This is great, in that it’s about a feisty group of 50+ year old women and their friendships, love lives, and struggles with their kids and jobs, but it’s also tough to read, because… it’s tough to be a 50+ year old woman dealing with trash men, be they lovers or employers or deadbeat kids. It feels very much like a serial plot rather than a progressive one, which is to say, the struggles are ongoing and don’t really resolve. I read it over months and months; I spent a lot of that time being overworked and tired, and somehow it just felt too real to be a pleasure. But I think that’s more about me than the book — although it’s not sugar-coating the world it describes, it’s not a grim read. I wouldn’t call it “outrageously funny” (I suspect some people think that it’s outrageous when a 50+ year old woman has a personality…), but there is definitely some mirth. It’s not bitter laughter, exactly, more like the comedy of frustration? Bemusement?
Anyways. It’s warm and poignant and wonderful. But you might need to be in the right mood for it.
Kasia Reads 