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Friday’s Read it or Rant: Fortunate Lives
March 27th, 2008
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Fortunate Lives: A Novel by Robb Forman Dew
Eh. S’okay. I swear y’all, I really do read a lot of books that I LOVE. I just have not reviewed one of them yet. This week’s book, Fortunate Lives: A Novel was not really one that I even liked. Potential? Really it had tremendous potential. It just did not quite get there. Parts of the book were really even good, just not, you know, the whole thing. The Brother gave this one to me (actually I took it out of a stack he was going to sell).
Okay, the basic gist of the plot (hey– that could be the problem!) is a family that has plenty of money, plenty of friends, throws great parties, and has the respect of the community. The Husband and Wife love each other and are faithful. The kids are brilliant (like Harvard brilliant), not into drugs or anything, and are reasonably well behaved. They had a son who was killed many years ago, and on the surface everyone has dealt with it, key word: SURFACE. So these two people that do not fit into their perfect little lives show up, unannounced, and unwanted. A single mom (whom I hated, but was hands down the most interesting character) Netta, and her daughter Anna Tyson. They are odd. And Netta is nuts. So Netta and Anna Tyson each affect every member of the family differently and you think that this whole perfect family is going to collapse…..but then they don’t. Everything is fine. Did I mention the lack of plot yet?
I really enjoyed the technical aspect of this book, it was very gracefully written. The language was exquisite, and I really dug the sort of ethereal feel to the writing of the family , and then the switch to a more crass style when talking about Netta. Honestly, there were pages at a time were it felt more like I was reading poetry instead of a novel (which we know it is since it is so cleverly in the title and all ). The characters were so dimensional, and each person in the book could have had a novel written about them alone, if only they had, whats that thing called again? Um, you know, where the story is about something? Oh yeah! A PLOT.
To sum up. If your literary snob brother is selling a book, there is a good reason why. If you see Fortunate Lives: A Novel at the library, and your toddler is running around like crazy and your arms are already full of Dr. Seuss, and you just need something to read, then by all means, pick this up. But, don’t spend your money on it. Unless you have lots of money to waste on stuff, in which case, can I have some?
Next up: a book that should be funny! If you have suggestions of books for me to read, email me, heyyou@thehuckablog.com. Also, if you have read this book, PLUEASSE put your own review in the comments section.
Filed under Read it or Rant |2 Responses to “Friday’s Read it or Rant: Fortunate Lives”
I haven’t read this book, but it looked rather interesting. I guess not. On a side note, how can it be “Friday’s Read It or Rant” if it is published on Thursday?
P.S. I think you should review “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Even if you’ve read it already, I’d like to know your opinion. I want to read it, but I want to read SO MANY books and I need someone to weed out the uninteresting ones for me (this would be you, of course). BTW, Thank you thank you thank you for your suggesting (the last time I saw you, Dec. 2006) I read “The Red Tent” ASAP. It is now in my top 5 fave books. Did I mention I was grateful?
Ooops! No one was supposed to notice that Ang. I am going to be super busy tomorrow so I thought I would go ahead and post it. I will add Eat, Pray, Love to my list. And glad that you loved Red Tent, it is my all time favorite. You should do your list on the post Tome Sweet Tome! I would love to see it.