I Take this Man

I think that this book was meant to be funny.

While there were times that I did laugh, those times were few and far between.

I can stretch my imagination pretty far, however, to read this book the suspension of reality that is necessary is a bit more than I can do, heck it's more than I want to do.

The plot device that we see used here is pretty familiar, girl gets left basically at the altar. Penny Frankel's fiance sends a note to her about fifteen minutes before their wedding is to begin to tell her that he can't do it. I don't mind a familiar idea, but I want to see that plot develop in a way that is fresh, interesting, and believable. For me what happens next was new and original but as the story progressed, not too believable.

I have to say that it is hard to really feel that you know these people. They seem more like caricatures than actual people. It is also hard to feel interested or sympathetic toward them.

As the book progressed, I rolled my eyes so much that I finally had to catch myself in case did myself lasting harm. One or two unbelievable occurrences in a book is probably acceptable but page after page we find people behave in ways that just are not reasonable. I would love to give examples but it is hard to without throwing out spoilers.

There is a love scene in this book that comes, for me out of no where. No real people would feel at all disposed to sharing any type of intimacy with so many unresolved issues on the table.

This book is supposed to be funny and light I am sure but I was annoyed for most of the time that I was reading. I kept saying to myself no reasonable person would be have this way. One of the characters is kidnapped, KIDNAPPED and neither he nor his father seem to harbour any real feelings about that fact. They are able to move on rather speedily with no real thoughts of revenge or even justice. I mean who are these people and on what planet do they exist??? Even in the world of novels that I generally inhabit, I expect to see emotions and thoughts that actually correspond to the events in people's lives. Not here.

I know I was supposed laugh when I read this book. However, I am telling you, if you have any ability to reason laughter is not possible. I finished it but God only knows why.

The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center

I loved the author's writing style in this book. Her particular brand of humour and honesty pulled me in from the beginning. I wanted to see what would happen to these people. I cared about Claudia and I believed that her conflicts were real.

However, I have to say that I was very disappointed to read another book about a woman who cannot effectively stand up for herself and whose self esteem was apparently so low that she would allow a man to treat her as poorly as he saw fit. I got so frustrated with Claudia that it was hard for me to finish this book. Claudia's passive acceptance of Dean's actions, just rubbed me the wrong way I wanted to see her stand up for herself and I was disappointed when she didn't. However, after thinking about this book I appreciated Claudia a little more, at times in our lives most women have accepted less than they deserved from the men in their lives. So even though I still don't like how Claudia behaved, it rang true for me. Finally, I must say that having had breastfed 3 daughters, it was nice to see someone give a pretty accurate account of how hard breastfeeding is for some at the beginning.

I was, originally, so disappointed in Claudia and sad for her that there was no way that I could recover enough of my initial liking of your writing style to really enjoy the book. However, this book made me think quite a bit, the characters also felt like real people, and for me those are always traits of wonderful authors. I look forward to Ms. Center's next book.