary: future takes you through a fun historic look at the past Review: I almost quit reading this book after a couple of chapters, but am glad that I finished it. It's a look at five women and their lives through the years. Graham writes with delightful humor through the eyes of the narrator, Peggy. Actually, this book made me wish that I had kept in better touch with my college roommates. It shows how even though women are very different in their natures, they need each other. Fun, quick read....go for it!
Rating: Summary: could have been better.... Review: I brought this book with me to read while I waited for my daughter. Since I had nothing else to do, I managed to slog through the first part of the book until I finally had the characters straight. Someone had told me they thought the book was funny so I kept reading in hopes of finding that spark, but it just wasn't there for me.It was nice to see how opportunities for women have changed over the years, but I have to agree with a number of other reviewers that most of the characters were not well developed. While the storyline of Huntington's disease seemed to be resolved, I felt letdown by the way a number of relationships (especially between sisters) were unresolved. I guess that's the way it often is in real life, but I wanted more. One last item to add to the list of things I wish the editor had caught - the author has the main protagonist, Peggy, and her daughter spending time at the mall in 1952 (as well as noting that Peggy's "water busted in the mall in Topperwein" years earlier). The first indoor shopping mall didn't come along until 1956 in Edina, MN. Small thing maybe but if you are going to set your story in another time period I think you should strive to get the details right.
Rating: Summary: This is a nice, comfortable read. Review: I had my doubts when I first started this book. It starts out really slow as Graham sets up the characters, but it all unfolds very beautifully. This story is about five Airforce wives... Peggy, Betty, Lois, Audrey and Gayle and follows their lives through divorce, death, children and numerous moves. It is told in the voice of Peggy, who is the glue that holds the clan together. This book is light, funny and very easy to believe. I give it four stars because it wasn't the greatest book I've ever read, but it was obviously worth the time to read it. Very entertaining.
Rating: Summary: Liked it Review: I liked this book and will look for other Laurie Graham books. My only nit-picking is: I'd give it 5 stars if the "English" dialogue didn't sound exactly like the American--- an Englsih country woman certainly wouldn't use the same words and phrases as a American/Texan. (I've lived in both places)
Other than that, I enjoyed the writing, and the story of just some regular gals married to some regular guys trying to make the best of things. Nothing too fancy, just a slice of life.
Rating: Summary: Great....if you're American! Review: I read this book with a mix of feelings! On the one hand I was compelled to read to the end. The characters are somewhat likeable and the plot is easy to follow (if rather predictable) making the book a nice, easy read for occasions such as beach holidays or train journeys.
On the other hand, I was fighting the urge to fling it in the nearest bin! My dented patriotic pride was urging me to throw it away in an attempt to avoid the American arrogance so portrayed through lines such as "God's own country" by way of identification of the USA, and as a reaction to the many ignorant portrayals of the British. Americans and other nationalities reading this will quite possibly be deceived into thinking like the author. The book is rife with stereotypes, such as: all Brits have bad teeth; all Brits are `gushingly' grateful for the Americans' part in World War II; all Brits are simple-minded and ignorant of the ways of the world and furthermore, are in awe of anything, or anyone, American.
I read this book with feelings of distaste throughout, knowing the opposite to be more often the case in my experience and sick to the backbone of having American pride thrust down my throat once again. We can't escape it in movies, now it seems "God Bless America" fashion has hit literature too!
Rating: Summary: Great Book! Review: I really enjoyed this book. My only critique is towards the end it started to get a little tired. The story may have gone on a bit to long, but it wasn't bad. Comparable to The Saving Graces and Angry Housewive Eating Bon-Bons, both of which I enjoyed, it really is a nice read.
Rating: Summary: Style good, plot no Review: Theres not really a plot. The author admits most of her books don't have any. Its a story about a woman who just lives her life. Gets married to a military man, has child, gets divorce, gets career. Lives. Goes on and interacts with the same circle of friends for most of her life. I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the writers style. I liked the story. I didn't like that there wasn't an overall significance, meaning or plot to the story. I could be wrong! There probably is! I am sorry! But I couldn't fish it out of there. The main character, Peggy, starts her story in a little "town" in England as a pilot's wife. She and her friends meet a British woman and include her in their circle. Peggy and her friends move back to the States eventually, and remain friends through heartache, divorce and distance. Their children grow up and give them a world of trouble in the 60s. This is mostly a story of a womans life. Its not boring; I kept waiting for something significant to happen. I kept being optimistic; "perhaps Peggy will find love," etc. in the end, but... This story is like her another of her books, the main characters don't have a profound love. They exist because of something other than that---not a romantic love, but love in the family ties, or friendship ties way. Its a different sort of book.
Rating: Summary: Slow Start...but worth it Review: This book did have a slow start...but after plowing through the first 50 or so pages the story picks up! I cared about each of the characters and loved how it was so true to life....one minute your inseparable friends, th enext you only get together in crisis or celebration (Funerals, weddings...). I loved the developement of Kathy and her relationship with the women. I also loved the way that the author subtly incorporated what was going on in society into the book (Crystal's jaunt in "flower child", Grice's coming out, The greedy 80's (Through Gayle and Lois) and woman's liberation in general for all these characters. And, a previous reveiwer refers to the "going to London to see Queen Elizibeth's Coronation" saying it did not happen....it did happen...it just wasn't the main character, Peggy, who went.
Rating: Summary: Military Wives Unite Review: This book started out slow, but I ended up not wanting the book to end. The characters were not very developed and it was a very shallow so to speak book. It was a good book, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't purchase it though!
Rating: Summary: Friendships over all Review: This is the story of five American Air force wives stationed at a US airbase in the Norfolk Fens in 1953, the year of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Their common thread is having husbands flying for the 68th bomber wing, and that they are military wives in a foreign land. Their social life brings them together, even though life will force them apart in distance and social rank as the story moves over the next 40 years. I was confused about the Future Homemakers of America title, but by novel's end, the meaning rang true as the five women's lives tied back to Peggy and Betty's lives in Texas, near San Antonio where they grew up. This is the second novel I have read in recent months that has revolved around the genetic horror of an inherited disease, Huntington's Chorea. And I was fascinated at Laurie Graham's plot links from unfaithful Lois's affair with odd John Pharoah, the English odd-ball brother of Kath, who becomes Peggy's dearest of friends. The devotion of these women over the years through widowhood, remarriage, divorce, cancer, ambition and true friendship is worth the read. I especially enjoyed the humorous episodes of Peggy's in her wedding and then party planning business. And her association with her dear business partner, a younger man, who is gay, is delightful. Apparently incorporating a gay character is a trait of Laurie Graham's novels. And the reality of that incorporation is that many women find their best friendships to be with gay men. There is a feel of a Maeve Binchy read in this Laurie Graham book.
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